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Hans Johnson

  2. Hans Johnson

Hans Johnson

Commissioner

President of Progressive Victory.

Hans Johnson is President of Progressive Victory, a nationally renowned consultancy on advocacy strategy and good governance practices in the nonprofit sector.

Hans has worked extensively with foundations, labor unions, congregations, fair-housing and human-rights organizations in every U.S. state and D.C. His columns and commentary on civil and immigrant rights, environmental justice, LGBTQ equality, and government accountability can be read in leading daily news outlets throughout California and the country.

Hans has worked for more than 20 years with local advocates for non-violence in more than 20 states who track hate crimes and train public-safety officers and first responders in LGBTQ awareness, inclusion, and cultural competency.

During the Trump Administration, Hans was a leader in a nationwide coalition to fight implementation of the “Denial of Care” Rule, a sweeping federal regulation designed to allow first responders and health caregivers to withhold treatment selectively to Americans based on a religious objection to a medical treatment or a person’s identity. He also advised immigrant- and civil-rights organizations throughout California and in other states on data-security and crisis preparedness strategies to meet enhanced threats from hate groups and disinformation campaigns. 

Starting in 2019 and through the COVID pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, Hans led a coalition of translators and interpreters in California in a successful push for state legislation to protect their independent contractor status and ability to provide expert, reliable, professional language service in all settings. Language access is a cornerstone of dignity and equality for all Californians, including the more than 20 percent of residents who have limited English proficiency or who are deaf or hard of hearing.

In October 2020, Hans catalogued abuses by the L.A. County Sheriff and his deputies in a complaint to then California Attorney General Xavier Becerra that resulted in the launch of a state investigation into violations of civil rights and civil liberties by Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the Sheriff’s Department.

Hans is fluent in Spanish and earned his BA at the College of Wooster in Ohio, where he created an endowed scholarship devoted to LGBTQ inclusion. With his partner of 18 years Luis López, Hans lives in Eagle Rock.