Gillian Johnston (polo player)

Gillian Johnston is the daughter of Summerfield Johnston Jr., a business executive who served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Enterprises from 1991 to 2001,[1] and a polo player.[2] Her mother, Gil Johnston, is a British-born horsebreeder and steeplechaser.[3] Her paternal great-grandfather, James F. Johnston, founded the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola franchiser.[4][5]

She grew up at Bendabout farm in McDonald in Bradley County, Tennessee.[2] Her brother, Summerfield Johnston III, died from polo-related injuries in 2007.[2][6]

She reestablished the Bendabout Polo Club at her family farm in the 1990s.[7] She is the patron and captain of the Coca-Cola Polo Team.[5][6][8]

She first competed in the U.S. Open Polo Championship in 1999.[9] Four years later, in 2003, they won the championship at the Royal Palm Polo Club in Boca Raton, Florida alongside Adam Snow, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Tommy Biddle.[9] She and Sunny Hale are the only women to have won this championship.[10]

In 2013, she won the Ylvisaker Cup alongside Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Tommy Collingwood against Marc Ganzi's Audi team.[11][12]

She serves as the Vice President of the Polo Training Foundation.[13]