AGA NLT 2025

Cardell Johnson
Managing Director, Strategic Issues
GAO


Cardell Johnson is the Managing Director of GAO’s Strategic Issues (SI) team, where he leads enterprise-level oversight that helps Congress address some of the nation’s most complex and consequential challenges. SI’s work spans government-wide governance, strategy, performance, and resource issues—including the nation’s fiscal health, Census operations, tax policy and administration, and federal workforce planning. In this role, Cardell also oversees GAO’s efforts that cut across the federal government, most notably GAO’s High-Risk Program and the annual Duplication, Overlap, and Fragmentation reports. This work identifies agencies and programs vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, or those in need of transformation, and plays a critical role in strengthening government effectiveness and accountability. Prior to joining GAO, Cardell held roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General and the Environmental Protection Agency. Across nearly two decades of federal service, he has built deep expertise in organizational transformation, process improvement, and people-centered leadership. Cardell holds a Master of Public Administration from Indiana University–Bloomington’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

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