Nancy Johnson – Speaker

Starting her career in the health insurance industry, Nancy has always been focused on helping and serving people. From her first day in 1969 as a file clerk at Blue Cross & Blue Shield earning $1.15 per hour to ultimately serving as the manager of the Major Medical division with 64 employees reporting to her at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nancy has been a leader in business. Her success in the company was unprecedented, receiving 15 promotions over a 19-year career and ultimately becoming the second African American Supervisor and the second African American Woman to reach the position of manager in the company. As a woman in corporate America, Nancy faced her challenges as well. She was barred from being promoted to the director because she lacked a college degree thus was only paid $22,000 in annual salary. After facing this glass ceiling in corporate America, Nancy refused to be held back by an artificial barrier of a college degree. She quit her corporate job in health insurance and became a full-time real estate entrepreneur and hasn’t looked back.

In 1986, Nancy became the first African American Realtor to be hired by Gallop and Associates and Coldwell Banker Tom Jenkins Realty. Nancy used her experience in business to hone her skills in customer service and relationship development. Nancy ate, slept, and breathed real estate for her first ten years in the business. Her commitment to her craft of opening doors for new home buyers in Columbia, SC allowed her to achieve an amazing milestone of becoming the only African American in the history of the Columbia Board of Realtors to reach the Four Million Dollar Club in a single year! Nancy’s work ethic has produced a sales volume of more than $12 million in one year. It was at this point in her professional career than Nancy began to expand her operation beyond the sole-proprietor operation. She was one of the first Realtors in Columbia to hire an assistant and ultimately growing her staff to a team of five.  Known for her hard work and her supreme negotiation skills, Nancy had five of the most productive years of any real estate agent in Columbia selling more than 80 homes each year in 2003-2009. This was four times the number of homes the average real estate agent sold over the same time timeframe. Her best year was 2006 when Nancy wrote 117 contracts and closed 113 real estate deals in one year!