Linda Johnson Rice

Johnson Publishing Company

Linda Johnson Rice is the chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., the largest African-American publishing house in the world, publishers of Ebony, and Jet magazines, and ebony-jet.com. The company was started in 1942 by her father, John H. Johnson, the legendary publisher and businessman.

The W.M. Kiplinger Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism has been given to Ms. Rice and the Johnson family in honor of their more than 60 years of publishing excellence.

It was the opinion of the NPF judges that the publications cover their community thoroughly and intently, while never losing sight of the need to inform and entertain. Articles in the magazines can be candid, frothy, or change history – the pictures of the murdered Emmett Till in his coffin, published in Jet in 1955, spurred the emergence of the civil rights movement. 

The company, based in Chicago, has offices around the country. The company also owns the Fashion Fair Cosmetics Company and a traveling fashion show. Over the years the corporate has contributed more than $55 million to charitable efforts, many including education.

Ms. Rice has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a Masters in Business Administration from the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.