People

Monika Johnson (MBA/MS 2019) co-founded the University of Michigan International Investment Fund (IIF), the first student-run to invest in small and medium enterprises outside the United States. Prior to coming to the U-M Ross School of Business and School for Environment and Sustainability, she worked for five years at the United Nations Foundation in Washington, D.C., where she led a political advocacy initiative to build support for U.S. engagement in the United Nations, as well as multi-sector support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Johnson’s interest in multi-sector approaches to solving global challenges led her to UM, where she has focused on financing for sustainability and economic development through her involvement in IIF, the Social Venture Fund, and the Zell Lurie Institute Founders Fund, and as a Dow Sustainability Fellow. She is particularly passionate about agribusiness as a mechanism for environmental stewardship and women’s economic empowerment in low- and middle-income countries, and she completed projects in these areas in Armenia and India while at U-M. Johnson earned her BA in International Relations at Michigan State University, and after graduating, she will join E&J Gallo as a Senior Financial Analyst.