Timothy E. Johnson, a 1960 Paly graduate and the founder and president of a multi-billion dollar investment company, attributes his success in finance and economics to the two years he spent at Paly and in the Palo Alto community.

“I’ve had an interest in finance since I was young,” Johnson said, founder and president of Johnson Investment Counsel, Inc. “But I think the Bay Area’s business climate and the technology boom that was about to happen influenced my decision to go into this field.”

After his father was transferred from his hometown of Pittsburgh, Penn. to work at Lockheed Martin in 1958, Johnson attended Paly for his junior and senior year. During his time at the school, Johnson was involved in academics and after school activities.

“I was in the orchestra and the band,” Johnson said. “I played football during my junior year, and was a member of the international club.”

After graduating in 1960, he received his undergraduate degree in arts and economics from North Park University in Chicago, Ill., in 1964. He then received an MBA from the University of Akron and a PhD in finance from University of Illinois at Urbana. Eventually, Johnson moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to become a professor of finance at the University of Cincinnati Graduate College of Business Administration. There, he won several awards and wrote numerous textbooks.

“I always loved to teach and do research,” Johnson said. “I just kept going to school and learning and eventually, in 1970, I came to teach at University of Cincinnati.”

In 1965, Johnson founded his investment company. It began as a small project for one client, but has now grown to the largest independent wealth management firm in Cincinnati and handles over three billion dollars for clients in 45 different states. Johnson is the president of the company and its branches, which include institutional management, wealth advisors, a trust company, advisory unit, mutual funds, and a charitable gift fund.

“It [Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.] began as a little side business and just kept growing and growing,” Johnson said.

Johnson is involved in several charitable organizations, such as the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. He has also been an investor at Kendle International, a leading global clinical research organization, since November 2002.

Johnson fondly remembers the two years he spent at Paly.

“I enjoyed going to Paly,” he said. “It really was a great place with lots of good diversity.”