Dr. Christine Johns named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan by Crain's Detroit Business

Utica Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Christine Johns has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan by Crain’s Detroit Business.

Crain's Detroit Business – a leading southeastern Michigan business magazine - is once again honoring 100 of the state’s most influential women who are proven leaders driving key decisions in industry, academia and in civic and policy organizations.

Dr. Johns was selected from a pool of more than 300 prospective women nominees. Final selections were determined in-house by Crain’s top editors and their publisher.

This year's report on the Most Influential Women in Michigan continues a tradition kicked off in 1997. The feature was also published in 2002 and 2007.

Dr. Johns leads Michigan's second largest school district, with an enrollment of 28,100, approximately 4,000 employees and an annual budget of $281 million.

The district’s student achievement levels outpace county, state and national levels. The district’s graduation rate is 92.4 percent and daily attendance for 2015-16 is at 96.1 percent.

Utica Community Schools students, staff programs and services are regularly honored for excellence at the county, state and national levels.

As part of the award, Dr. Johns was asked to provide advice to young women interested in the education profession. She advised young women to aspire to higher leadership roles.

Noting that the teaching profession is made up of approximately 80 percent women, while only 25 percent of executive leadership positions are women, Dr. Johns said: "Teachers are natural leaders in their classrooms. We need to take that leadership to the executive level."  For more information: www.crainsdetroit.com/women