Board of Trustees

Gloria Johnson-Cusack

Gloria Johnson-Cusack is the Executive Director of Leadership 18, an alliance of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) responsible for leading some of the country’s largest and most well respected charities, non-profits, and faith-based organizations. Among others, members include United Way Worldwide, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Catholic Charities of America, and UCP. As a group, member organizations serve over 87 million people annually and represent $44 billion in total revenue. Leadership 18 leverages the joint power of its organizations to improve service and influence policy and public opinion. Areas of focus include leadership development, economic self-sufficiency, safety, disaster relief, and health and human services.

Gloria Johnson-Cusack brings more than 20 years of management, political and strategic communications expertise informed by leadership positions in the private sector, U.S. Congress, national presidential campaigns, municipal and federal government, and the White House.

Until accepting her position with Leadership 18, Johnson-Cusack served as a Senior Vice President at GMMB, a D.C.-based strategic communications and advertising firm focused on cause marketing. In this role, she advanced issues on behalf of key nonprofit organizations and foundations. She has worked with the Ford, Lumina and Gates foundations to improve supports for low-income students completing college as well as the American Beverage Association to launch a campaign to address obesity.

In the public affairs arena, Gloria served as Director of the Office of Congressional Relations at the Peace Corps, Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of National Service, and Director of Constituent Relations at the Corporation for National Service. She was Chief of Staff for the D.C. Office of the Inspector General and was policy advisor to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and Senator Albert Gore, Jr.

Johnson-Cusack holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College, Columbia University and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Key Executive Management Program at American University. She is a founder of the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership program at Brandeis University, media trainer, church lay leader and breast cancer survivor and advocate. She is married with one adult daughter.

For United Cerebral Palsy, starting in 2004, Gloria lead the strategic and creative team responsible for developing the new “Life Without Limits” brand identity to enhance the positioning of the organization. She also worked with UCP leaders to develop the strategic vision and plan for National Big Sky Visioning Sessions and related outreach to explore ways communities can work together to integrate people with disabilities fully into the entire fabric of society.