Sebastian Johnson

As Vice President of External Affairs at Arnold Ventures, Sebastian manages the organization’s relationship with key policymakers and other external stakeholders. Sebastian previously held the roles of chief of staff to the Advocacy team, and criminal justice manager overseeing work in corrections, community supervision, fines and fees reform, and reentry.

Prior to joining Arnold Ventures, Sebastian was a senior associate with Freedman Consulting, LLC. In this role, he managed strategic planning and research for major philanthropies in criminal justice reform. From 2014 to 2016, Sebastian was State Policy Fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, where his research focused in part on the use of fines and fees at the state and local level. Sebastian served as a 2010 Teach for America corps member in Lawrence, MA, where he taught third grade math and social studies.

Sebastian's writing on criminal justice reform, universal basic income, and other topics has been featured in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Detroit Free Press, among other publications.

He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.