Along with working full-time on his dissertation study (examining different types of political leadership), as part of his doctoral work at Columbia; Johnny Welch is deeply involved in the growth and development of Veritas Leadership—an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, campaigning organization dedicated to developing citizen leaders as a means of advancing freedom and democracy. Johnny's broad experience ranges from serving as the program manager for the Columbia Coaching Certification Program, to corporate training—with clients that have included Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Kawasaki, and New York Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell—to teaching undergraduate and graduate business courses at Chapman University in Southern California. He has also been intimately involved with coaching leadership teams in large ministries to serving in the offices of members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Johnny Welch is currently a doctoral candidate in the department of Organization and Leadership at Columbia University. He earned his master's degree in business administration from San Diego State University and a master's degree in ethics and public management from Harvard.

In his free time, Johnny enjoys weightlifting, running, traveling and, above all, surfing on some clean, hollow, warm water waves.