Kelly D. Johnston

Kelly D. Johnston served as Secretary of the United States Senate from June 8, 1995, until December 10, 1996. He was the 28th Secretary of the Senate, nominated by then Majority Leader, Bob Dole. He was the first Secretary from his home state of Oklahoma, and the second youngest ever chosen. During his tenure, he advocated for the creation of the US Capitol Visitors Center and implemented two reform laws, the Lobby Disclosure Act and Congressional Accountability Act.

Before his nomination as Secretary, he served as Executive Director of the US Senate Republican Policy Committee, part of the US Senate Republican leadership, then chaired by US Senator Don Nickles. Prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the US Department of Transportation under Secretaries Samuel Skinner and Andrew Card during the Administration of President George H. W. Bush.

During the 1990 elections, he was a regional political director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), where he worked on the reelection campaigns of several incumbent Republican Senators. Before joining the NRSC, Johnston was chief of staff to then-US Representative Jon Kyl, Communications Director to US Representative John Hiler, and a staff assistant to US Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt. He also served as a Regional Political Director at the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 1984 and 1986 congressional elections. He has worked in some capacity in 35 US Senate or House campaigns in 25 states.

Johnston graduated from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 1976 with a BA in Communications and Drama, where he also served as President of the Student Association and as Editor of the Trend, the student newspaper. Before beginning his career in Washington, DC, he was a newspaper reporter for the Bartlesville, Oklahoma Examiner-Enterprise, and served briefly as Managing Editor of the Henryetta, Oklahoma Free-Lance, where under his leadership, the newspaper won four awards for photography and journalism from the Oklahoma Press Association.

Johnston left the Secretary's office in December, 1996 after his nomination by President Bill Clinton to serve as a member of the Federal Election Commission was not acted upon by the US Senate. From 1996 to 2002, he was Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications for the National Food Processors Association.