Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Salamander Hospitality, LLC

Sheila C. Johnson, a member since 2009, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist whose accomplishments span the arenas of hospitality, sports, TV/film, the arts, education, and humanitarian causes. She is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC, a company she founded in 2005. She oversees a growing portfolio of luxury properties including: Woodlands Inn, in Summerville, South Carolina; Innisbrook, a 72-hole golf and spa resort in Innisbrook, Florida; and the Salamander Resort & Spa, which is currently under construction in Middleburg, Virginia. As President and Managing Partner of the WNBA Washington Mystics, and Vice Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, she is the first African-American woman to have a stake in three professional sports teams, including the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Capitals (NHL). A television pioneer, she is a founding partner of BET (Black Entertainment Television) and creator of the award-winning program Teen Summit. Currently, she is producing films with a humanitarian message including: Kicking It, A Powerful Noise; She Is The Matador; and her latest film, The Other City, about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Washington, DC. Named global ambassador in 2006 for CARE, a leading aid organization fighting global poverty by empowering women, she is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design in New York. A fervent supporter of the arts and education, she was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and she sits on the boards of: Americans for the Arts; the Jackie Robinson Foundation; the Tiger Woods Foundation; the University of Virginia—Curry School of Education; and the University of Illinois Foundation. An accomplished violinist, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of Illinois, as well as numerous honorary degrees from other institutions.