Stewart Christopher Johnston (born February 26, 1971) is a Canadian businessman, who is the 15th and current commissioner of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and former president of

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

and Senior Vice President of

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

, Content and Sales.

Early life

Johnston was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, on February 26, 1971, to Charles Christopher (Chris) Johnston, a lawyer, and Vivian Audrey (née Ash). The third of five children, Johnston's family moved to

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

in 1972 when he was one year old. While growing up in Ottawa, he was neighbours with legendary

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

of the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

Gerry Organ Gerry Organ (born December 4, 1944) is a former professional Canadian football placekicker and punter for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. He played for 13 seasons for the Rough Riders, playing in three Grey Cup games, wi ...

. Johnston attended

Ashbury College Ashbury College is an independent day school, day and boarding school, boarding school located in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was originally founded in 1891 by former faculty of Bishop's College School in Quebec to acc ...

in Ottawa for his high school years, where he played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for both the junior varsity and varsity

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams in addition to

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

. He described himself as a 'sports junkie' when he was young. Johnston attended Queen's University in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, Ontario and received a letter of permission to study at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

for his final year. He graduated from Queen's with an Honours Business Degree.

Career

Between his third and fourth years of university, Johnston took a 16-month

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

position with

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, in the sports marketing department. This position led him to working at the

82nd Grey Cup The 82nd Grey Cup was the 1994 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Baltimore Football Club and the BC Lions at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was the first championship in professional football hist ...

, where he mixed drinks behind the bench for the

Baltimore Football Club The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...

. Johnston started working as an intern at TSN in 1997. He worked his way up the ranks and was promoted to Vice President of Programming in 2006. In 2010, he was made President. In 2014, Johnston added TSN3, TSN4, TSN5 to TSN's list of networks. He described it as an "important evolution" for the network, as it would allow TSN to make more efficient use of its portfolio of sports properties, by showing more sports games on at the same time to satisfy the people and the company. When he departed

for the

in 2025, he held the position of Senior Vice President, Content and Sales. In 2019, Johnston was ranked #48 in ''

The Hockey News ''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a reader ...

'' "Top 100 People of Power and Influence". In November, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

. On April 1, 2025, Johnston was named by Dan Ralph of

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...

as the top candidate to replace the retiring

Randy Ambrosie Randy Ambrosie (born March 16, 1963) is a Canadian former professional football player and executive who served as the 14th commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Ambrosie played professionally as an offensive guard for the CFL's Ca ...

as commissioner of the Canadian Football League. The next day on April 2, 2025, Johnston was announced as Ambrosie's successor, officially assuming the role on April 24, 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Stewart 1971 births Living people Businesspeople from Ottawa Businesspeople from Toronto Ashbury College alumni Canadian Football League commissioners