Gary Johnston

Gary joined Social Finance in 2018 bringing over three decades of experience leading employment and health services in Australia, the UK and Europe. He’s worked in government, as well as in private and third sector funded organisations.

Gary has been central to scaling innovative health and employment interventions at Social Finance, using implementation science to embed effective solutions into routine practice for lasting impact. His leadership has helped shape services across the NHS, GMCA, Scotland, and Europe, enabling thousands of people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities, or experiences of homelessness to access meaningful employment and better health outcomes.

He has also driven major national and international initiatives, from securing the next phase of IPSGROW to delivering groundbreaking trials such as the UK’s first RCT of employment support for people experiencing homelessness and Europe’s largest trial of IPS in primary care. By combining frontline delivery expertise with evidence generation, Gary has influenced government commissioning, unlocked significant funding, and helped build sustainable system-wide improvements that benefit both service users and wider society.