SACRAMENTO-

Mayor Kevin Johnson will become the 72nd President of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) after serving as the conference’s vice president for the past year.

“I’m just so excited. I’m nervous. I’m thrilled,” Georgia West, Kevin Johnson’s mother, told FOX40 on Wednesday. Lots of folks around town know her as Mother Rose.

As president, Johnson will have several tasks and responsibilities, including presiding over all official meetings, developing and advocating for the bipartisan agenda adopted by the nation’s mayors and serving as the organization’s national and global spokesperson.

“Sacramento will benefit because we will be able to cement relationships at the White House, with Cabinet Secretaries, with Congress,” Johnson said.

What about his own career? Here’s a successful NBA athlete who has gained some political notoriety, with the help of the NBA, by arranging a deal to keep the Kings in Sacramento  and to build a new state-of-the-art arena here. In short: KJ’s got momentum.

Does this role in the conference of mayors suggest Johnson has an eye on a higher political prize beyond being Sacramento’s chief executive?

“I don’t know if it’s a stepping stone, but it’s a stepping stone to putting Sacramento in a better position over the next year,” Johnson said.

Mother Rose puts it a different way.

“The sky is the limit, I’ll say that,” she said.

For now Johnson’s term as head of the Conference is slated to run until June 2015.

Greg Cotta contributed to this report.