Phil Castle, The Business Times

Kelly Johnston makes it her business to help businesses, whether that’s mom and pop shops or the hospitals and other health care providers to which her firm provides accounting and consulting services.

Johnston plans to pursue the same objective in another, new role for her as chairwoman of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She expects the chamber to continue its mission to advocate for businesses and provide the resources they need to operate successful ventures in what can be an uncertain environment.

She also expects her term as chairwoman to be a lot like what she’s already enjoyed as a member of the chamber and its board. “My experience with the chamber has been amazing.”

Johnston will begin her one-year term in January. She’ll succeed Andrew Golike, plant manager at the CoorsTek manufacturing facility in Grand Junction.

Johnston serves as president of JFS, an accounting and consulting firm she founded in 2016. The firm initially provided services to small businesses, but expanded to serve hospitals and other health care providers, particularly those in rural areas.

What started as a one-woman operation has grown to staff of 12 spread out over eight states. That’s not to mention one member of the staff who works from the Philippines. JFS passed an important milestone this year, Johnston says, in earning gross revenues above $1 million.

JFS received additional recognition this year as a finalist in the 2023 Colorado Companies to Watch awards program honoring fast-growing, privately held companies headquartered in the state.

JFS serves small businesses, construction firms and nonprofit organizations. But the firm is most heavily involved in the health care sector, Johnston says. JFS offers a range of accounting and support services to hospitals and other health care provides in addition to strategic planning and positioning. Johnston and her firm serve as chief financial officer for some hospitals.

JFS combines what’s been a lifelong interest for Johnson in health care and finances.

She grew up in Loma, participating in 4-H and FFA programs and riding horses.

She worked as a certified nursing assistant, but received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction

She subsequently received a master’s degree in accounting from Regis University. She worked for a time as a certified public accountant with a firm in Denver, but returned to the Grand Valley.“I’m not a city girl, so I moved back.”

Over the course of her career, Johnston has worked in various positions with Family Health West, Mind Springs Health and Rocky Mountain Orthopedics as well as Autopaychecks.

Johnston considers finance the language of business and says she enjoys translating numbers into English so clients better understand their operations. The goal, she says, is to help them make money to continue those operations. That’s especially important for hospitals that provide critical health care services, she says.

She insists clients meet with her firm on a regular basis to go over financial decisions. “The clients really value it.”

Johnston worked for a time as an adjunct accounting instructor at CMU. She continues to serve as a trainer with Small Business Development Centers and developed online instruction used statewide.

She also serves on the board of directors of the Freedom & Responsibility Education Enterprise Foundation, a Grand Junction-based organization that provides resources to students and teachers in Western Colorado to promote financial literary and an understanding of economics and free enterprise.

Johnston has served on the boards of both the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and Young Professionals Network of Mesa County and says she hopes to build on the collaboration between the two organizations.

She also stresses the importance of collaborations among the chamber and other organizations, including the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, Mesa County Workforce Center and local governments. “It’s huge.”

At the same time, though, she says the chamber serves yet another important role in providing needed resources to businesses as well as connecting businesses with those resources available elsewhere.

Many business owners and managers have delayed important decisions because of uncertainty over the economy and regulations, Johnston says. That uncertainty has become something of a new normal. The chamber can help, she says, by keeping them informed.

Johnston makes it her business to help businesses. She says her objective as chamber chairwoman and the mission of the organization is the same: to help businesses.