Robert L. Johnson (CEO of Black Entertainment Television)

Robert L. Johnson "is the founder, chairman and CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and the majority owner of the the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association. Johnson grew up in Illinois and earned a graduate degree from Princeton in international affairs. In the early 1970s Johnson found himself in Washington, D.C. and in the midst of the expansion of cable television. After a few years as a lobbyist for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Johnson borrowed money to start his own cable brand, BET. It launched in 1980 and was profitable within five years. In the early '90s BET became the first African-American-controlled company to be traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998 Johnson bought it back and then sold it to Viacom, pocketing a reported $1.5 billion himself and retaining his position as chairman and CEO. Since then Johnson has continued to expand and diversify the BET brand, and in 2003 he was approved by the NBA to own and operate a new franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats." 

He is a trustee of the Brookings Institution and he sits on the advisory board of the Children's Scholarship Fund.