Doug R. Johnson has recently accepted the invitation of the Upper Columbia Conference Executive Committee and Nominating Committee to be the executive secretary of the conference. Gordon Pifher served in this position for nine years before being elected as president of the British Columbia Conference.

Johnson has worked in the Upper Columbia Conference (UCC) office for the past five years as assistant to the president, director of communication and stewardship, and as coordinator of the church ministries consulting service.

Before coming to the UCC office, he served 20 years as a pastor in the Washington and Upper Columbia conferences. His last pastorate was with the Blue Mountain Valley and Mission Native American churches in northeastern Oregon.

Author of Adventism on the Northwestern Frontier, Johnson is in the process of researching and writing a book on the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the American West. He has also developed a self-guided denominational history tour of the UCC that includes stories on cassettes and CDs.

Johnson was born in Lewiston, Idaho, and graduated from Upper Columbia Academy and Walla Walla College. He received a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in 1981. His wife, Denise (Sylvester) Johnson, is also a graduate of Walla Walla College and serves as the office secretary of UCC's ministerial and evangelism department. They are the parents of two children—Hans, who recently graduated from Walla Walla College, and Erik, who is married to Kaytlin and resides in the Walla Walla Valley.