Brett M. Johnson

Last updated
Brett M. Johnson
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materBrown University, Pepperdine University, Harvard Business School (President’s Leadership Program)
Occupation(s)Businessman, founder and CEO of Benevolent Capital, founder and partner of Fortuitous Partners, owner/investor in Ipswich Town FC, Phoenix Rising FC, and Rhode Island FC

Brett M. Johnson is an American businessman, founder and CEO of Benevolent Capital, which invests in professional sports, real estate, private equity, and venture capital. He is also the founder and partner of Fortuitous Partners. [1] Johnson owns or invests in several football clubs, including Ipswich Town F.C., Phoenix Rising FC., and Rhode Island FC. [2] [3] [4] [5] He is also an investor in Ōura, a health technology company known for its smart rings, and Athletic Brewing, a craft non-alcoholic beer company. [6] [7] [8]

Brett Johnson received his Undergraduate Degree from Brown University and MBA from Pepperdine University. [1] [2]

Johnson began his professional career as an associate at Montgomery Securities in 1994, where he worked for one year. He then joined Targus, a global mobile computing accessories company, where he held several positions over ten years, including sales director, managing director for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, and president. [2] [9]

Brett Johnson founded Benevolent Capital in 2005, a private equity fund with investments in real estate, manufacturing, and consumer brands, and has been serving as CEO since its inception. [10]

In August 2010, Johnson became CEO of Forward Industries, a NASDAQ-listed company that designs and markets accessories for consumer electronics, where he served until August 2012. [11] He then joined Greenwood & Hall, an education management company, serving as president from 2013 to 2015. [12] [13] Concurrently, from 2012 to 2015, Johnson was a board member at Blyth Inc., a multichannel direct selling company. [14]

In 2014, he graduated from the Harvard Business School's President's Leadership Program. [15] In 2015, he cofounded and became president and co-chairman of Phoenix Rising Football Club (then known as Arizona United SC). [2] [16]

In 2018, Johnson founded Fortuitous Partners, that invests in sports related real estate developments, including Tidewater Landing stadium and development in Rhode Island. [9] [17] Johnson is a pioneer in the development of “Sports as an Asset Class,” positioning it as a lucrative and emerging investment opportunity. [18] [19] [20] [21]

He was the director of the Danish football club Helsingør from 2019 until August 2022. [4] [22] Johnson became director and shareholder of the professional English football club Ipswich Town FC in 2021. [2] [4] [15]

In 2022, he co-founded and became chairman of the Rhode Island FC. [23] [24] Johnson is a member of the board of trustees for Choate Rosemary Hall. He is also a Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship and sits on the Board of Visitors for the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University. In 2021, Johnson was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, the institution’s highest honor. [6] [25] He is an active member of the Young Presidents' Organization. [26]

Personal life

Johnson is married and has three children. [2] [27] He resides in Los Angeles. [10] Brett enjoys playing tennis and going on hikes in his free time. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepperdine University</span> Christian university in Los Angeles County, California

Pepperdine University is a private Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. Founded by entrepreneur George Pepperdine in South Los Angeles in 1937, the school expanded to Malibu in 1972. Courses are now taught at a main Malibu campus, three graduate campuses in Southern California, a center in Washington, D.C., and international campuses in Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, United Kingdom; Heidelberg, Germany; Florence, Italy; and Blonay – Saint-Légier, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sheepshanks</span> British businessman

David Richard Sheepshanks is the founding and current Chairman of the St George's Park National Football Centre and former chairman of Ipswich Town FC. He is also former chairman of UK Community Foundations (UKCF), the umbrella organisation for all community foundations in the UK, providing philanthropic advice to clients and delivering UK-wide grant-making programmes. Other business interests include non-executive roles with Coutts Bank, 21st Club and Onside Law. Past business interests included Starfish Ltd 1980–1990 and Suffolk Foods Ltd which he founded in 1990 with his brother Rick and where he was chairman and a majority shareholder before selling in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Burke</span> American businessman (1925–2012)

James Edward Burke was an American businessman who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from 1976 to 1989, where he worked for forty years. The company's revenue tripled to more than $9 billion under his tenure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Chenault</span> American business executive

Kenneth Irvine Chenault is an American business executive. He was the CEO and Chairman of American Express from 2001 until 2018. He is currently the Chairman of the global venture capital firm General Catalyst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett Pitman</span> Footballer (born 1988)

Brett Douglas Pitman is a Jèrriais footballer who plays as a forward for Baffins Milton Rovers. He spent most of his professional career at AFC Bournemouth in two separate spells, totalling 102 goals in 301 games.

Marcus Paul Bruce Evans is an English businessman. He is originally from Walsham-le-Willows, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, but grew up near Wimbledon, London. He founded his company, Marcus Evans, in 1983. The group organises live business, sports and entertainment events around the world. Its global regional head offices are in Dublin, Chicago, and APAC – Kuala Lumpur.

Equinox Holdings, Inc. is an American luxury fitness company and health club headquartered in New York City, New York. The company operates more than 300 club facilities in major cities in the United States, as well as in London, Toronto, and Vancouver in Canada.

Macmillan Inc. was an American book publishing company originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers. The two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original American division of Macmillan present in McGraw-Hill Education's Macmillan/McGraw-Hill textbooks, Gale's Macmillan Reference USA division, and some trade imprints of Simon & Schuster that were transferred when both companies were owned by Paramount Communications.

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Graduate business school of Pepperdine University

The Pepperdine Graziadio Business School is the graduate business school of Pepperdine University, a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. The school offers doctorate, MBA, MS, and executive degree programs. It is one of the largest graduate business schools in Southern California with more than 41,000 alumni and is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The business school was established in 1969 and named in honor of George L. Graziadio, Jr., after he donated US$15 million in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Samuels (political activist)</span> American businessman and activist (born 1943)

William Christie Samuels is a political activist and businessman who resided in New York and now lives in Rhode Island. He was the founder of the good government group EffectiveNY and is currently the chairman of the board of the Howard Samuels Policy Center. He was awarded the 2011 Common Cause Award for outstanding commitment to government and as an innovating political thinker and the 2017 Center for Popular Democracy Social Justice Award. Samuels was Chairman and CEO of ACTV, Inc. He was instrumental in getting the inclusive New York State Equal Rights Amendment onto the ballot in 2024.

Stephen Chazen was an American businessman. He was president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Occidental Petroleum from 2011 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blake Irving</span>

Blake Irving is the American former Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of GoDaddy. Before coming to GoDaddy in 2013, Blake Irving worked for Yahoo! and Microsoft where he helped develop NetMeeting, MSN Messenger, and Hotmail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Crooke</span>

Michael W. Crooke is an American businessman, academic and former Navy SEAL. Crooke was CEO of Patagonia, Inc. from 1999 to 2005. From 2010 to 2015, Crooke served on the faculty of Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management. Crooke also worked at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business from 2015-2017.


Qatar Sports Investments (QSi) is a Qatari-government operated shareholding organization founded in 2005 and based in Doha, Qatar. Revenues generated from ventures of QSi are reinvested into Qatar's sport, leisure and entertainment sectors. QSi is led by Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Vice Chairman Adel Mohammed Tayyeb Mustafawi, and its board of directors has three additional members. According to Una Galani, QSi "is thought to be owned by the Ministry of Finance of Qatar and the Qatar Olympic Committee." QSi is subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-run sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar.

Alfred "Fred" Zirkle is an American entrepreneur, investment banker, and industry leader.

Kenneth R. Leibler is an American business executive who was a founding partner of the Boston Options Exchange. He was previously chairman and chief executive officer of the Boston Stock Exchange, President and chief executive officer of Liberty Financial Companies and President of the American Stock Exchange. At 36 years old, he was the youngest president in American Stock Exchange history and believed to be the youngest president of any major stock exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhode Island FC</span> Professional mens soccer team

Rhode Island FC is an American professional soccer club headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The team plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship.

References

  1. 1 2 "Brett Johnson: Positions, Relations and Network - MarketScreener". in.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rueter, Jeff. "Q&A: Ipswich Town, Phoenix Rising owner Brett Johnson". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  3. ↑ Amaral, Brian (May 31, 2023). "5 things we learned from our interview in LA with Rhode Island FC's Brett Johnson - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  4. 1 2 3 Ames, Nick (2021-03-02). "US-led consortium close to Ipswich takeover as Cook appointed manager". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  5. ↑ "Who are Ipswich Town's new American owners? - Profiles of the men involved in today's takeover". East Anglian Daily Times. 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  6. 1 2 3 diligentdownload (2023-03-24). "Brett Johnson". Diligent Download. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  7. ↑ "Brett M. Johnson: A Versatile Investor behind Athletic Brewing Co". Benevolent Capital. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  8. ↑ "Ipswich Town Football Club - Brett Johnson". High 5 Adventure Learning Center. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  9. 1 2 "Brett M. Johnson". 125 Ventures. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  10. 1 2 Slater, Matt. "Ipswich Town takeover: US investors complete deal". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  11. ↑ "Exhibit 99.1". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  12. ↑ "FORM 10-K". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  13. ↑ "Brett M. Johnson | Connect Conferences" . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  14. ↑ Branna, Tom (May 17, 2012). "Blyth Elects Two To Board of Directors". happi.com. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  15. 1 2 "Who is the rumoured Ipswich Town bidder Brett Johnson?". East Anglian Daily Times. 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  16. ↑ "Arizona United SC Names Brett M. Johnson President and Co-Chairman". Arizona United. 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  17. ↑ Amaral, Brian (May 26, 2023). "Tidewater Landing's Brett Johnson on what went wrong, and how he's trying to make it right - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  18. ↑ "The USL's Rhode Island FC banks state's pro sports future on new soccer stadium's hosting-friendly shape". www.sportsbusinessjournal.com. 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  19. ↑ "#139: Brett Johnson - CEO, Benevolent Capital". Profluence. 2024-10-10. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  20. ↑ Frostick, Nancy; Slater, Matt. "Wrexham factor, promotion and a strong dollar – why Americans are buying EFL clubs". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  21. ↑ Maurer, Thomas (2023-01-06). "Brett Johnson about building a professional football club for Rhode Island • FBIN - Football Business Inside". FBIN - Football Business Inside. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  22. ↑ King, Tom (2021-04-14). "US investors sign letter of intent in move to acquire Central Coast Mariners stake". SportsPro. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  23. ↑ Entrekin, Matt. "An interview With Rhode Island FC Co-Founder, Owner Brett Johnson". www.theblazingmusket.com. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  24. ↑ Maurer, Thomas (2023-01-06). "Brett Johnson about building a professional football club for Rhode Island • FBIN - Football Business Inside". FBIN - Football Business Inside. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  25. ↑ "Pepperdine Graziadio Business School to Celebrate 2021 Commencements". Pepperdine Graziadio Business School - Pepperdine University. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  26. ↑ "Pepperdine Graziadio Business School to Celebrate 2021 Commencements". Pepperdine Graziadio Business School - Pepperdine University. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  27. ↑ "Adrienne Stoltz and Brett Johnson". The New York Times. 2010-10-04. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.