The
most important driver of our success regarding our results, reputation,
and performance has to do with the strong dedication and commitment of
the employees…
A champ of multiplicity in the workplace, Alex Gorsky is an American
businessman. He assumed the position as the Chief Executive Officer of
Johnson and Johnson since April 26th, 2012. Johnson and Johnson deals
with baby care products. J&J is synonymous with soaps, baby powder,
diaper rash creams, baby oils, diapers, wet wipes and other fast moving
consumer goods (FMCG) related to baby care. J & J has been in the
market for more than 100 years from now, and the company is
headquartered in the United States of America.
Mr. Gorsky is a past marathon runner and tri-athlete. His zeal includes his family, American and English literature and fitness.
He holds diversified experience in the domains of sales, marketing
and management roles at Janssen Pharmaceutical, a Johnson & Johnson
unit, and was based in New Jersey. Mr. Gorsky began his pharmaceutical
vocation as a sales representative and held various roles of increasing
responsibility in sales, marketing and general management.
Early Days and Education
Alex Gorsky was born on the 20th of March 1960 and is currently 53
years old. He was born and brought up in the New York City, NY. Alex
Gorsky completed his Bachelor’s Degree of Science at US Military
Academy, West Point, New York. Mr. Gorsky is also known to one and all
as the former marathon runner and is a tri-athlete. Some of his passions
include family, his fitness and the American and English literature.
He spent around 6 years serving for the US army. During his career as
an Army officer he has served in Europe, the United States and Panama.
In 1996, he obtained his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from
the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. He finished his
career at the Army with the rank of captain and earned the Ranger tab
and Airborne wings.
The Spark
In 1988, he spent about 8 years performing various senior level roles
and management positions at Janssen Pharmaceutica, and in Johnson and
Johnson unit based out of New Jersey. He joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Corporation in 2004 as Chief Operating Officer and Head of General
Medicines.
He was appointed as Head of Pharma, North America and CEO during the
year 2005 at Novartis group. During his tenure, he has developed several
medical strategies and has won several awards and accolades at Novartis
and its franchises.
He later on rejoined Johnson and Johnson, which he had previously
left in New Jersey and joined other leading Pharma companies as stated
above. When he rejoined J & J, a pharma biggie, he was appointed as
the worldwide chairman of the surgical care group of J & J. He was
the chairman of the company’s pharmaceutical unit in Europe, Middle East
and Africa. He was the worldwide chairman of the medical devices and
diagnostics group at Johnson & Johnson, serving in that role until
September 2009. He now serves as CEO. This describes his career stint of
starting off in the Army and landing up as CEO of Johnson and Johnson.
His Journey with Johnson and Johnson
He started off in Johnson and Johnson Company as a sales
representative way back in 1988. He had completed his career stint at
the US army by then. He retired from the US military forces as the
Captain. J & J was called Janssen Pharmaceutica then. He was in the
same firm for almost 15 years. Over the span of his 1.5 decade career
with J & J, he assumed increasing responsibilities in sales,
marketing and management. As he had obtained a Master’s Degree in
Business Administration from Wharton University of Pennsylvania, it was
an add-on plus for his in his career spark.
Mr. Gorsky assumed the post of President of Janssen Pharmaceutica,
and he was appointed the Company Group Chairman of Johnson and Johnson
Pharmaceuticals business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He
subsequently left the firm to join Novartis group. Mr. Gorsky returned
back to J & J in the year 2008. He was the Company Group Chairman
for Ethicon. Then there has been no looking back for this ever dynamic
and hardworking individual.
In September 2009, he was appointed as the worldwide chairman of
Medical devices and Surgical Equipment group of J & J. Mr. Gorsky
became Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee in January 2011 and
finally bagged the CEO’s post in the year 2012.
As he has a very long stint at the pharma industry, and as a high
patronage advocate of diversity and inclusion, Mr Gorsky was named
Mentor of the year 2009 by Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, an
organization he has been involved with for many years.
Mr. Gorsky has taken in responsibilities in different verticals of
the industry such as administration, community affairs, Finance, Human
Resources, Information Management, Marketing, Medical Affairs, Public
relations and Process Excellence. You simply name the department, and he
must have handled the unit at some point or the other in his entire
career span. There are a couple of individuals rather CEO’s who just
stick to their line of business. They don’t want to assume
responsibilities in cross verticals. However, this individual has worked
in all spectrum of business and has left no leaf unturned.
For the welfare of the society
He is actively involved in the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill, the National Alliance on Aging, the Philadelphia College of
Pharmacy, the Doylestown Hospital Board, the Boy Scouts of America, and
as a Youth League Coach for Lacrosse. Mr. Gorsky also serves on the
boards of the Travis Mansion Foundation and the Congressional Medal of
Honor Foundation. This shows his level of concern and love towards the
mentally challenged and underprivileged sections of the society. He just
wasn’t the easy come and easy go kind of person. He puts in sustained
efforts and dedication to any project that he takes up.
For His company based performance in a nutshell
Mr. Gorsky took up the coveted CEO’s role in April 2012, but he was
the guy behind achieving one of the biggest milestones, the company
could ever think of. He facilitated the buy-out of Swiss device-maker
Synthes, a $19.7 billion deal. The transaction was closed after a couple
of months on Mr. Gorsky taking up the role of the CEO.
On the pharma side of the business, he helped J & J in releasing
several new drugs at a time when other biggie Pharma companies in US
were bogged down by recession. Prostate cancer pill named Zytiga and
blood thinner Xarelto were big additions to the revenue making stream as
such. Moreover, the company was one of the only four top drug-makers
actually to grow sales last year, to $67.2 billion.
This was what Mr. Gorsky as a CEO accomplished, to making the company stand at a position where it is, today!
Awards & Accolades |
|
Mr. Gorsky was named as the 2009 Mentor of the Year by the well known Healthcare Businesswomen's Association. |
|
He
is also the executive sponsor for the two Johnson & Johnson
affinity groups, the Women's Leadership Initiative and the Veteran's
Leadership Council. |
|
U.S.
Veterans Magazine, as well as the Hispanic Network Magazine recognized
Johnson & Johnson in their special “Best of the Best” issue. |
|
The Working Mother magazine too has named Johnson & Johnson to be the Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2013. |
|
The above mentioned and many more accolades were achieved by this firm under the leadership of Alex Gorsky. |
Professional Affiliations |
|
International Business Machines Corporation |
|
Mentor Worldwide LLC |
|
Novartis AG |
|
Novartis Corporation |
|
United States Military Academy. |
|
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation |
|
University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School |
Quotes |
|
With
regard to my own personal management style, I am a big believer in
communication, collaboration, and teamwork, and although I have to focus
on the big picture, I think it’s important to know and understand the
details as well. |
|
I
believe that everyone who works at Johnson & Johnson – our more
than 128,000 employees globally, as well as our partners – does so
because of our credo: a set of beliefs written over 70 years ago by the
son of one of our founders. |
|
I
believe that the most important driver of our success regarding our
results, reputation, and performance has to do with the strong
dedication and commitment of the employees of Johnson & Johnson. |
|
It’s
a tremendous opportunity, and it ensures that Johnson & Johnson
will remain vital into the future as we look for new ways to help people
live longer, happier lives across the world. |
|
The
global challenge of helping more people everywhere live longer,
healthier, and happier lives means we will have to accelerate innovation
in the future. |
|
We
believe that we must not just be innovators of products and services;
we must innovate in everything we do and how we do it. The old models
will no longer suffice. |
|
In
the areas of health, wellness, and health literacy, our operating
companies are introducing a variety of apps and products – such as the 7
Minute Workout app – that encourage and empower people to take better
care of their health. |
|
In
order to manage in a complex global health-care environment, we believe
in matching decision-making with market needs. This decentralized
approach has served us well for almost a century, and it remains one of
our key growth drivers. |
|
Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities, and countries. |
|
We
also believe that human health benefits from a healthy planet. We have
been setting environmental goals for nearly 30 years, and we are
committed to continuously improving on those goals to reduce our
environmental footprint. |