Lee Johnson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Washington Political Film Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation designated as a public charity with an educational mission. The focus of the Foundation is the organization of film symposia, seminars, and other presentations as platforms for dialogue to explore political issues, ideas, and themes on college campuses. The Foundation is strictly nonpartisan and not affiliated with any political party, cause, or movement; its guiding principles are the free expression and exchange of ideas, respect for differing opinions, and civility in discourse. A registered theme and trademark of the Foundation is “Politics on Film”®.

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Johnson is Chief Executive Officer of Congressional Media Group, a television and video production company in Washington, DC. CMG manages the Capitol Hill television broadcast studio for Comcast Corporation and serves as Comcast’s production partner in Washington. He also serves as Senior Advisor to Sorini Strategic Advisors, an international trade firm.

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Johnson’s career in Washington spans Capitol Hill, federal service, law, and public affairs. He served as Leadership Chief of Staff of the United States Senate Republican Conference, in the Office of the Chairman and Vice Chairman (1999–2003); as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative E. Clay Shaw, Jr. of Florida (1989–1994); and as Legal Counsel to U.S. Representative J. Kenneth Robinson of Virginia (1981). At the Federal Trade Commission, he was Deputy Director of the Office of Congressional Relations.

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In law and public affairs, Johnson was an equity partner in the Washington office of Winston & Strawn; Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Golin/Harris; and Managing Director of the Grassroots Division of Burson-Marsteller’s Public Affairs Group. Earlier in his career, he served as Legislative Counsel to BOMA International and in political, education, and finance roles at the Republican National Committee.

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Among his enduring memories of public service is an encounter on the United States Senate floor with former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd. Impressed by the Senator’s orations regarding the history of republican Rome and its constitution, Lee engaged in a memorable conversation with the Senator about the historians of the classical ages of Greece and Rome. Senator Byrd’s belief was that America’s Founders drew upon the history of the Roman Senate when they designed America’s constitutional system and provided its Senate with unique powers.

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Senator Byrd later presented Lee with his book, The Senate of the Roman Republic: Addresses on the History of Roman Constitutionalism, which is among the most treasured of his collections.

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Johnson was a member of the Navy ROTC Unit at Vanderbilt University, 1971–1973, serving on Active Duty for Training status as a midshipman on board USS Kretchmer (DER-329), part of the task force deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11), during NATO naval exercises in the North Atlantic (summer 1972); with naval aviation indoctrination at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and U.S. Marine Corps infantry indoctrination at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek (summer 1973).

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Johnson is a member of the Bars of the United States Supreme Court, the District of Columbia, and Florida. He received his undergraduate degree in History at Vanderbilt University (B.A. 1975) and his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law (J.D. 1978) and attended Georgetown University’s summer program in Comparative Political and Economic Systems (1974). He lives in Alexandria, VA.