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The two co-chairs of the Ferguson Commission announced Monday that they have hired a fellow commission member to run the organization’s day-to-day operations.

Bethany A. Johnson-Javois, chief executive officer of St. Louis Integrated Health Network, will become the commission’s managing director effective Jan. 15.

The commission was created by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to address the economic and social conditions highlighted by months of protests following the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.

Johnson-Javois, 40, will be paid $138,915 annually — the same salary she earns in her role running the Integrated Health Network. She will take a leave of absence from that job.

Rich McClure, co-chair of the commission, said that the commission had worked with “volunteers in the executive search business� who helped him and co-chair Starsky Wilson select Johnson-Javois.

McClure declined to say how many other candidates were interviewed.

Johnson-Javois is a trustee for the Deaconess Foundation where Wilson is the president and CEO. 

The commission voted unanimously to delegate the authority to hire a managing director to Wilson and McClure at its first meeting on Dec. 1. 

As managing director, Johnson-Javois will assemble the commission’s staff, and oversee community engagement and commission activities, including meetings, work groups and initiatives. She will also help develop a report outlining the commission’s findings and recommendations that is due in September.

Johnson-Javois will no longer be a commission member; instead she will serve in an ex-officio capacity, according to a news release.

Johnson-Javois said she had personal and professional reasons for wanting to serve the commission. She said a family member lives about a block away from where Brown was shot. She also said serving the commission is an extension of her job at Integrated Health Network which helps provide health care to medically underserved people the area.

The commission has yet to establish a budget. McClure said Johnson-Javois would work on that process over the next couple of weeks.

In November, the Missouri Development Finance Board approved a $100,000 grant for the commission. The bulk of the remaining money is expected to come through private donations.

On Monday, six local philanthropic organizations announced they would give a total of $150,000 to the commission, including $25,000 from the Deaconess Foundation.

The Missouri Foundation for Health donated $100,000; Greater St. Louis Community Foundation is giving $10,000; and the Incarnate Word Foundation, Daughters of Charity Foundation of St. Louis and Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis are each giving $5,000.