Marc Johnson is the Associate Dean and Chief Innovation and Student Engagement Officer at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business. In this role, he serves in the dean’s office, driving innovation initiatives for the Darden School and ensuring exceptional student engagement through the complete student experience across all degree programs.
He works alongside the senior associate deans to create a social, educational, and organizational environment that advances Darden’s transformational learning mission. He also convenes and leads the Darden Student Services Group, made up of leaders in the areas of enrollment management (admissions, financial aid, and registration), student engagement (student affairs, global advising, program operations, and global/experiential learning), career development, instructional design, and global diversity, equity, and inclusion. He also partners with student leadership to promote student self-governance, impact, and collaboration.
Johnson leads innovation at Darden, serving as a catalyst for innovation and transformation initiatives focused on advancing the mission and strategy of the school. This work includes engaging stakeholders across the organization to develop and implement innovations in delivering against the mission. He partners with the chief strategy officer to advance the strategic plan and serves as the senior international officer for the school, leading globalization initiatives across Darden in line with the mission.
Johnson is a lecturer at the Darden School, teaching courses in global business and strategy and leading courses for MBA, Part-time MBA, and Executive MBA students in Virginia and all around the world. Johnson teaches international business in UVA’s undergraduate interdisciplinary studies program and previously taught courses in leadership for the Sorensen Institute. He has also taught courses in entrepreneurship and nonprofit management. He is the co-author of several entrepreneurship case studies through Darden Business Publishing.
Johnson holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in the executive doctorate in higher education management program, where he studied access to graduate and professional degrees, publishing his dissertation on advanced degrees and social mobility in the United States. Johnson holds an MBA from the UVA Darden School, where he received the C. Stewart Sheppard Award for Service, the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence, and a master’s in education from the UVA School of Education and Human Development. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William & Mary with a bachelor’s degree in government.
