Cherry Hill Woman Named Executive Producer Of '20/20'

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A Cherry Hill woman has been promoted to the role of executive producer for one of the country’s most recognized news shows.

Janice Johnston has been promoted to Executive Producer for “20/20,” ABC announced. She’ll report to David Sloan, Senior Executive Producer of Network Primetime Content, who oversees ABC News’ entire portfolio of prime time programming.

Johnston is just the fourth person to serve as an executive producer for the show in nearly 43 years, according to the entertainment company. She currently serves as a senior producer for the show, overseeing “20/20’” two-hour broadcast on Vanessa Guillen and three breaking news specials on the coronavirus pandemic.

She also led two-hour “20/20” events on John Lennon’s life, legacy and last days, the Yosemite Serial Killer and Robin Roberts’ interviews with three women kidnapped and held captive in Cleveland for a decade.

The Cherry Hill resident and Moorestown Friends School Trustee has spent 22 years with ABC News. Johnston has senior produced and directed dozens of prime time specials, including the Emmy-winning town hall The President and The People, Highwire Over Niagara Falls: LIVE, the CMA Awards In the Spotlight series, and entertainment documentaries on Dolly Parton, Bobby Brown, and Luke Bryan, among others.

She’s overseen productions on location all over the world, from Hawaiian volcanoes and Mount Kenya to Taylor Swift’s house and the White House.

Johnston has won multiple awards, including six Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, two duPont Silver Batons, a Salute to Excellence Award from the NABJ, The Cine Golden Eagle, a Gracie Award, a Christopher Award, a National Headliner Award and other specialized honors.

Before joining “20/20” in 2008, Johnston was a Supervising Producer on “Good Morning America,” where she spent 10 years. She began at ABC News as a Network Associate, producing segments for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and World News Now.

Johnston is also an attorney, who practiced corporate litigation and spent a year representing pro bono clients in housing court, and was a speechwriter in the Senate.

A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, she graduated from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.