Early life and career

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

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 in Provo, Utah, in 1990 with a degree in journalism.

Clayson began her career at KSL-TV

KSL-TV

KSL-TV, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. KSL-TV is owned by Bonneville International Corporation, which is in turn owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

 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.

ABC News

In 1996, Jane Clayson moved to Los Angeles, California, where she worked as a correspondent for Good Morning America

Good Morning America

Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

, World News Tonight, and other ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 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.

The Early Show and CBS News

In 1999, CBS News

CBS News

CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 launched “Operation Glass Slipper,” the widely publicized search for Bryant Gumbel

Bryant Gumbel

Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...

’s co-host on The Early Show

The Early Show

The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...

. 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

48 Hours (TV series)

48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...

and The CBS Evening News.

Personal life

In September 2003, Clayson married Mark W. Johnson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 (masters in civil engineering and engineering mechanics) and Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

. They were first introduced to each other by Jane's sister. Mark had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not long before when Mark and Jane first met. 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, which he co-founded with Clayton M. Christensen

Clayton M. Christensen

Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises...

.

The couple has two young children.

She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I Am a Mother!

Clayson occasionally substitutes for host Tom Ashbrook

Tom Ashbrook

Tom Ashbrook is an American journalist and radio broadcaster. He hosts the public radio call-in program, On Point.-Early life and education:...

 on the public radio program On Point

On Point

On Point is a two-hour call-in radio show hosted by Tom Ashbrook, a former The Boston Globe foreign editor and reporter, author and Internet entrepreneur. It is produced by WBUR in Boston and syndicated by National Public Radio...

, and has produced specials for the Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...

. She also hosted BYU TV's coverage of the funeral for LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...

on February 2, 2008.

Her first book, I Am a Mother! was released in March 2007 and chronicles her decision to leave the network news business to have a family. She regularly speaks on the topic at events across the United States.

External links

• Irene Sege, "Jane Clayson Johnson Left It All Behind to Have a Baby," Boston Globe, October 12, 2004. (Accessed March 24, 2007.)
• Official CBS News bio. (Accessed March 24, 2007.)

• Jane Clayson Johnson, "I Am a Mother," 2006 Conference on the Family, American Mothers, Inc. (Accessed March 24, 2007.)

• March for Babies - PSA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ1CsZbjY0g) 2008 March of Dimes