Payson Edward Johnston

Payson Johnston is an entrepreneur, educator, and scholar who integrates industry innovation with academic insight. He serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at the NOVA Entrepreneur Center, where he leads programs supported by a Launch Tennessee grant. His career began in global supply chain leadership at Cisco, where he managed complex operational networks across multiple regions. This experience shaped his systems-based approach to business and later informed the creation of fintech ventures, including Crowdz, which attracted investment from Barclays and Citibank.

Johnston teaches at the University of Tennessee Southern, focusing on ethical leadership, responsible innovation, and real-world application. His training in philosophical theology, business, and the humanities deepens his conviction that commerce shaped by calling and character can serve the common good. His combined experience in global operations, innovation, governance, and organizational development translates well to school-level administration, and his dedication to excellence in teaching advances the academic mission.

• Appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Co-founder for the NOVA Entrepreneur Center (EC) to create, lead, teach, and mentor in educational programs supported by a Launch Tennessee grant (LaunchTN).
  
  
• Co-founded two fintech startups and raised $28 million in venture capital while facilitating $95 million in financing for small and medium-sized businesses.
  
  
• Instructor in business ethics, entrepreneurship, and management, teaching undergraduates at UT Southern, as well as MBA and executive courses at the University of San Francisco and the UC Berkeley Extension.

• Published thought leader with contributions in FinTech journal, WTO and World Economic Forum policy reports, and Forbes, and a frequent speaker at international fintech, academic, and innovation events.

Johnston’s research explores the intersection of business, entrepreneurship, technology, and theological ethics. His recent work includes a peer-reviewed article in the FinTech journal on innovation in credit risk scoring, as well as a presentation at the ACBSP Region 3 Conference on the topic of Rural Frontier Entrepreneurship. His doctoral research investigates a virtue-based metaethic for the formation of capital, positioning commerce as a moral and theological endeavor that can support human flourishing. The approved title of his PhD dissertation at the University of Aberdeen: The Calling of Commerce: A Metaethic for the Formation of Capital.