December 15: Sheila Johnson

Sheila Johnson, owner of Salamander Resort in Middleburg, being named CEO of the Year by Washinton Biz Journal is one of the many gifts of Loudoun this holiday season. This is one story in a series of 31 that highlight #LoudounPossible opportunities in the county. Check back every day in December to learn more!

First, she was a musician. Then, she was an entrepreneur who launched Black Entertainment Television (BET) and became partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, NBA’s Washington Wizards, and NHL’s Washington Capitals. Now, she is a hotelier, luxury hospitality magnate, and Washington Business Journal’s CEO of the Year. She is Sheila Johnson, founder and CEO of Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg and the Salamander Hotels & Resorts brand, who is carrying out a mission to create memorable experiences at extraordinary destinations for her guests.

An advocate for equity, equality, inclusion, and diversity, Johnson has spoken about and broken color and gender barriers along her journey. The Salamander Resort & Spa received the hospitality industry’s most prestigious designation, the Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating, making it the first destination resort in the Washington, D.C. region to receive the honor and making her the first African American woman to wholly own a Five-Star resort. She is also the only African American woman to have ownership in three professional sports teams and was named one of Hotel Management’s 2018 Influential Women in Hospitality.

Click here to read her CEO of the Year feature in the Washington Business Journal.