Bethany Johnson-Javois Selected as Next President & CEO of Deaconess Foundation

On Thursday, it was announced that Bethany Johnson-Javois, a lifelong St. Louis community health and racial justice advocate, has been unanimously selected by the Deaconess Foundation Board of Trustees to serve as Deaconess Foundation’s next CEO & President. 

Deaconess Foundation is a grantmaking organization building power for child well-being through philanthropy, advocacy and organizing for racial equity and public policy change. A ministry of the United Church of Christ, Deaconess has invested more than $85 million to improve the health of the St. Louis community since 1998.

Johnson-Javois is currently Chief Executive Officer of St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) and will join Deaconess in her new role starting October 18, 2021. Cheryl D.S. Walker, Esq. will continue to serve as interim President and CEO of the Foundation, a role she assumed in October 2020.   

“My purpose, guided by the same spiritual and moral imperative that guides Deaconess, is to mobilize people, policy and power for the health and healing of underserved communities,”said Bethany Johnson-Javois. “I am honored at the opportunity to serve not only today’s children, but tomorrow’s children on both sides of the Mississippi River with a systems-change, catalytic approach. I thank the Board of Trustees for empowering and entrusting the appointed Search Committee to lead the selection process and ultimately for choosing me, and the Metropolitan St. Louis community for embracing me throughout my career. We have a lot of important work to do – but I can say with confidence that the future is bright for our region’s youth.” 

Johnson-Javois is a longtime champion of racial justice and equity initiatives; she was managing director of the Ferguson Commission, launched in 2014 as a response to civil unrest following the murder of Michael Brown. She was appointed by former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to serve on the Ferguson Commission but was quickly recruited to serve as the Managing Director of the internationally recognized initiative. She convened thousands of participants to shape and develop policy recommendations centered around advancing racial equity. She documented the Commission’s process so that its model of large-scale citizen engagement and involvement in setting people-centered public policy priorities could serve as a blueprint for cities in the future. Following the Commission’s recommendations, her collaborative advocacy led to the launch of Forward Through Ferguson.

“The Board made an excellent choice in selecting Bethany to lead Deaconess at this point in our journey,” said Cheryl D.S. Walker, Interim President and CEO of Deaconess Foundation. “Bethany exudes a deep and abiding care for people in everything she does, and her commitment to the well-being of young people in particular shines through.”