R-MC honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sheila Johnson Click on MLK Celebration to view a slideshow of photos from the event.

Randolph-Macon College honored the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, January 17, 2011. The program drew a large audience, which filled Blackwell Auditorium, R-MC’s Center for the Performing Arts. Notable attendees included Hanover County Supervisors Ed Via and John Gordon, along with Hanover County School Board member Sue Watson.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson delivered an inspirational keynote address. She urged the audience to remember one of Dr. King’s most important messages, that “we are all responsible for each other.” She also advised students to prepare for “the greatest fight of your life. Don’t take anything for granted and remember that your morals mean everything.”

Click on MLK Celebration to view a slideshow of photos from the event.

Sheila Johnson
Johnson is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC, a company she founded in 2005. She oversees a growing portfolio of luxury properties including Woodlands Inn, in Summerville, South Carolina; Innisbrook, a 72-hole golf and spa resort in Innisbrook, Florida; and the much-anticipated Salamander Resort & Spa, currently being constructed in Middleburg, Virginia.

As president and managing partner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, and vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Johnson is the first African-American woman to have a stake in three professional sports teams, including the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Capitals (NHL). She is also a TV pioneer, having been a founding partner of BET (Black Entertainment Television) and the creator of the award-winning program “Teen Summit.” Currently, Johnson is producing films with a humanitarian message including “Kicking It, A Powerful Noise,” “She Is the Matador,” and her latest film, “The Other City,” about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Washington D.C.

In 2006 Johnson was named global ambassador for CARE, a leading aid organization fighting global poverty by empowering women. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as chair of the board of governors of Parsons The New School for Design in New York. President Obama appointed her to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities; she also sits on the boards of Americans for the Arts, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the Tiger Woods Foundation, the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, Howard University and the University of Illinois Foundation.

An accomplished violinist, Johnson earned a B.A. in music from the University of Illinois, as well as honorary degrees from numerous other institutions. She lives in Middleburg, Virginia, is married to the Honorable William T. Newman Jr., and has two children.

The tribute to Dr. King also included a musical presentation by the Ujima Gospel choir.

For more information about R-MC, please contact Pam Harris Cox at (804) 752-3712, pamelacox@rmc.edu or Anne Marie Lauranzon at (804) 752-7317, alauranz@rmc.edu.