Robert L. Johnson is the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies, an innovative business network that owns or holds interests in a diverse portfolio of companies including RLJ Credit. Prior to forming The RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson was Founder and Chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation’s first and leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news, sports and public affairs programming for the African American audience. Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership, BET became the first African American owned company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2001, Mr. Johnson sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion and remained the Chief Executive Officer through 2006. In July 2007, Mr. Johnson was named by USA Today as one of the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years.
Mr. Johnson has served on the boards of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Business Council, KB Home, Strayer Education, Think Finance, Inc., and Lowe’s Companies.
Mr. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in social studies from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in international affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Trevoir D. Gregg is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of RLJ Credit, a private credit and structured equity investment firm focused on profitable, lower middle market companies. Mr. Gregg formed RLJ Credit in partnership with Robert L. Johnson, the Founder and Chairman of The RLJ Companies. At RLJ Credit, Mr. Gregg is responsible for all aspects of fundraising, investment decisions and portfolio management, and investor relations.
Prior to co-founding RLJ Credit, Mr. Gregg was a Principal with Allied Capital Corporation (“Allied Capital”), a publicly-traded private equity investment firm with more than $4.5 billion of assets under management. Mr. Gregg served as a member of the Investment Committee during 2009 and was a member of the Credit Committee of Allied Capital’s $2.5 billion asset management platform from 2008-2010. At Allied Capital, Mr. Gregg was responsible for invested capital of more than $400 million, including investments structured as mezzanine and majority-control equity.
Prior to Allied Capital, Mr. Gregg was a Vice President and founding member of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, L.P., a $436 million investment fund formed by The Carlyle Group to invest in private mezzanine and minority-equity. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gregg worked for GE Capital as a member of its Global Sponsor Finance team. Mr. Gregg also has spent several years as an investment banker, focusing on leverage finance transactions in the energy, media, and communications sectors.
Mr. Gregg has served as an Executive Committee member on the Board of Governors of the Small Business Investor Alliance, an association representing private equity investment professionals.
Mr. Gregg received a B.A. from Morehouse College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mrs. Thomas is the Executive Vice President of Finance at the RLJ Companies. Prior to joining the RLJ Companies, Mrs. Thomas was Assistant Controller at Freddie Mac, providing reporting and credit analysis related to securitization and mortgage guarantees.
Prior to Freddie Mac, Mrs. Thomas was an Associate Vice President at The Carlyle Group, where she was responsible for corporate financial and managerial accounting functions, budgeting and forecasting, and corporate compliance; and served in a variety of roles for more than 10 years, including Manager of Accounting and Assistant Controller.
Mrs. Thomas received her B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and is a Certified Public Accountant.