BPU’s general manager named one of most powerful business leaders in KC

Bill Johnson

Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities’ General Manager Bill Johnson has been named to Ingram’s Magazine’s annual list of the 250 Most Powerful Business Leaders in the Kansas City region.

Each year, Ingram’s identifies the most influential executives out of the 2.8 million individuals in the metropolitan area, recognizing these persons as “power brokers who lead organizations that are attaining measures levels of success and growth…while elevating the entire region’s commercial success, vibrancy and quality of life.”

Under Bill Johnson’s leadership, the BPU has been recognized as one of the top municipal utilities in the nation. Johnson became general manager in April 2019.

As detailed in the September 2020 Issue of Ingram’s, Johnson worked his way to the leadership ranks at BPU from an entry-level position, with previous posts overseeing the electric operation and technology divisions, covering power transmission and distribution, engineering, IT, and telecommunications, among other things.

He is a past president of Kansas Municipal Utilities and a board member for the Kansas City, Kansas, United Way, and past board member of the Boys and Girls Club.

Johnson is a member of the American Public Power Association and the Rocky Mountain Electric League, and past president of the Kansas-Missouri chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy.

Among his career-achievement awards, he has earned the distinguished “Black Achievers Award” from the Southern Christian Leadership Council and the “Black Man of Distinction Award” from the Friends of Yates.

  • Information from BPU