Mark E. Johnson earned an MS (1974) and a PhD (1976) in industrial and management engineering at the University of Iowa. After high school, he pursued a BA in mathematics at Iowa (1973, highest distinction, Phi Beta Kappa). A chance encounter led him to operations research and simulation. He joined Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 1976, defending his dissertation later that year. His dissertation inspired his book, Multivariate Statistical Simulation (1987). At LANL (1976-1988), he worked on various projects, earning recognition as a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1988. 

Johnson transitioned to academia, becoming a professor at Georgia Tech (1988-1990) and then chair of Statistics at the University of Central Florida (1990-1996), continuing as professor and professor emeritus until 2017. In 1996, he began consulting with the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, leveraging his expertise from the International Standards Organization. 

His research, including award-winning papers on catastrophe risk, has been published in numerous journals. Johnson's work in Industrial Engineering has spanned catastrophe modeling, forensic handwriting analysis, and health care fraud. He resides in central Florida, continuing his work with the Florida Commission.