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Board Profile: Greg Johnson
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"I care deeply about public safety and supporting the members of our profession," says Greg Johnson (front). A lot of the folks who do our job have marginal resources within the jurisdiction to pursue their mission. The ICC and its chapters are the mechanisms by which we empower those members to ensure the public's safety."
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Each Code Council Board member brings a unique set of skills
and experiences to the table and Greg Johnson's perspective
is that of a hands-on building inspector. "I think that
I perhaps have a little more empathy for the folks in our
profession that actually go into the field, get mud on their
boots, and inspect the built environment," he says. "I
care deeply about public safety and supporting the members
of our profession. A lot of the folks who do our job have
marginal resources within the jurisdiction to pursue their
mission. The ICC and its chapters are the mechanisms by which
we empower those members to ensure public safety.
 "Plus,
I want my efforts to leave the world a better place,"
he adds. "I'm just like all of our members. I want to
make a positive difference."
As a building inspector for the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota,
Johnson has inspected a variety of unique structures that
required extensive understanding of the codes. "I inspected
our NHL hockey team's facility, the Minnesota Wild Arena,
which is a performance-based design. I've had the opportunity
to inspect ice castles for our winter carnival. I've also
had the opportunity to inspect a children's museum, which
had some pretty unique uses. So I've had the opportunity to
be engaged in a lot of buildings where the code didn't necessarily
address the circumstances we were dealing with, so we had
to be able to apply the intent of the code to protect the
public," he explains.
Saint Paul has benefited by other aspects of his service
on the board as well. "For one, I know everybody,"
he laughs. "If there's a question or an issue that pops
up in the jurisdiction, I'm in a position to be able to say,
'The guy down in Des Moines just addressed this and was talking
about it. Let me give him a call.' Or I'll say, 'The code
person in Seattle talked about this and she had an idea relative
to this.' The professional network that you develop when you
are engaged in something like the ICC is astonishing. It's
not just fellow code officials; it's all the partner organizations
out there. It really facilitates communication and cuts way
down on research time on particular issues."
 Johnson
looks forward to the day when ICC is more international in
scope. "Ten years from now, I want us to be generally
acknowledged as the authoritative source on all matters relating
to building safety and fire safety. I'd also like to see us
playing a larger role internationally. If you look at building
safety performance in North America, you can see that there
is a need for the same level of performance internationally.
Every few months we see a story about losses due to earthquake,
losses due to flooding, losses due to nightclub fires and
similar events in other parts of the world. We've solved a
lot of these problems, and I'd like to see us be in a position
to offer our solutions to other folks around the world."
There's no question that Johnson is passionate about his
career and the role of ICC. "People should think about
this," he points out. "Who doesn't go in buildings?
We intersect with every person in this country. I doubt that
there is anyone in this country who hasn't been in a building
that was safeguarded by a code official. If you look at it
on those terms, we really do protect each and every person
in this country."
 "I'm
passionate about these things," he continues. "I
don't really think there's any higher calling than to serve
the public and volunteering to serve public servants through
ICC involvement is really an extension of that. And that applies
equally to ICC staff and all of the members who volunteer
their time and resources to the organization. The ICC staff
with whom I've had the pleasure of working really believe
in that kind of service too. It's an interesting place to
be, to be the servant of the public servants, and it's pretty
rewarding when we get it right."
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