Sonia Nga Johnston, who got here to Northern Virginia as a refugee following the Vietnam Battle and climbed the ladder of success within the native banking trade, will probably be enshrined into the Arlington Enterprise Corridor of Fame this spring.
The announcement was made March 4 by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the award, offered to a number of native leaders yearly since 2009.
Johnston “is really an Arlington enterprise icon,” Chamber president Kate Bates stated. “She is thought for her persuasiveness, but additionally for her coronary heart. Sonia pays it ahead, working to supply alternatives for all, particularly for small companies and nonprofit organizations.”
Born as To Nga in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Johnston served as an interpreter for the U.S. authorities in Saigon throughout the Vietnam Battle. After the conflict, she fled the nation with hundreds of different refugees, immigrating first to California after which, in 1976, to Northern Virginia, and finally was in a position to help most of her giant prolonged household in coming to the U.S. by the early Eighties.
Johnston efficiently developed a banking profession, most not too long ago as Arlington area president of John Marshall Financial institution and beforehand with stints at Virginia Commerce Financial institution and James Monroe Financial institution.
“I had nothing, and right here I’m,” Johnston stated as a part of a July 2021 program hosted by the Arlington Optimist Membership. In the course of the occasion, she praised the assist she had obtained throughout her early years within the U.S. and all through her skilled profession.
“You’ll be able to’t do it by your self,” stated Johnston, who in 1992 married Warren Johnston, who had served within the U.S. army in Vietnam and had recognized her household when there. Warren Johnston died three years in the past.
Sonia Johnston additionally has served the neighborhood with management positions with the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Management Middle for Excellence, PathForward, Warren G. Stambaugh Basis, Arlington Skilled Enterprise Girls, Asian-American Enterprise Council, Arlington Kiwanis Membership and Arlington Group Basis.
“She is an excellent, skilled banker,” stated native enterprise government and entrepreneur Lola Reinsch, a member of the Optimist Membership, responding to the 2021 presentation by Johnston and her niece Monique To.
Reinsch knew of Johnston’s skilled background, however was not that conversant in her household’s odyssey in getting from Vietnam to the U.S. “I used to be so impressed,” she stated after the presentation.
The induction ceremony will probably be held as a part of the Chamber’s Greatest Enterprise Awards, to be held on Might 25. Johnston will be part of earlier inductees which have included Giuseppe Cecchi, Robert Smith, William Buck, John Shooshan, Emerson Reinsch, Russell Hitt, Sidney Dewberry, Ashton Jones, W. Sydney Albrittain, James Cole, Jonathan Kinney, Joseph Wholey, Mort Zetlin, Dr. Kenneth Haggerty, Fred Burroughs, Preston Caruthers, Joel Broyhill, Herb Morgan, Elizabeth Campbell, Dr. Jack London, Neal Nichols, Henry Lampe, David Guernsey, Bob Peck, Wealthy Doud, John Milliken, Scott McGeary and Erik Gutshall.
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