Sheila C. Johnson
CO-Founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), First African American woman billionaire.Sheila C. Johnson is the first African American woman to be an owner or partner in three professional sports franchises: the Washington Capitals (NHL), the Washington Wizards (NBA), and the Washington Mystics (WNBA). Johnson is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, a company she founded in 2005. Salamander's portfolio includes Reunion Resort located in Reunion, Florida; The Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club, a 900-acre (3.6 km2), 72-hole PGA tour golf course in Palm Harbor, FL; and The Salamander Resort & Spa in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Middleburg, VA
Johnson is a Global Ambassador for CARE, a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Sheila's I Am Powerful Challenge raised over $8 million in 2007. She serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons the New School for Design in New York and funded the opening of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, combining classrooms, public program spaces and galleries. She 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. Johnson is also the Ambassador for the Healthy Site Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity.