John H. Johnson

Founder, Publisher, Chairman & CEO, Johnson Publishing Company
Distinguished Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement

John H. Johnson is the founder, publisher, chairman and CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, the largest Black-owned publishing company in the world. The company publishes Ebony, an African-American lifestyle and general interest magazine founded in 1945, and Jet, an African-American newsweekly magazine founded in 1951 focusing on politics, entertainment, sports and business. Johnson Publishing also publishes book exclusively by Black authors and owns Fair Cosmetics, Supreme Beauty Products and produces television specials.

Johnson became chairman and chief executive officer of Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, where he began his career in 1939. Then, as editor of the company's in-house magazine, he gathered information about African American life. He was inspired to create Negro Digest, which featured articles about the lives and concerns of African Americans and focused on racial and social issues affecting African Americans. He began his publishing career in November 1942 as editor and publisher of Negro Digest, later Black World.

A philanthropist and humanitarian, Johnson has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, Award for Distinguished Contribution to Journalism from the National Press Foundation and Africa's Future Award from the United Nation's Children's Fund as well as induction into the Black Press Hall of Fame and The Publishing Hall of Fame.