Roger Johnson

Who was Roger Johnson?

Roger Johnson was an American businessman and government official. Johnson was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of an AFL-CIO leader. Although he was initially influenced by his father's Democratic Party politics, young Roger decided to join the Republican Party, according to him, the first time he had to pay taxes.

Johnson was valedictorian at Clarkson University, where he graduated in 1956 with a degree in business. He had ambitions to play professional baseball, but a coach convinced him to get a job in business. He eventually went to work for General Electric. In 1969, he left GE to work for Memorex, where he headed the disk drive division.

In 1982, Johnson moved to Orange County, California to take control of Western Digital. Under his control, the company's sales quadrupled, from $250 million to over $1 billion per year. The company went from 811 to 7,600 employees. He and his wife were also active in several charitable organizations, and he taught at the University of California, Irvine and at Claremont Graduate University.

In 1991, Johnson was chairman of a prominent Orange County Republican fund-raising organization.