Laurence F. Johnson, Ph.D. is the founder of the Horizon Project, which produces the acclaimed series of Horizon Reports that are used by nearly a million educators in more than 75 countries, and Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium, an international not-for-profit consortium dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. Its hundreds of member institutions constitute an elite list of the most highly regarded universities, museums, research centers, and companies in the world. Dr. Johnson is an acknowledged expert on emerging technology and its impacts on society and education, and speaks regularly on the topics of creativity, innovation, and where the future might take us. With more than 25 years of experience in the higher education arena, he has served in roles from professor to dean, CIO and provost, and most recently, president before joining the NMC in 2001.
In his current post at the NMC, Johnson routinely brings visionaries and thought leaders from across the globe together to define and explore new ways of thinking about and using technology, and to examine emerging trends and issues. The NMC’s annual Horizon Report, now published in six languages, has become one of the leading tools used by senior executives in universities and museums to set priorities for technology planning. NMC summits and large-scale projects have helped set the agenda for topics such as visual literacy, learning objects, educational gaming, immersive learning, the future of scholarship, and social networking.
Having served as president and senior executive at institutions in both the higher education and not-for-profit realms, he has more than 25 years of experience in the global education arena. His educational background includes an MBA in Finance and a Ph.D. in Education that focused on research and evaluation. Among much other recognition, Dr. Johnson has been honored as a Distinguished Graduate by his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.