Mr. Jody Johnson is the County Extension Director for University of Illinois Extension in the Alexander/Johnson/Massac/Pulaski/Union Unit. He has a master's degree in business adminstration from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and a bachelor's degree in business management.

In his role as County Extension Director, Johnson supervises over 15 staff conducting programming in four broad areas: community and economic development; agriculture and natural resources; nutrition, family and consumer sciences; and 4-H/youth development.

He is currently active on the Southern Illinois Economic Development Conference planning committee, and in 2006 was appointed by the Governor to the newly created Broadband Deployment Council; whose purpose is to help the processes of making broadband available to everyone in Illinois. He served on the leadership committee for the Southern Five Community of Interest for the regional initiative - Connect SI; and beginning 2008 took the role as co-chair of that committee.

In June 2007, he graduated from the Delta Regional Authority's - Delta Leadership Institute were he completed a project concerning the use of Telemedicine in the Delta region. Since 2002, Jody has served as an elected official for the Village of Goreville and is also the Treasurer for the local economic development board, Johnson County 2000, Inc.

Jody has represented Johnson County on the local Workforce Investment Act(WIA) Board and has worked closely with the Southernmost Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone (SIDEZ) Economic Development, Education, and Housing Committees. His commitment to the five counties he serves makes him a natural leader for regionalism in southern Illinois.

His association memberships consist of the National Association Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA) and the Illinois Extension Professionals for Youth Education (IEPYE); and he is also a member of the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) and the Illinois Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (IACDEP).