Sterling Johnson serves as Senior Program Officer for Atlanta’s Westside at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, where he supports initiatives to increase upward mobility for Atlanta’s Westside residents. Prior to his time at the foundation, he served as Director of the Just Opportunity Portfolio at the Partnership for Southern Equity and as Director of Public Policy at Griffin & Strong, P.C., advancing research. programming, and investments to expand diversity in public contracting, increase access to capital, and strengthen workforce and entrepreneurial pathways, nationwide.

Sterling is a systems thinker and economic strategist committed to advancing equitable economic opportunity. A native of Atlanta, his passion for economic justice is rooted in the legacy of the Southern freedom movement and expressed through leadership that expands economic mobility and financial security for communities.

Sterling’s insights on economic justice and mobility have been featured in Governing Magazine and Next City. He is a TEDx speaker, was a Bill and Melinda Gates Millenium Scholar, holds an MPA from Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Furman University, where he was a track athlete and 4-year football letterman. He was named a 2025 Fulcrum Fellow with the Center for Community Investment, is a member of the Lead Atlanta class of 2024, a 2023 Everyday Hero by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a 2022 Emerging Leader by the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Program, and a member of the Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2022.