About Us

Our Founding Story

Ann Johnson founded Noble Governance to fill a need many social impact organizations have - for a highly experienced and educated business partner to help develop systems, skills, and mindsets that tie visions, strategy, operations, and financials together into a cohesive whole.

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Ann's career began in 2005 at Partners In Health (PIH) in Boston, MA, where she learned how powerful the private sector can be in responding to social needs with creativity, efficacy, and speed. And, she learned that a small group of dedicated and educated people can inform policy on a global scale. Inspired by PIH’s work, she dedicated her career to the social impact sector and defines her work as activism in the professional space.

Noble Governance is rooted in the Golden Rule. The name encourages us to remember that for those we serve, we have some freedom to create conditions of equity, regardless of the forces that push against it. As private citizens running social impact organizations, we can and are creating real change now. And we are supported in more ways than we will ever know, by millions of others doing good in the world in millions of other ways.

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Ann has the courage and optimism required for this work, and thrives on continuous learning. She received her Executive MBA in 2024 to bring academic knowledge and best practices to her clients. She is a consilient thinker, decision-maker, cross-functional leader, and implementer. Her work is at once creative and standardized, which allows organizations to thrive uniquely and sustainably. In addition, she partners with other trusted fractional professionals and companies to provide more holistic services to her clients.

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Qualifications:

• Seventeen years’ experience in operational and leadership roles in both nonprofit and for-profit companies in the areas of global public health, fair labor, environmental sustainability, underserved youth, food scarcity, veteran support, impact investing, DEIB initiatives, and community access programming

• Executive MBA, University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN

• Certificate in Business Administration, Georgetown School of Continuing Studies in Washington, DC

• BA in Philosophy, Concordia College in Moorhead, MN
   

Ann lives in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN with her dog Teddy and enjoys the wilderness, reading, music, time with family and friends, and progressing towards her goal of being a trapeze artist. This speaks to her optimism that anything is possible with the right mindset, skillset, and hard work.