Linda Johnson Rice

President and Chief Executive Officer, Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. Mrs. Johnson Rice has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., a multi-media company, since 2002. She joined that company in 1980, became Vice President in 1985 and was elected President and Chief Operating Officer in 1987. Mrs. Johnson Rice is a director of MoneyGram International, Inc. and Omnicom Group, Inc. The founder of the Johnson Publishing Company, John H. Johnson, died in 2005. His wife, Eunice, died in 2010. Their daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, sold EBONY and Jet in 2016 to CVG Group, a Houston private equity firm. Jet ended its print-run in June 2014 and is now only available in digital form. What many had hoped to be a new chapter for EBONY and Jet is now fading. The latest disappointment came May 5, when the CVG Group announced that EBONY is laying off about 10 of 35 employees, including Editor-In-Chief Kyra Kyles. Tracey Ferguson, the digital editor of Jet, will be responsible for both magazines. EBONY has 1.2 million subscribers. Johnson Rice will now be CEO and chairman of Johnson Publishing Company, which owns the Fashion Fair cosmetics line that is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. Johnson Rice is the CEO of the CVG Group’s Ebony Media Group, which runs EBONY.