Saturday 16 February 2008

Lives or the rich and famous: Candace Johnson

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Candace Johnson is a telecommunications expert & media entrepreneur, dubbed the “Satellady” by the Economist in 1996 and based in Luxembourg and Sophia Antipolis, France “the Silicon Valley of Europe.” At fifty five she’s amassed achievements which have resulted in more than $15 billion in total business ventures valued and $10 million being raised for charity.

She was introduced to telecoms at five when she received a toy Sputnik. Sputnik
was the first satellite into space in 1957, launched by the Soviet Union, it beat the US in the space race. The size of a beach ball it orbited the earth in 98 minutes and created so much furore with its surprise arrival that it spearheaded substantial funding for satellites in the US. 2007 was the celebration of the fiftieth year of Sputnik.

Candace, who strongly believes in people relationships as the key to success, says she learned everything she knows about telecoms from great people. “My Dad, General “Johnny” Johnson was the first Director of Telecoms and Communications policy in the US Government. “ ‘PX’ Page” founder of Northrop Page, was my “best friend” , when I was eight and he was 60. He owned a large HAM radio station. We used to call around the world, even in 1960 and regularly called Peru, Germany, even Taiwan.” She says her father was a visionary and when she was ten, he was working for President Kennedy at the White House starting the United States telecommunications policies. Back then he said: “One day we will have satellites which will allow education, communication and wars through them but they will also bring peace on earth.” Although he was from a poor background “a child of the depression” and her mother, the daughter of Romanian immigrants, Candace says all of the four children in the family were brought up on the “power of positive thinking”. “My mother and father lived the American Dream and gave us the freedom to believe that if we worked hard and well we would succeed.”

Despite her career in the science and technology sector, Candace left university with her education on the opposite side of the spectrum: five diplomas in music, of which two were performing degrees in voice and music; one from France and one from the US. It was here that her entrepreneurial spirit emerged. “I went to high school in Hawaii – actually the same one from which Steve Case and Barack Obama graduated.”

“I decided classical music was going to save the world and so launched some classical Concerts,” she says laughing at her earnest enthusiasm. The funding advice I received at the time was: “You need a prototype; a first client on board and to have got everything ready yourself.” So she put the idea down on paper and went to someone who could help her realize her vision. “I still follow those rules.” She stresses. “It’s important to go to exactly the right person for new projects.”

She went to local merchants and asked them to support her idea of a free musical concert to drive audiences into the area and they were keen. She chose a building for the event, which she needed permission to use and luck was on her side. “It turned out to be owned by Mobile Oil who were suffering a publicity rough patch with the oil crisis, so they sponsored the concerts, did a big ad’ campaign and put me into the black right away. “The project banked around USD 1million.”

Which indirectly led to her career in the satellite business. A radio station who’d been featuring the summer concerts asked her to fill a temporary role in the winter as acting Assistant Music Director. In 1976, she joined and soon suggested new ventures, which included classical music in the football world. “First lesson to would-be entrepreneurs – if you get a chance, even if it is ‘temporary’, use it and make the most of it.” The radio station took up her ideas and started making some serious money. “It was a private radio station belonged to RKO. As my first idea went well, I said we should put these programmes across the country on satellite. “It ended up being the first nation wide programme on satellite and it was before Ted Turner, the philanthropist who pledged £1bn to the UN and founded CNN, who was credited with starting satellite super stations. In fact, we were two years ahead. Candace soon got into syndication of TV and radio via satellite, before moving to a syndication company. “When I joined they were “ bicycling” their programmes by Fedex so I introduced the idea of satellite distribution .”

It was also then at twenty eight, that she met and married her now husband who was US ambassador to Luxembourg which meant she had to be security ‘approved’. “He’s also a musician and I’m a classical singer.” Says Candace before adding an aside. “I love songs: poetry and music creating a world in three minutes and communicating that world intact to others.”

She loved Luxembourg and immediately suggested they set up a satellite.“Someone once
said, if you know one thing very well, you will be able to know everything.” Which explains her understandable satellite obsession. “Satellites are mirrors and create immediate infrastructure, which means you really can do so many things with them. It’s the same in telecoms and energy now. Understanding of large infrastructures is proving very helpful.” Candace’s “satellite” venture became SES ASTRA and SES Global, the world’s largest satellite system.

The rest of the article is available with a subscription to www.citywealthmag.com
Contact Karen Jones AT j-p-c.tv

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