William R. Johnson is an American businessman and is the former president,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and chairman of

H. J. Heinz Henry John Heinz (October 11, 1844 – May 14, 1919) was an American entrepreneur of Palatine descent who, at the age of 25, co-founded a small horseradish concern in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. This business failed, but his second business exp ...

. He worked at

Drackett The Drackett Company was a leading company in the specialty chemicals business during the 20th century, responsible for such products as Windex glass cleaner, Vanish toilet bowl cleaner, Drāno drain opener, Behold furniture polish, Endust dust ...

as an assistant product manager for

Behold Behold is an American brand of furniture polish produced by Nakoma Products, LLC. Behold furniture polish and Endust dusting aid were previously produced by Sara Lee. When Drackett was sold to S. C. Johnson & Son in 1992, these two products, End ...

furniture polish, starting at $13,000 a year. He worked at

Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fri ...

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...

and Anderson-Clayton Foods before joining Heinz in 1982 as general manager of new business. In 1988, as president and CEO of the poorly performing Heinz Pet Products, he turned around a poorly performing operation which some analysts had proclaimed unsalvageable. In 1992, he did the same thing at the highly visible Starkist Foods. In 1993 he was named senior vice president and director, in 1996 president and

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

, and in 1998, named president and CEO. In 2000, he became chairman as well. Johnson is fiscally conservative, focusing on cost-containment, and the performance of major brands, as he faces stiff competition and pricing demands from wholesalers. He is described by coworkers as incredibly intense; he agrees with that assessment. He credits his father,

Bill "Tiger" Johnson William Levi Johnson Sr. (September 14, 1926 – January 7, 2011), known as Tiger Johnson, was a professional football player and coach. He was born in Tyler, Texas, where he was raised by his single mother and five older siblings. Among his sib ...

with instilling him with a fiercely competitive spirit and a passionate desire to win. Tiger Johnson was a center for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

and then head coach of the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. Johnson also learned motivation from his father and other coaches. In the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'', he told reporter Patricia Sabatini that, "Some people need to be handled gently. Other people you can kick in the rear end" (May 18, 1998). Johnson was born and grew up in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

. He married Susie in 1974. They have two children, Brad and Tracy, who are also pursuing careers in business. On February 11, 2009, the board of directors of

UPS UPS or ups may refer to: Companies and organizations * United Parcel Service, an American shipping company ** The UPS Store, UPS subsidiary ** UPS Airlines, UPS subsidiary * Underground Press Syndicate, later ''Alternative Press Syndicate'' or ...

(NYSE:UPS) elected William R. Johnson as a new independent director of the company.Atlanta, February 11, 2009: Heinz CEO Named to UPS Board

Education

Johnson earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1971. While a student at UCLA, he was initiated into the

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

fraternity. Later, he moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

to attend the

McCombs School of Business The McCombs School of Business (McCombs School or McCombs) is a business school at The University of Texas at Austin, a public research university in Austin, Texas. In addition to the main campus in Downtown Austin, McCombs offers classes outside ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, from which he received a master's degree in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

in 1974.

References

''William R. Johnson: Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, H. J. Heinz Company''

''H. J. Heinz Company Board''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, William R. 1949 births American chief executives of food industry companies Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni McCombs School of Business alumni Heinz people American chief operating officers