Karlton Johnson

Karlton D. Johnson (Colonel, United States Air Force-Retired) is the Chairman of the National Space Society’s Board of Governors. In this capacity, he provides overall senior executive leadership to enhance the effectiveness and performance of the Board of Governors in support of the Society’s goals, imparts advice and guidance to the Board of Directors to enhance its conduct of business operations, and serves as the primary spokesperson for the Board of Governors.

A senior executive, decorated combat veteran and respected visionary leader with over 31 years of subject matter experience, Mr. Johnson brings a wealth of expertise in several areas to include strategic leadership, partnership creation, organizational excellence, space operational support, and cyber security. In 2014, he retired from Active Duty after 26 years of honorable service where he held a variety of challenging senior leadership and command positions within the Air Force. Over his long and distinguished career, he has successfully developed solutions that enabled business transformation globally for large, multinational organizations, led international development of aerospace and defense business partnerships in Fortune 500 companies, and managed resource asset portfolios up to $5.5B.

Mr. Johnson has served in leadership positions on numerous Boards, and he also holds several Master’s Degrees and executive Graduate Certifications from various institutions to include George Washington University, National Defense University, West Virginia University, ISACA and the U.S. Government