Sheila C. Johnson
Sheila C. Johnson, an impassioned philanthropist with a unique talent for creating successful businesses, is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC, President & Managing Partner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and a partner in Lincoln Holdings, LLC. She also serves as a Global Ambassador for CARE, a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.
Johnson was named ambassador for CARE in 2006. In her role, she acts as an integral part of the organization’s “I Am Powerful” campaign, designed to allow women of all ages to become catalysts for change and vital members of impoverished communities throughout the world.
As CEO of Salamander Hospitality, a company she founded in 2005, Ms. Johnson oversees a growing portfolio of luxury properties, including: Market Salamander, a European-style chef’s market with locations in Middleburg, VA and Palm Beach, FL, and the Woodlands Resort & Inn, in Summerville, SC, one of only three resorts in the U.S. to receive the prestigious Mobil five-star rating for lodging and the equally prestigious AAA five-diamond rating for food. The Woodlands was selected in a 2007
Travel + Leisure poll as the #2-ranked hotel in the U.S. and Canada. In 2007, Salamander added Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club to its roster of properties. And in 2008, the company broke ground on Salamander Resort & Spa, which is being developed in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Middleburg, VA, and promises to be one of the most opulent and eagerly anticipated luxury resorts to open in the U.S. in the past 25 years.
As President & Managing Partner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, and a partner in Lincoln Holdings, Ms. Johnson is the only woman in history to have a stake in three professional sports teams, including the Washington Wizards of the NBA and the NHL’s Washington Capitals
An avid supporter of the arts and an accomplished violinist, Johnson dedicates her time to organizations that create opportunities for children and young adults to express and explore their creative sides. She serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Parsons The New School for Design in New York. She was also the major benefactor of that institution’s new student facility, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. Ms. Johnson also sits on the boards of VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, Americans for the Arts, the Curry School of Education Foundation at the University of Virginia, and the University of Illinois Foundation.
As a film producer, she continues to support talented filmmakers whose stories shed light on issues about which she is most passionate. Her first film,
Kicking It, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. And her second,
A Powerful Noise, is currently in competition for one of the final slots in New York’s highly regarded Tribeca Film Festival.
As a founding partner of Black Entertainment Television (BET), her crowning achievement was the award-winning Teen Summit, a weekly program giving teens a chance to talk frankly about critical issues.
A graduate of the University of Illinois, she received a Bachelor of Arts in music, as well as honorary degrees from numerous other institutions. Of all Ms. Johnson’s accomplishments, however, the one that gives her the greatest sense of peace is her role as mother to her two beautiful children.