Robert Johnson

Robert L. Johnson is the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies, an innovative business network that provides strategic investments in a diverse portfolio of companies in hotel real estate investment; private equity; financial services; asset management; insurance services; automobile dealerships; sports and entertainment; and video lottery terminal (VLT) gaming. In July 2007, Johnson was named by USA Today as one of the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years.

Prior to forming The RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson was founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation’s first and leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news, sports and public affairs programming for the African American audience.

Johnson continues to attract and manage capital and create value for investors, and in 2012, announced the successful creation of RLJ Entertainment, Inc., one of the largest independent global distributors of digital and video content. RLJ Entertainment, Inc. marks the third time Johnson has successfully taken a company public. In 1991, Johnson took BET public making the network the first African American company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

RLJ Lodging Trust, an $8 billion enterprise value hotel real estate investment trust (REIT), went public in 2011.

In 2001, Johnson sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion. In July 2007, Johnson was named, by USA Today, one of “The 25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years.”

Two of Johnson’s holding companies are ranked among the top Black-owned companies in the country on the Black Enterprise 100s list: RML Automotive, LLC and RLJ Equity Partners, LLC.

Currently, Mr. Johnson serves on the following boards: RLJ Lodging Trust; KB Home; Elevate Credit, Inc.; The Business Council; and Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Johnson holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from the University of Illinois.