| Willis Johnson | |||||||
| Birth Name: | Willis J. Johnson | ||||||
| Birth Place: | Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||
| Known For: | Founder of Copart Inc. | ||||||
| Spouse: | Joyce Johnson | ||||||
| Party: | Republican | ||||||
| Children: | 3 | ||||||
| Relatives: | Jay Adair (son-in-law), Jake McCalmon (grandson) | ||||||
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Willis J. Johnson (born 1947) is an American billionaire businessman.[1] He is the founder and former chief executive of Copart, a vehicle salvage and auction company, founded in 1982.[2] [3]
Born in 1947, Johnson grew up on a dairy farm in the vicinity of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He received his early education from a high school in California.[1] Johnson then joined the Army and served a year-long tour in Vietnam which earned him a Purple Heart. In 1972, he bought his own junkyard in Sacramento, California, and moved his family into a trailer to fund his purchase. He took Copart public in 1994. He launched an online bidding platform for wrecked cars in 1998[1] (or 2002).
Willis Johnson retired from his position of CEO of Copart in 2010 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2015, he co-founded now defunct on-demand household chore app, Takl.[4] July 2021.
Johnson is politically conservative and supports the Republican Party. Since 2001, he has contributed at least $1.5 million to different conservative causes.
In 2019, he contributed $50,000 to the Trump Victory Committee, a political action committee. Together with his spouse, Johnson contributed a total of $700,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.[5]
In 2021, he donated $1 million to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to fund a National Guard deployment to the Texas/Mexico border.[6] [7]
In 2010, he bought an 18,600 square foot mansion in Nashville for $28 million from American country singer Alan Jackson.[8]
Johnson also owns a 79-acre vineyard in Suisun Valley, California.[8]
Johnson is married to Joyce, whom he married after returning from the Vietnam War.[4] Johnson is a practising Christian.[4]
Johnson resides in Franklin, Tenn., and owns a large collection of classic cars, including a 1955 Chevrolet.[9]
His son-in-law, Jay Adair, is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Copart, and owns shares in the company worth more than $800 million.[1]