Roger Johnson

The Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) has a new leader with vast experience in economic development and business. Roger Johnson has been appointed executive director.

County Judge Lucy Hebron announced the appointment last week.

“Wood County is fortunate to have someone with the varied experience and background in both tourism and economic development that Roger has,” she said. “He will be a tremendous asset to our board and the entire county. We are all looking forward to working together with him and all Wood County stakeholders to improve economic development in Wood County.”

In his role with the WCEDC he will be responsible for working closely with local and regional economic development organizations to expand economic growth and job creation in Wood County.

Johnson will be the first to lead the WCEDC in a non-interim capacity since sweeping changes were made to the organiozation last year.

He joins WCEDC with over 25 years of bringing businesses and organizations together. He has been responsible for business attractions and expansions, utilizing his extensive marketing and community engagement skills to grow local businesses. 

Johnson is looking forward to working in Wood County.

“There are so many opportunities in Wood County,” he said. “We have the opportunity to make the county seat look really good. There is so much traffic that goes through there it is unbelievable. I’m looking forward to working with all of the chambers of commerce and economic development corporations in each city in the county. I would like for them to see what I see and see what we can do and how to do it together. The big project is getting with the chambers and discovering what they want to do because if we aren’t on the same table with the same plan, it won’t work well.”

WCEDC Chairman Tom Keenan is confident Johnson is the right man for the job.

“During the process of recruiting an executive director, dozens of resumes were received from all over the state,” Keenan said. “Our two human resource experts, Greg Hollen and Jim Berry, reviewed and analyzed them. After numerous interviews, Roger’s qualification rose to the top. Roger will make an excellent executive director.”

Hollen believes Johnson is a good fit for Wood County.

“Wood County is fortunate to have a professional like Roger on board,” Hollen said. “His East Texas roots, combined with his experience in economic development, marketing and tourism make him the ideal individual to help us expand our economic development in Wood County, especially during these difficult times.”

Johnson served as Van economic development director where he helped to expand businesses and brought a major hotel chain to the community. He also was the director of convention and tourism for the city of Madisonville in Madison County, where he developed and implemented marketing tactics and activities to promote Madison County as a tourism destination and conference site.

While working in Van, he was responsible for bringing a major lodging business to come to that area. He found out the people at the Love’s Truck Stop there were involved in the hotel/motel business, too.

“At first, they felt like the traffic count was not that good to merit a hotel. I told them we had Interstate 20, First Monday, Texas Rose Equestrian Center, Sky Ranch and it was close to Tyler,” Johnson explained. “We ended up getting a Marriott there in Van.”

Johnson also served on the Children’s Cancer Fund board of directors, and is past chairman of the development board for Dallas, Texas Can Academy and Fort Worth, Texas Can Academy. He has also been a board member of Dallas Sports Association and served as a committee member of the Community Education for the American Heart Association of Dallas. 

“My name is Johnson, and I look a lot like Jimmy Johnson,” he said. “In 2006 I lost my granddaughter to cancer. I was on the Children’s Cancer Fund Board. Two people on that board with me were Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. I had people following me around asking for autographs because they thought I was Jimmy.” 

He lived on Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall for many years.

“I was driving to Austin one day and saw the Texas Queen paddleboat in Waco. I was living on Lake Ray Hubbard and thought we needed a boat so I brought the Texas Queen to our lake,” Johnson remembered. 

Johnson has extensive training with the Texas Leadership Institute and attended the TTIA Travel and Tourism College at Texas State University.

Johnson is a graduate of Mesquite High School. He attended Tyler Junior College on a band scholarship and while in school worked in Wood County in Mineola pulling cable for TCA Cable. 

He transferred to Texas A&M Commerce, studying radio and television/communications while working at Texas Instruments in Richardson at night to finish his education. Johnson is married to his childhood sweetheart, Kathy, who is a third grade teacher in the Tyler area. They live in the Tyler area.