Debby Johnson

Debby joined AM in 1985. She originally thought she was going to be in Oklahoma City for four years while her husband served his tour of duty at Tinker Air Force Base, but it turned out she was in for the long haul. She is especially proud of her contributions to Six Flags, LeapFrog, Juniper Networks and Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems (now AT&T) as well as many of the agency’s digital properties. She currently provides planning and strategic direction for all agency accounts.

Debby began her career at Leo Burnett Chicago working on the Procter & Gamble account and then spent seven years with DDB Needham in Chicago and later in Washington, D.C. She served both as vice president Account Supervisor as well as Associate Research Director on accounts including General Mills, McDonald’s, Kraft, William Wrigley, Jr., Co, Xerox, State Farm and more. She was instrumental in introducing DDB’s first Lifestyle Study, now the longest running study of U.S. attitudes and behaviors.

At Earle Palmer Brown in Bethesda, Maryland, she managed AARP, Amtrak and The Baltimore Sun accounts and introduced the first ever campaign for GEICO (renaming and repositioning the company). She also co-managed their direct-marketing division.

Debby has published journal articles and co-authored an American Marketing Association book, Attitude Research at Bay. She is featured in the college textbook Advertising Principles and Practices.

In her free time, she enjoys teaching Pilates before work and practicing yoga whenever she can. She currently serves on the Board of the Jewish Federation and the Project Innocence Board. She also enjoys recruiting for Harvard.

Debby has a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Wisconsin and a Master’s degree from Harvard.