MICHELE JOHNSON
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Michele Johnson is co-founder and Executive Director of the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC), where her nationally recognized legal work has focused on children with special health care needs. She successfully lobbied to extend health care coverage to uninsured children in working families and participated in a landmark case establishing appeal rights for TennCare patients denied care by their HMO. As lead counsel, she negotiated a class action settlement requiring comprehensive reform of health care for 665,000 Tennessee children enrolled in TennCare.
A fourth-generation Nashvillian, Michele attended the University of Tennessee, graduating with Highest Honors in 1990, and later earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. After graduation, she received a grant from Southern Community Partners, a project of the Lynhurst Foundation, to educate low-income families about their children’s legal rights and help them access medically necessary care. In 1996, she left Legal Services to co-found the Tennessee Justice Center with support from Equal Justice Works (formerly the National Association of Public Interest Law). She became Executive Director of TJC in 2014.
Michele is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences on topics including due process, children’s health care metrics, faith and social justice work, effective social media, and fundraising. She has also been a trusted commentator on health law for local and national media.
Her work has earned numerous honors and recognitions, including the Child Advocacy Award from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Public Interest Attorney of the Year from the Tennessee Bar Association, and the Ashley Wiltshire Public Interest Attorney of the Year Award. She has been recognized as a “Woman to Watch,” repeatedly named “InCharge HealthCare Middle Tennessee” by Nashville Medical News, honored as a “Health Care Hero” and repeat “Best of the Bar” recipient by the Nashville Business Journal, and named a finalist for Tennessean of the Year by The Tennessean. More recently, Michele received the Nashville Bar Association’s highest honor, the John C. Tune Award, was named CEO of the Year by the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, and was inducted into the YWCA Academy for Women of Achievement.
Additional honors include the Tennessee Alliance for Progress Long Haul Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Tennessee Voices for Children, and recognition by Father Ryan High School in Irish Ayes magazine as one of five alumni “dedicated to improving life for the next generation of their family.” Michele is both a Nashville Bar Association Fellow and Tennessee Bar Association Fellow.
Michele serves on the Board of Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the St. Thomas Mission and Advocacy Committee. From 2018 to 2026, she served on the board of the National Health Law Program and continues to serve on its development committee. She has previously served on and led boards including Tennessee Voices for Children, the Nashville Bar Association Board of Directors, and the Tennessee Hemophilia and Bleeding Disorders Foundation. She is also the former chair of the Christ the King School Board, served on the Parish Pastoral Council at Christ the King Church, and coaches the Mock Trial team at Father Ryan High School.
Michele is married to Jeff Hill, an Oak Ridge native, and together they are parents to three sons. An avid runner, she spends her free time with her large extended family.