Stephanie Johnson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the summer of 2003, Stephanie Johnson received an e-blast through the internal volunteer network at Bank of America, looking for employees to volunteer for either of two agencies that were providing training in financial-management skills for low-income people.

After opting to take part in the program through Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont, Johnson soon became a regular volunteer at the agency, where has volunteered ever since.

This spring, Goodwill named Johnson its volunteer of the year, citing her contribution of over 250 volunteer hours over nearly eight years.

“Stephanie is passionate about financial literacy, and has made it her mission to provide money-management education to hundreds of students in Goodwill’s occupational-skills training classes,” says Michael Elder, the agency’s president and CEO.

When Johnson started working at Bank of America in 1989, she says, she quickly found that “volunteerism and giving back to the community” were important values championed by then-CEO Hugh McColl.

“It was part of the culture of the company,” she says “and still continues today.”

That corporate culture simply reinforced lessons she had learned growing up in Greer, S.C., where she would accompany her grandmother, a volunteer who delivered meals once a week for Meals on Wheels.

“I always remember how the folks would smile when she would come in,” says Johnson, a change consultant in enterprise capability, quality and change delivery for Bank of America. “It wasn’t just about dropping off the meals and leaving. She would take a few minutes and talk with them and see how their day was.”

The experience, she says, “left an impression of how even one person can make a difference in some else’s life...”

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