CO-FOUNDER & Managing Partner
Mark J. Johnson
Mark Johnson is a Co-Founder and the Managing Partner of Astra Capital Management and serves on the firm’s Investment Committee. Mr. Johnson has 22 years of investment experience in communications and technology having invested on behalf of several leading firms. As a member of some of the oldest, largest and most global private equity firms during his career, Mr. Johnson is among a select group of professionals who worked directly alongside the most prolific investors in the industry in active deal situations. He was a member of the investment team in several of the industry’s most successful buyout funds including, Carlyle Partners III, IV and V; Blackstone Capital Partners III and IV; and smaller vehicles such as Whitney Equity Partners. Through this experience, he gained training and built relationships that permeate Wall Street and benefit Astra to this day. Mr. Johnson has been involved in the execution of privately negotiated transactions, corporate carve-outs, follow-on acquisitions, IPOs and strategic sale exits for investments. From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Johnson was a member of The Carlyle Group, ultimately serving as a Managing Director and Global Partner responsible for leading global efforts in the wireless and business services sectors. Before joining Carlyle, Mr. Johnson was at The Blackstone Group from 2001 to 2004 and JH Whitney from 1997 to 1999. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) group from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Johnson’s board experience includes Syniverse Technologies, Insight Communications, and TRW Automotive. He served on the 2008 Obama-Biden Presidential Economic Transition Team, received the 2011 NAIC Award of Excellence, and serves as a member of the Washington D.C. Federal City Council and the Governing Board and Investment Committee of St. Albans School. Mr. Johnson received an AB in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and he is an alumnus of both the SEO and Toigo career programs.