Biography
Victoria Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Air Force with the goal of completing her undergraduate degree while contributing to a bigger purpose. After training in logistics and transportation management, she served four years, first at Misawa Air Base in Japan and McChord Air Force Base in Washington before transitioning from active duty to the reserves. Victoria is currently a staff sergeant stationed out of Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia, as well as Field Sales Network Manager for Johnson & Johnson.
“When I separated from active duty, I transitioned to the reserves, and I started working in the corporate world,” she says. “A huge challenge I started experiencing was seeing that there were issues and problems that I didn't quite have the skill set to fix, but I knew I wanted to help. I started looking at opportunities and many different programs that would give me the skill set to be able to make a bigger difference in the career that I'm in.”
Victoria soon met (Ret). LTG Ken Keen, Founding Dean of Emory’s Master in Business for Veterans program, who shared how the program specifically addressed the challenges she was facing. Victoria decided to enroll in Goizueta’s program and immediately felt a strong sense of community among fellow veterans who shared similar experiences.
“We felt very comfortable to be ourselves and engage in the learning experience because these are folks who've been to every corner of the globe and engaged with more cultures than almost any other program or group of people that you can imagine,” Victoria says. “These guys and gals can bring that to the learning experience, and that's something that you're not going to find anywhere.”
When Victoria began the program, she worked as a site manager running operations in Georgia for Johnson & Johnson for the medical device trauma business. Because the 11-month program only meets every other Friday and Saturday, Victoria was able to take what she learned from the program and directly apply it to her job the following Monday.
By the time Victoria graduated, the impact of her expanded skill set was clear to her leadership team. Just two weeks after graduating, she was promoted into a regional leadership role, managing 13 sites—and a growing footprint—across the East Coast in support of Johnson & Johnson’s medical device trauma business.
“It's something I'm extremely passionate about,” Victoria says. “I ended up in this field and this fast-paced healthcare trauma space where you cannot fail. It was very similar to what I did, and it just clicked.”