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J&J CEO Alex Gorsky to Step Aside

Company will transition the CEO role to Joaquin Duato at the start of 2022.

Johnson & Johnson has announced that Alex Gorsky, current chairman and CEO, is stepping aside effective January 3, 2022. The company will transition the chief executive role to Joaquin Duato, currently vice chairman of the company’s executive committee—he will also be appointed as a member of the company’s board.
 
Mr. Duato’s 30-plus year career at Johnson & Johnson has spanned multiple business sectors, geographies and functions. As vice chairman of the executive committee, he provides strategic direction for the pharmaceutical and consumer health sectors and oversees the global supply chain, technology and health and wellness teams.
 
Following the transition, Mr. Gorsky will continue to serve as executive chairman.
 
“It has been an honor and privilege to lead this company as chairman and CEO for nearly a decade, and I am pleased to serve as executive chairman to help oversee Johnson & Johnson’s ongoing progress improving the health of people and communities everywhere,” said Mr. Gorsky. “Over the course of my 30-year career at Johnson & Johnson, guided by Our Credo, I have witnessed the profound impact of the company’s evolution and expansion of life-enhancing medicines. The past decade alone has been transformational for Johnson & Johnson as we dramatically increased investment in R&D, drove some of the most important global advances in healthcare, made significant strategic shifts across the business and delivered record performance.”
 
Mr. Gorsky has served as chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 2012. During his tenure, Mr. Gorsky has overseen a more than 60% increase in R&D investments to $12 billion in 2020, making Johnson & Johnson one of the industry’s top investors in research and development, as well as hundreds of acquisitions and partnerships that contributed to the company’s growth across its three segments.
 
A primary focus of R&D investment under Mr. Gorsky’s leadership has been oncology, with the company’s sales in this area growing from approximately $2 billion in 2011 to over $12 billion in 2020, while acquisitions have included Actelion, the largest in the company’s history, which significantly expanded Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical segment portfolio of rare-disease treatments.
 
Mr. Gorsky has also overseen Johnson & Johnson’s breakthroughs in vaccine programs, including the deployment of the Ebola and development of the HIV vaccine regimens, and most recently, the development of the first single-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

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