Summerfield Johnston Jr.

Summerfield Johnston Jr. (born August 28, 1932), aka Skey Johnston, is an American businessman and polo player.[1][2] He served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Enterprises from 1991 to 2001.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Summerfield Johnston Jr.
Born (1932-08-28) August 28, 1932
McDonald, Tennessee, US
EducationUniversity of Virginia
OccupationBusinessman, polo player
Spouse(s)Lavinia Dabney Neill Johnston
Gil Johnston
ChildrenLavinia Johnston
Summerfield Johnston III
Gillian Johnston
Parent(s)Summerfield Johnston Sr.

Early life

Summerfield Johnston Jr. was born in 1932 and grew up on the 4,000-acre Bendabout Farm in McDonald, Bradley County, Tennessee.[2] His grandfather was James F. Johnston, the founder of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola franchisee.[3][5][7][8] His father, Summerfield Johnston Sr., worked for the family business.[5] He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he played polo in 1951.[2]

Career

He joined the Board of Directors of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1959.[4] In 1991, he merged it with Coca-Cola Enterprises.[4] He served as its Chairman and CEO from 1991 to 2001.[5]

He is a former Board member of SunTrust Banks and SunTrust Bank of Chattanooga, N. A.[4] He sits on the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress and The University of Chattanooga Foundation.[4]

Polo

Johnston is a left-handed polo player.[1] In the 1950s, he organized polo matches on his family farm in McDonald, Tennessee.[2] He later founded the Chattanooga Polo Club, later known as the Bendabout Polo Club.[2] He served as the long-time president of the Gulfstream Polo Club in Lake Worth, Florida.[1] He served as Vice President of the United States Polo Association from 1979-1989, President from 1980-1984 and as Chairman from 1984-1988, and still sits on its Board as a governor-at-large.[1][4] He owns the Flying H ranch in Big Horn, Wyoming, home to the Flying H Polo Club, and the Everglades Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.[2]

In 1982, he was awarded the Hugo Dalmar Trophy for exemplary sportsmanship.[1] On February 17, 2001, he was inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame.[1] He is a proponent of the return of polo to the Olympic Games.[1]

Personal life

His British-born wife, Gil Johnston, is Vice President of the Polo Training Foundation.[2][9] His late son was Summerfield Johnston III, a renowned polo player who served as Vice President of Coca-Cola Enterprises.[7] His daughter, Gillian Johnston, is also a polo player and serves as governor-at-large of the United States Polo Association.[2] His grandson, William Lasater Johnston Thornton, son of James Thornton of Santa Fe, New Mexico and Lavinia Johnston of Chattanooga, Tennessee,[10] manages the Maryland Polo Club.[2]

References
  1. Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame Archived 2012-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Benjamin Butler, A Passion for Polo: The Johnston Family Legacy, CitysScope
  3. Coca-Cola Enterprises: Cola-Cola History Archived 2015-02-15 at the Wayback Machine
  4. The Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Board of Trustees biography
  5. Local families have Coke connection, Chattanooga Free Press, February 26, 2010
  6. The Bottleneck At Coca Cola Enterprises, Bloomberg Businessweek, September 13, 1992
  7. Memorial Service Set Tuesday For Cleveland's Skeeter Johnston, The Chattanoogan, April 7, 2007
  8. Betsy Morris, Patricia Sellers, What Really Happened At Coke Doug Ivester was a demon for information. But he couldn't see what was coming at the showdown in Chicago., CNN, January 10, 2000
  9. Nicole Lever, Gillian Johnston's Passion For Horses Has Never Dwindled, The Chronicle of the Horse, January 26, 2005
  10. Thornton, William. "Certificate of Live Birth #141-80 023676". State of Tennessee Department of Public Health - Vital Records.
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