Who We Are

Neil Johnston became CEO in July 2022.

He is humbled to have been tasked to lead the initiative of establishing Canada’s Centre for Dyslexia – and deepening our commitment to the wider community. “There is an urgent opportunity before us; we can and must do more to serve and reach the 20% of children with dyslexia. We are uniquely poised with some of the world’s most highly skilled educators to further share that expertise and increase our value to the education system and society.”

Mr. Johnston joined FA as Director of Advancement in January 2019. He was motivated to join the FA community given the injustice, barriers and risks that students with dyslexia face in education and life. That motivation was strengthened by subsequently discovering that he and his wife’s children are both dyslexic – their daughter is now a proud FA graduate successfully paving her way at university, and their son benefits from the FAx outreach programs.

Mr. Johnston is a member of the globally renowned Orton-Gillingham Academy, and has completed FA’s Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator program.

His career spans almost 30 years with experience in both the private sector as a corporate lawyer at leading U.K. firms (since 1997), and in the non-profit education sector (since 2006) in leadership roles.

A recognized non-profit executive, Mr. Johnston was previously Vice President, Development at Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, a globally renowned $70M+ post-secondary institute specializing in arts and leadership programs with national and international reach.

A dynamic leader, proven in strategic thinking and delivering outstanding results, Mr. Johnston has a track record of developing teams, relationships and partnerships in service of building and optimizing organizational capacity for greater community impact.

Mr. Johnston shares: “Our family has experienced a similar story to countless other families and students. I’ve seen and personally experienced how our leading programs transform educational journeys, and ultimately change lives. We were founded to build the bridges and connect the gaps in society that are caused by the systemic marginalization of not addressing dyslexia. That deep commitment to community has now brought us to a point to proudly lead, and collaborate on, change in Canada.”