The Oklahoma State University Alumni Association is honoring Dr. Myriah Johnson and ten others as the inaugural recipients of the OSU Outstanding Young Alumni Award.
This award recognizes alumni of the Cowboy family who are age 40 or younger who have distinguished themselves through their profession and the betterment of their community while serving as a champion for OSU.
Dr. Myriah Johnson graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in agricultural economics in 2009. She went on to earn her master’s degree in agricultural economics and a Ph.D. in animal science from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Johnson grew up on a cattle, wheat and soybean farm in Perry, Oklahoma and remains involved in the operation with her family.
She joined Farm Credit Services of America in June 2022 as vice president of corporate sustainability to start and build their sustainability program. In doing so, she has launched work across multiple internal business units and conducted innovative sustainable agricultural finance research. Further, as one of the early Farm Credit Associations involved in this area, she has heavily influenced the philosophy and position of the entire Farm Credit System on the topic of sustainability. In May 2024, Johnson joined the Farm Credit System’s Sustainability workgroup.
Previously, as senior director at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Johnson led the Beef Checkoff’s sustainability research program and expanded the focus of the program to be more holistic, including not just environmental, but also the economic and social aspects. She started her career as an agricultural economics consultant at the Noble Research Institute, working with beef producers to optimize their production. There she became involved with the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB), a multi-stakeholder initiative developed to advance, support and communicate continuous improvement in sustainability of the U.S. beef value chain. An outgrowth of that involvement was co-leading the Integrity Beef Sustainability Pilot Project which validated, tracked and traced beef sustainability claims across 36 ranches, 92,577 acres, and 3.5 million pounds of beef.
Today, Dr. Johnson serves on USRSB’s Board of Directors and as co-chair of the USRSB Goals & Progress Working Group which is tasked with establishing the methodology and tracking progress toward achieving the High-Priority Indicator Goals & Sector Targets released in 2022 for the entire U.S. beef supply chain.
Johnson and her husband, Chris Looney, have two daughters, Sheridan and Sloane. They love attending America’s Greatest Homecoming™ each year and attending OSU sporting events as they are able. Johnson is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.
