Mr. Johnson is currently CEO of Benevolent Capital, Founder of Phoenix Rising Football Club, Chairman and Co-Founder of Rhode Island FC, Director and Shareholder at Ipswich Town FC, Founder and Partner at Fortuitous Partners, Board Member at TerraCycle and a member of the Young Presidents Organization. In 2021, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni of Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine, the highest honor bestowed by that institution. He served as Managing Director, Zealot Networks, from 2015 to 2017, where Zealot acquired 17 digital media and marketing services companies, including Mr. Hutcheson’s last digital publishing business.
From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Johnson was a member of the board of directors, and the chairman of the compensation committee, at Blyth Inc.. Blyth is a $1 billion direct to consumer sales company and leading designer and marketer of accessories for the home and health & wellness products. Blyth was acquired by the private equity firm, Carlyle, in November 2015. From 2010 to August 2012, Mr. Johnson was the CEO and President of Forward Industries.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a masters of business administration from the Presidential/Key Executive program at Pepperdine University. In 2014, Mr. Johnson graduated from the Harvard Business School’s President’s Leadership Program through YPO.
He is a member of the board of trustees for Choate Rosemary Hall and is a Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship and a member of the board of visitors for the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University.
Walk us through your morning routine.
I am an early morning guy. I have 3 young kids so I try to be up for at least an hour before my kids and wife get up. I enjoy the ritual of making myself a very good cup of coffee — when my oldest daughter was born I turned into an unofficial barista. From there I typically look through my email and see if there is anything urgent and set my thoughts for the day.
Do you have an exercise routine?
I have been super busy lately with work and kids, but when I have time I really enjoy tennis. I was also a rower in college so I sometimes get on the rowing machine. My favorite is to take advantage of the local trails around me and get out on a hike.
How many hours do you sleep each night?
I am an investor in Oura and I am obsessed with sleep. I try to get close to 9 hours per night. My brother and I are constantly sending each other our sleep scores to compare from the night before. The lowest hanging fruit for self improvement is to improve your sleep. If you do not sleep good, it is nearly impossible to be healthy.
What does your day to day look like owning 3 Professional Soccer teams?
I am kind of like a snowflake – no two days are alike. I have great people around me and that definitely makes everything possible. I try to focus on keeping the ball rolling each day and just focusing on what needs to be done on that given day. My Rhode Island project alone is a full time project but I have many more responsibilities beyond that…with that being said, the impact that we can have on the community in Rhode Island is super exciting and I try to make it back to oversee everything in Rhode Island one time per month now.
You have invested in a variety of different teams, organizations, products and real estate – Is there any investment that stands out the most to you? Why?
The 2 investments that we get a lot of attention for are Oura and Athletic Brewing. Athletic Brewing is special because I loved the product and I went and tracked Bill down to encourage him to let us be involved. Athletic does not have many outside investors so it was special that we were able to get in on a great company with great leadership and a superb product.
Is there anything you learned being an Operator that has made you a better investor?
I have had two very distinct arcs in my career — I sold a company where I was the President and was constantly being headhunted. What I learned is that I was taking jobs to “pay the bills” but I had this entrepreneurial desire inside me. At one point I was running a media company in LA and running Phoenix Rising — neither one were getting my appropriate attention so one day I made the decision to go all-in and it made all the difference. In both worlds, great people are critical. You have to find great people to surround yourself with.
Do you have any life mottos or principles you follow?
There are many. I generally try to stay as humble as possible. I also believe that faith is important. There is a higher power. Even sometimes when things don’t go through like I wanted in the moment, I can look back in hindsight and see that there was definitely a higher power protecting me from something that I wasn’t meant to be involved in.
Things happen for a reason, I truly believe that.
Is there anything that you haven’t done that you still want to do?
There are a lot of things. Doors are opening up and opportunities are opening up where I have more options. The balancing act is that I only have so many hours in a day so I need to be focused. I definitely have entrepreneurial ADD — when I see something shiny and exciting, I can easily get distracted and want to go after those things, but I have people around me that reign me in and keep me focused. We will see where things go but I am definitely looking to continue growing all of my current investments and ownership interests.