The Peralta Community College District’s Executive Director of Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations, Mark Johnson, will retire effective July 1. In an interview with The Citizen, Johnson cited health concerns as the reason for his departure.
“I had a stroke in November of 2024,” Johnson said. “That just made me realize, or it made me ask the question, how much time do we have left?”
Johnson was initially hired at Peralta as the interim Executive Director of Public Information, Communications and Media in July 2019 before taking on the role permanently in July 2020.
Peralta’s Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations department is responsible for districtwide branding, graphic design, “reputational management,” and email and other communication technology services, according to Johnson. His job is to oversee the department.
Johnson, who grew up in Kansas, double-majored in film studies and psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1989 before going to graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also studied film. He completed his master’s degree in 1993.
“I just saw some data today that a lot of our students aren’t finishing a two year degree in two years. I’m in the same boat,” Johnson told The Citizen. “It took me five years to finish my bachelor’s degree. It took me three years to finish my two year master’s degree. Life happens, right?”
While in graduate school, Johnson worked three jobs. While simultaneously working a student financial aid job and providing audio visual technology support for a learning lab, Johnson says he got his start in marketing in the subscriptions department of the Austin American-Statesman, a daily newspaper in Austin, Texas.
Johnson later worked at a Kansas-based news publication, the Lawrence Journal-World, and a local cable TV station before moving to Boston. From there, he became a circulation manager for the science publisher Cell Press. There, he worked with an organization within Stanford University to help convert Cell Press content to the internet. Later, Johnson moved to the Bay Area to join HighWire Press, which he described as “an auxiliary business unit of the Stanford library.”
Johnson’s initial position at Peralta was his first at a community college district.
“I firmly believe that […] providing our community with a good education is an incredibly noble pursuit,” Johnson said about his role, “So it’s been an incredibly fulfilling job, […], it is the most interesting job I’ve ever had.”
One highlight from his tenure at Peralta, according to Johnson, is the people on his team.
“I’ve hired amazing people, and I think they’ve helped Peralta—the brand, the students, the community,” he said. “They just do great work. And it’s a pleasure to work with them.”
Johnson also relayed a sense of pride in the “technology upgrades” made throughout the district under his oversight. “[W]hen I started [in] the summer of 2019, I was like, oof, I can help these people,” he said, referencing the state of Peralta’s websites when he assumed his position.
“Mark is just a really generous human,” Peralta Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson told The Citizen. “[He] has always been such a team player and, really, a cheerleader for the district and the colleges and the students and employees.”
Johnson shared that, even through retirement, he will remain involved with the Peralta community.
“I do plan to maintain a connection with Peralta and the Peralta Colleges Foundation,” Johnson told The Citizen. “It’s absolutely my intention to keep involved with the Foundation.”
The Peralta Colleges Foundation is the nonprofit auxiliary arm of the Peralta district, and is responsible for disbursing scholarships and managing funds for student programs.
The hiring process for Johnson’s replacement began after the job description for his position was revised at a May 12 meeting of the Board of Trustees, according to both Johnson and Gilkerson. The application will close on June 23.
The updated job description indicates that the earnings of Johnson’s replacement will fall within Range 3 of Peralta’s management salary ranges, or between $155,695 and $184,004 annually. Johnson’s current salary also falls within this range.
