Paul R. Johnston

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Secretary

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Paul Johnston is executive vice president, chief legal officer, general counsel and secretary of Thrivent, a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization.

In his role, Johnston leads the legal, compliance, corporate governance, privacy, corporate security, government affairs and business resilience functions that are responsible for ensuring Thrivent delivers on its strategic priorities and maintains a strong and trusted reputation, along with Thrivent’s commercial operations team. Johnston is driving change in the organization to pursue appropriate risk aligned with growth to enable Thrivent’s transformation agenda.

Before coming to Thrivent in 2006, Johnston was vice president and group counsel at American Express Company (now Ameriprise Financial), where he served as corporate secretary for 70 affiliated corporate entities; chief counsel for three insurance companies; and risk management counsel and legal officer for affiliated life insurance companies and broker-dealers. He previously was vice president of government affairs for American Express.

In addition to his corporate experience, Johnston has served as adjunct professor of financial services law and regulation at the University of Minnesota Law School, general counsel of a New York-based financial services trade association, and a business law associate of a Minneapolis law firm. He serves on the board of directors of Sargasso Mutual Insurance Company and the Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis.

Johnston holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Saint John’s University.