The Springwell Blog

As Wayne Johnson comes to the end of his third three-year term as a Springwell board member appointed by the Weston Council on Aging, we are celebrating his years of service, and the unique contribution that his passion for making connections has brought to Springwell.

Wayne came to Springwell’s board as a well-regarded expert in creating complex partnerships between government, academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations, having served on numerous national and international boards and advisory committees. He started his career in management and operations roles at Raytheon, which later informed his position as an adjunct professor of management at Boston University. Eventually, he held a number of positions bridging industry and academia at organizations like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft Research.

It was about twelve years ago, as Wayne’s busy career required less travel, that he turned his attention toward adding local community service in his home town of Weston to his long list of volunteer commitments. He joined the Weston Council on Aging (COA) board of directors and increased his involvement in the Weston Community Gardens. (Wayne is a long-time, avid gardener with a specialty in cultivating tomatoes.) It was the Weston COA board president who suggested that his skills could be valuable to the Springwell board of directors. Wayne, whose mother-in-law received Springwell services, was happy to bring together his management expertise and his knowledge of Weston to a local organization that could benefit from both.

Wayne’s tenure at Springwell has occurred during a time of significant challenges and growth for the organization, from an executive search for a new CEO in 2019 to navigating the incredible strain caused by the pandemic on the population of older adults and Springwell’s ability to serve them, and including our merger with BayPath Elder Services in 2022.

Each of these challenges requires a board of directors with the breadth of professional experience to handle the intricacies that the organization regularly faces, but also requires that the board be made up of strong local advocates who understand the reciprocal relationship Springwell needs to have with the communities we serve: we are here for them, and we do our best work when they are here for us. Wayne has always loved playing this role. During his tenure, he has been dedicated to sharing his knowledge and perspective on the issues the organization is facing, rarely missing a meeting. He has taken the initiative to regularly schedule presentations in Weston about Springwell services to educate his fellow residents about the services we provide. Finally, he often links Springwell to resources in Weston and elsewhere and has tapped his network to identify potential board members from other communities. We are grateful for his service and the connections he has made that will help us with the challenges and opportunities we will face in the years to come.