VEDC Board Member Spotlight: Eric Johnson

Valparaiso Economic Development Corporation (VEDC) board member and newly appointed VEDC treasurer Eric Johnson is a long-time resident of Valparaiso.

“I’ve been in Valpo for 29 years,” said Johnson. 

After being married at the chapel on Valparaiso University’s campus, they had three daughters, including a set of twins, whom they raised in Valparaiso. 

“I know the community very well,” Johnson continued.

With a background in engineering, Johnson has worked in a variety of technical roles. This experience is also helpful in his community planning and development projects with VEDC. He also has a fair amount of academia experience and completed some of his post-graduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. Currently, he is serving as the provost of Valparaiso University. 

In his role, he’s involved in recruiting talent to the area. In this sense, his role on the VEDC Board is very much tied to his career.  

“It’s not a hard sell,” he said. “It’s a wonderful community.”

As provost at Valparaiso University, he knows that the community and the school go hand and hand. Each one impacts the other. As he is able to grow areas of study within the university, this provides opportunity to facilitate the talent grown at Valparaiso University to the wider community when students graduate.

“We have a wide array of majors and minors,” Johnson said. “From nursing to education to the arts. As we cultivate studies at Valparaiso University, we are also proactively pipelining possible talent for the Valparaiso area.”

Johnson is also involved with other aspects of the community. 

“Hearing about the good news and all the development is exciting,” said Johnson. “There’s a lot I have to think through with faculty. Being on the creative council and talking through its goals is one of my favorite aspects of being on the board.”

“I was on the city’s creative council,” he said. “I was an officer on it, and I did a lot of work Valpo Next.”

Johnson loves Valpo’s outdoor offerings and educational aspects.

“It has great parks and great schools,” he said.

In his free time, Johnson likes outdoor activities. He tries to spend time outdoors as much as possible.  

“I play a lot of golf on the public courses here,” Johnson said. “We have some beautiful courses here.”

He and his family enjoy biking around the local area. His family also travels frequently. They lived in Germany for several years. They’ve also traveled from Amsterdam to Prague. One of his twins even goes to school in Germany. The others attend Dayton and DePaul.

While he’s called Valparaiso home for a long time, he never quite envisioned this would be his home.

“I grew up in the mountains of Colorado and never imagined I’d be a Hoosier my whole life, but it’s great,” he said.

Johnson is a Hoosier through and through, and his love for the area and passion for his local work are certainly evidence of that.