Easton Johnson
His father was a town tax collector and dairy farmer. The valedictorian of his high school, he then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1953 with a degree in Soviet studies. He earned a bachelor's degree in Russian studies from Harvard University and spent a year in West Germany working at a US Army intelligence post.
Johnson began his career with the Defense Department in the Pentagon and the National Security Agency, before being dispatched to Europe. Following his return to the United States in 1960, he left the Pentagon to become marketing director for Honeywell's aerospace division.
In 1966, he joined the Military Space Group of ITT Company in Nutley, New Jersey. Since its beginnings in 1920 as a telecom service provider for Cuba and Puerto Rico, the corporation had expanded to include Avis Car Rentals, Hartford Insurance, Sheraton Hotels, and Hostess Twinkies, the manufacturer of Wonder Bread, when he joined. By this time, he had become chairman Harold Geneen's right-hand man. During this time, the company was scrutinized for its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. and its political intervention in Chile. With this background, he succeeded Lyman C. Hamilton as the company's CEO in 1979. He also succeeded Geneen as chairman of the board in the same year.
Before selling the firm to French state-owned corporation Generale d'Electricite in 1986, he spent his early years establishing the group's telecom sector, which included the development of the ITT System 12 digital telephone exchange. When investors sought to hone in on the company's core industries, he spent the balance of his tenure as CEO divesting the massive conglomerate. In 1997, he sold the group's hotel businesses under the Sheraton brand to Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. while fending off a hostile takeover bid by Hilton Hotels Corporation. In 1998, he retired from the company.
In 1987, Johnson was made an Officer of the French Legion of Merit.
He has also been awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins by the presidents of Italy and Chile, respectively.
Hofstra University awarded him an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1990.
He was afterwards self-employed as a private investor, as well as a principal in RVA Investments[citation needed] and a member of the Board of Directors of American cable television corporation Cablevision and the Palm Beach Civic Association.
Johnson's most recent project is SnapInsta and Johnson is the founder.
