Leadership

Robert L. Johnson

Founder & Senior Advisor

• Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies, LLC, an innovative business network that provides strategic investments in a diverse portfolio of companies
• Named by USA Todayone of the 25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years
• Founder and Former Chairman of Black Entertainment Television
• Number 2 on Black Enterprise’s list of “Titans: The 40 Most Powerful African Americans in Business” 40th Anniversary Issue
• Frequent CNBC Contributor

Robert L. Johnson is the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies, LLC, an innovative business network, and owns or holds interests in businesses operating in hotel real estate, private equity, 401k fintech services, automobile dealerships, content streaming, gaming, and sports betting.

Prior to forming The RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson was founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation’s first Black-owned cable television network.

Johnson continues to attract and manage capital and create value for investors, and in 2012, announced the successful creation of RLJ Entertainment, Inc., a premium digital channel company serving distinct audiences primarily through its popular streaming services, Acorn TV (British Programming) and ALLBLK (formerly Urban Movie Channel/UMC). RLJ Entertainment, Inc. marks the third time Johnson has successfully taken a company public. In 1991 Johnson took BET public, making the network the first African American company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. RLJ Lodging Trust, a hotel real estate investment trust (REIT), went public in 2011.

In 2001, Johnson sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion. In July 2007, Johnson was named, by USA Today, one of “The 25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years.”

Currently, Mr. Johnson serves on the following boards: RLJ Lodging Trust; G-III Apparel Group, Ltd.; The Business Council; and Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Johnson holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from the University of Illinois.

Trevoir D. Gregg

Founder & Managing Partner

Trevoir D. Gregg is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of RLJ Credit, a private credit and structured equity investment firm focused on profitable, lower middle market companies. Mr. Gregg formed RLJ Credit in partnership with Robert L. Johnson, the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies. At RLJ Credit, Mr. Gregg is responsible for all aspects of fundraising, investment decisions, portfolio management, and investor relations.

Prior to co-founding RLJ Credit, Mr. Gregg was a Principal with Allied Capital Corporation (“Allied Capital”), a publicly-traded private equity investment firm with more than $4.5 billion of assets under management. Mr. Gregg served as a member of the Investment Committee during 2009 and was a member of the Credit Committee of Allied Capital’s $2.5 billion asset management platform from 2008-2010.

Prior to Allied Capital, Mr. Gregg was a Vice President and founding member of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, L.P., an investment fund formed by The Carlyle Group to invest in private mezzanine and minority-equity. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gregg worked for GE Capital as a member of its Global Sponsor Finance team. Mr. Gregg also has spent several years as an investment banker, focusing on leverage finance transactions in the energy, media, and communications sectors.

Mr. Gregg has served as an Executive Committee member on the Board of Governors of the Small Business Investor Alliance, an association representing private equity investment professionals.

Mr. Gregg received a B.A. from Morehouse College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.