Jane Clayson Johnson is an Emmy-winning journalist and author. Clayson was born April 25, 1967, and spent most of her childhood in Sacramento, California. She played with the Sacramento Youth Symphony and is an accomplished violinist. She graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 1990 with a degree in journalism. Clayson began her career at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah (1990–1996). While at KSL, she traveled to China to write and produce a series of stories about American doctors assisting Chinese children with disabilities. Her work there earned a regional Emmy. She also received the Radio and Television News Directors of America’s Edward R. Murrow Award while at KSL.

In 1996, Jane Clayson moved to Los Angeles, California, where she worked as a correspondent for Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and other ABC News broadcasts. Her work included coverage of Senator Bob Dole’s 1996 Presidential campaign, the OJ Simpson civil trial, and NATO’s strikes against Kosovo and the resulting refugee crisis in Macedonia. In 1999, CBS News launched “Operation Glass Slipper,” the widely publicized search for Bryant Gumbel’s co-host on The Early Show. On November 1, 1999, Clayson was chosen, and joined Gumbel for the show’s first broadcast. From 1999 to 2002 she anchored The Early Show through the new Millennium, the inauguration of President George W. Bush, and the attacks on September 11, 2001. In 2002, Jane Clayson became a correspondent for CBS News. She regularly reported for “Eye on America” segments and contributed to both 48 Hours and The CBS Evening News.

In September 2003, Clayson married Mark Johnson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard Business School. She left CBS three months later (December 2003) to join her husband in Boston, where he is president and cofounder of the management consulting firm, Innosight. The couple has two young children.