LinkedIn: Claude Johnson

Current

Founder & President at Black Fives, Inc.

Past

Vice President, Marketing at Benetton SportSystem
Vice President at Phat Licensing
Product Line Manager at Nike, Inc.

Director, International Licensing at NBA Properties
Senior Marketing Manager at American Express
Marketing Representative at IBM

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3 more...

Education

Stanford University
Carnegie Mellon University

Recommended

4 people have recommended Claude

Connections

328 connections

Industry

Sports

Websites

Claude Johnson’s Summary

Black Fives is for sneaker buffs, basketball fans, personal improvement seekers, sports enthusiasts, vintage lovers, black culture aficionados, and history makers.

Black Fives combines insights about pre-NBA African American basketball history with popular elements of black culture to produce meaningful motivation, inspiration, and enlightenment you can use today. That's why our slogan is “Make History Now!"

Black Fives researches, preserves, teaches, and promotes the early history of African American participation in basketball.

Black Fives is dedicated to being the best, the most authoritative, the most extensive, and the only company devoted exclusively to providing education, entertainment, events, merchandise, and intellectual property relating to the history of the Black Fives Era.

Black Fives is devoted to using the lessons, stories, and experiences of the Black Fives Era to teach, train, and inspire others toward personal growth to be, do, and have all that they dream; to building inter-generational and inter-cultural bridges of understanding; and to cultivating a wide appreciation and understanding of the significance of this history in modern-day society.

Claude Johnson’s Specialties:

Licensing, basketball history, African American history, sports marketing, merchandising, personal improvement, marketing, promotions, youth culture.

Claude Johnson’s Experience

Founder & President

Black Fives, Inc.

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Sports industry)

October 2001 — Present (6 years 8 months)

Black Fives combines insights about pre-NBA African American basketball history with popular elements of black culture to produce meaningful motivation, inspiration, and enlightenment you can use today. That's why our slogan is “Make History Now!"
Vice President, Marketing

Benetton SportSystem

(Sporting Goods industry)

January 2000 — October 2001 (1 year 10 months)
Vice President

Phat Licensing

(Privately Held; Apparel & Fashion industry)

January 1999 — December 1999 (1 year)

Vice President at Phat Licensing, the licensing operation of the Phat Farm brand.
Product Line Manager

Nike, Inc.

(Public Company; Sporting Goods industry)

January 1997 — January 1999 (2 years 1 month)
Director, International Licensing

NBA Properties

(Sports industry)

January 1994 — January 1997 (3 years 1 month)
Senior Marketing Manager

American Express

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Financial Services industry)

January 1990 — January 1994 (4 years 1 month)
Marketing Representative

IBM

(Public Company; Information Services industry)

January 1985 — January 1990 (5 years 1 month)

Claude Johnson’s Education

Stanford University

MS, Mechanical Engineering, 1982 — 1984

Activities and Societies:

National Society of Black Engineers
Carnegie Mellon University

BS, Civil Engineering, 1978 — 1982

Activities and Societies:

National Society of Black Engineers
Tau Beta Pi Civil Engineering Honor Society

Additional Information

Claude Johnson’s Websites:

Claude Johnson’s Interests:

My children. Then ... sneakers, basketball, personal improvement, sports, vintage, history, culture, history makers. Specialties include licensing, basketball history, African American history, sports marketing, merchandising, personal improvement, marketing, promotions, youth culture.

Claude Johnson’s Groups:

Board of Trustees, Greenwich Public Library;
Association of Professional Basketball Researchers;
North American Society of Sports Historians;
Ballers4Barack