Robert W. Johnson – Past President
Water Strategies LLC
Bob Johnson is a senior adviser for Water Strategies LLC, a Washington D.C.-based firm that represents water clients throughout the Western United States. Johnson is also a senior consultant with HDR Engineering.
Johnson previously served as commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, where he oversaw the water and power programs of the nation’s largest water wholesaler and second-largest producer of hydropower.
Before becoming commissioner in 2006, he spent 30 plus years with Reclamation where he worked most extensively in the Colorado River Basin, serving as the secretary of the Interior’s senior manager responsible for carrying out the secretary’s responsibilities as “water master” of the lower Colorado River.
Johnson was extensively involved in a number of significant changes in the management of the Colorado River, including negotiation of the California Quantification Settlement Agreement, and the development of interstate water banking guidelines; water surplus and shortage guidelines; operating guidelines for Colorado River reservoirs, and the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program.
He joined the Water Education Foundation board in 2013, becoming its president in 2017 and its past president in 2020.