Christopher Wold Johnson (born August 7, 1959) is an American businessman and sports executive who is the owner and vice chairman of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He is a great-grandson of

Robert Wood Johnson I Robert Wood Johnson I (February 20, 1845 – February 7, 1910) was an American industrialist. He was also one of the three brothers who founded Johnson & Johnson. Early life Johnson was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. His father was Sylvest ...

(co-founder of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

), and the brother of

Woody Johnson Robert Wood Johnson IV (born April 12, 1947) is an American businessman who was United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021. He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, and a billionaire heir to the Johnson & Johnson pha ...

who served as the

United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom (known formally as the ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James's) is the official representative of the president of the United States and the Federal government of the United S ...

from 2017–2021. He is the co-owner of the Jets along with his brother Woody and served as the chairman and CEO from 2017 to 2021.

Early life

Johnson was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Robert Wood Johnson III Robert Wood Johnson III (September 9, 1920 – December 22, 1970) was an American businessman. He was a grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson). Early life Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father was ...

, president of Johnson & Johnson for four years. Johnson grew up with four siblings,

, Keith Johnson, Billy Johnson, and Elizabeth "Libet" Johnson, in affluent areas of northern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. In 1975, Keith died of a cocaine overdose, and Billy died in a motorcycle accident.

Professional sports

New York Jets

Johnson has been an owner of the

alongside his brother, Woody, since 2000. In 2017, Johnson became the CEO and chairman of the Jets following Woody's nomination and confirmation to be the

. Johnson is serving as operating head of the Jets during his brother's ambassadorial tenure.

Stance on Kneeling

Johnson has supported the collective actions of his players' rights and privileges to kneel or to stay in the locker room during the pre-game playing of the American anthem. While he was one of the NFL Team owners that voted for the policy enacted in May 2018 to penalize and fine any player who does not stand during the Anthem he has offered to pay the fines incurred by players who choose to kneel or stay in the locker room stating:

"If somebody n the Jetstakes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players." Johnson said. "I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest. There are some big, complicated issues that we're all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don't want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won't. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that's just something I'll have to bear."

Personal life

In 2018, Johnson married Doris Wong, a businesswoman who is currently a business affair executive for Endeavor Global Marketing in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

Living people American chief executives of professional sports organizations New York Jets Place of birth missing (living people) 1959 births New York Jets owners {{US-CEO-stub