Rick Johnson Managing Director Rick Johnson is the Managing Director of Lake Research Partners. Rick joined LRP in 2004 as a Senior Analyst after working for General Mills in Golden Valley, Minnesota where he served as an internal consultant for their Consumer Insights unit. He has also worked for Synovate where he oversaw the creation of new products & managed joint ventures, and the Gallup Organization where he ran their health care division in the Midwest. Rick served on the Minnesota Chicano/Latino Affairs Council by appointment from Gov. Jesse Ventura, was elected to the Illinois District 65 School Board, and was awarded Amnesty International's Ralph J. Bunche Fellowship, working on the abolition of capital punishment, diversity, helping to end torture practices, and working with student groups. A native Chicagoan, he received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was recognized as one of the top 100 graduating students, and was the commencement speaker. He did his graduate work in public policy at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, and did additional graduate work at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School as a Wilson Fellow. He currently serves on the Board of Casa de Esperanza, a national leader in ending domestic violence in the Latino community, and the Board of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. He also enjoys traveling with wife and three children to see America's hidden treasures, and has one of the largest collections of signed books in North America.