Staff
Meet Danita Johnson, a successful businesswoman, who graduated from the University of Western Carolina. She is a hard-working, determined, and goal-oriented woman who has shown the ability to build solid and effective work environments and form connections with like-minded people throughout her career.
She is a part of the board of Share Winter Foundation and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Johnson makes a great mentor when it comes to training and leading people. She has also joined the renowned goalkeeper Briana Scurry, one of the first black professional women soccer players, to create a more inclusive league and get the black Americans their deserved recognition in Soccer, which they have been deprived of all these years.
In 2020, Danita was announced as the new president of business operations for the D.C United Soccer team. This was a turning point in the history of the Soccer League as she was the first black woman ever to take up a presidential role in a Major League Soccer club and one of the highest-ranking club executives.
The 37-year old was responsible for overseeing Loudoun United’s business, a second-division team based in Leesburg and owned by the D.C. organization. In addition to this, her tasks included potential onboarding sponsors for the team, growing its fan base, and organizing non-MLS events at Audi Fields.
Before joining Sparks, Johnson worked with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and Detroit Shock and the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and the NBA G League’s Bakersfield Jam for nearly two decades of her sports career. She learned a great deal about business operations and management from her time at WNBA, especially the Los Angeles Sparks organization.
Johnson understands the importance of establishing a winning culture of the fields and uniting the soccer community to expand the business and increase engagement. At Sparks, top corporate companies sponsored the club, and ticket sales increased by 50% from 2014 to 2017. Jason Levian, CEO, and co-chairman of DC united, always believed in Johnson’s capabilities, and he could see the positive results of her hard work in front of him.
Apart from growing business, Johnson also brought a significant change in the history of American Soccer. She wanted to promote diversity and inclusivity in the team. As a native black American, she wanted to bring more black players and coaches to the forefront. Black players make up about 22% of the player pool, but only two Black Coaches, Colorado’s Robin Fraser and Montreal’s Thierry Henry, and one general manager, Toronto’s Ali Curtis. Johnson aimed to increase this number and the overall representation of black Americans in the Major League Soccer clubs.
