2025 Excellence in Service Alumni Award: Neethi Johnson (MBA '19)

Neethi Johnson’s service to her community is as important to her as her highly successful career with JPMorganChase.

The vice president of digital payments has volunteered countless hours as board treasurer and president for Student Success Stores, a nonprofit providing Central Ohio students with school supplies, mobile meals and other essential items. She also serves on the boards of Forté Foundation, an organization supporting women in business, and Leadership Ohio, a statewide organization of civic-minded leaders who through networking, education and service strive to make Ohio the best place to work and live. 

For her tireless volunteer work and dedication to her community, Johnson has been named the recipient of Fisher’s 2025 Alumni Award for Excellence in Service.

We asked her to share her thoughts about her inspiration to serve, her time at Fisher and what this award means to her.

Q. This award honors your dedication and service to the community, particularly your work with Student Success Stores. What sparked your passion for service?

It's really been about providing access. For Student Success Stores (SSS), that means access to basic essentials — hygiene products, clothing, food and school supplies — for school children who don’t have it already. 

Over the last eight years, we have supplied over 300,000 items to over 8,000 students who have access to 16 free stores located inside Columbus Public Schools. But what has been most profound to me have been the individual stories from the students, families and educators whose lives have been changed for the better. Every instance we provide a student with these essential items provides an opportunity for them to get one step closer to success, and to me that is what service is all about. 

In my work with other organizations and nonprofits, it's been about access to things like mental health services, clean water or education. 

Q. Did you have a mentor at Fisher or in your personal life who influenced your career path and interest in volunteer work?

My dad will always be my biggest source of inspiration in life. As a psychiatrist working with primarily disadvantaged clients, he started his career treating one patient at a time, then built an entire mental health agency and was able to scale, treat and impact tens of thousands of lives over the course of his 30-plus year career. He always taught me that if I ever have the opportunity to help someone, I should take it. Watching his dedication to his profession, community and humankind has left a profound impression on me to do whatever is in my power and my expertise to give back to those who need it most. 

Q. How does your volunteer work inform your professional career?

Being the treasurer and then board president of SSS allowed me to practice every single element taught in my business school experience. Because SSS is a smaller and more recently formed nonprofit, I had to wear many hats: CFO, operations expert, logistics coordinator, marketer. It allowed me to put into tactical practice everything I had learned at Fisher. But the difference was, this was not just theoretical, there were real students at the receiving end of this organization. I quickly learned that every decision I made had very real implications on the viability, success and sustainability of the nonprofit as a whole. 

Seeing inequity firsthand has informed the way I think about the financial services industry, and I continue to endeavor in my job to further democratize banking services to those who don’t traditionally have access to them. 

Q. What advice do you have for Fisher students — and graduates — about getting involved in community service?

Start with where you are and what you can do. Think about the skills you practice in your day-to-day work and life and how you can apply them to helping improve the quality of life for others. There are plenty of amazing organizations here in Columbus that would love to utilize your time, treasure and talents. Find something you are passionate about — access, education, equity ─ in a population you are passionate to serve — refugees, kids, animals — and give whatever you can, whenever you can. It will make more of a difference than you realize. 

Q. What’s a favorite memory you carry from your time at Fisher and Ohio State?

Through Fisher Serves, my MBA classmate Kaitlyn and I held a Meals on Wheels route every Sunday for LifeCare Alliance. We would pick up the meals and then spend the afternoon driving around Columbus delivering them to residents. We were often invited in, sometimes to share a coffee or tea, but mostly just to sit and chat with the recipients. We quickly realized that our meal delivery was often the only human contact that some of these (mostly elderly) citizens had during the week, and it meant a lot to them to not only receive the meals, but to connect with people. It meant even more to us. 

Q. What significance does the Excellence in Service Award hold for you — personally and professionally?

Personally, the Excellence in Service Award is a deeply meaningful honor to receive. It’s a reminder that showing up with heart, empathy and purpose matters. Service has never been a box to check — it’s a way of life rooted in gratitude for the communities that raised me and the mentors who guided me. This award reflects the values I hold most dear: lifting others, creating access and building trust through consistency and care.

Professionally, it represents the highest kind of recognition — not for individual achievement, but for collective impact. It acknowledges the unseen hours, the hard decisions and the belief that leadership is ultimately about service to something bigger than yourself. It inspires me to keep leading with intention, empowering others and advancing missions that make our world more equitable, inclusive and connected.