On November 4, 2003, Van R. Johnson, II, was elected to the Savannah, GA City Council as the representative for Savannah's 1st District.  On January 8, 2004, during his first Council meeting,  he was selected by his peers to serve as Vice Chairman of the Savannah City Council.

On November 6, 2007, Alderman Johnson was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term on the Savannah City Council with 91% of the total vote.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, he was educated in the New York City Public School System. He further matriculated at Savannah State College, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and later, Master of Public Administration Degrees from Savannah State and Georgia Southern Universities.

In Savannah, GA since 1985, Mr. Johnson has served as Minister of Music, Musical Director or Associate Musician to many of Savannah's  finest churches and singing aggregations. He is the Founder of God's Project, a local gospel organization that has donated over $20,000 to local non profit organizations.

He was a recognized air personality on XM 33 Satellite Radio and WSOK 1230 AM and was the host of "Open Line Outreach" for five years. He was also a featured weekly columnist in the Savannah Tribune and the Savannah Herald Newspapers.  A former Chatham County Police Officer, he was one of the first School Resource Officers in Chatham County.  He is still actively involved in law enforcement, providing training to members of the Chatham County Sheriff's Department as a State of Georgia certified law enforcement instructor. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the Society for Human Resources Management.  He is currently employed by Chatham County Government as the Employee Services and Training Manager for the organization.  He serves as the Director for the Chatham County Youth Commission, the Savannah Youth Council and he is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Johnson Group, Inc., which provides private consultation, motivational, training, and musical services.

A graduate and former Vice President of Leadership Savannah and a graduate of Leadership Georgia, his current affiliations include: Georgia Municipal Association, National League of Cities, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Fraternal Order of Police, Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Life Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Pi Alpha Alpha, and Pi Gamma Mu.

Active in the Community, Alderman Johnson serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chatham County Department of Family and Children Services, President of the Board of the Wesley Community Centers, Founding President of the Savannah Metropolitan Chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) and presently serves on the following Board of Directors: National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO), the Big Brother/Big Sister Program of the Coastal Empire, the Big Kidz Foundation and the Goodness and Mercy Foundation. In 2010, he was selected by the Georgia Governor Perdue and the Obama Administration to serve on the Selective Service Local Board.