Alex Gorsky to Succeed Bill Weldon as CEO of Johnson & J

Johnson & Johnson has announced that its Board of Directors has named Alex Gorsky Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson effective April 26, 2012, the date of the Company’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Gorsky was also nominated for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting.

Mr. Gorsky, 51, currently Vice Chairman of the Company’s Executive Committee with responsibility for the Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group, Global Supply Chain, Health Care Compliance & Privacy and Government Affairs & Policy, succeeds Bill Weldon, who has served as Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 2002. Mr. Weldon remains Chairman of the Board of Directors.

As CEO, Mr. Gorsky will assume full management responsibilities for Johnson & Johnson, including those currently reporting to him and to Mr. Weldon. As Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee, Sheri S. McCoy will report to Mr. Gorsky when he assumes the role of CEO. She will continue to lead the Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Groups, and maintain responsibility for Information Technology.

Mr. Weldon said, "This succession decision involved a rigorous, thorough and formal multi-year process, which included consideration of two superbly qualified internal candidates, as well as outside candidates."

Jim Cullen, the independent presiding director of the Board of Directors, said: "It is a testament to the leadership development and succession planning process at Johnson & Johnson that Mr. Gorsky, like all of the previous chief executives in the Company’s 126-year history, was appointed from within the organization."

On behalf of the Board, Mr. Cullen also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Weldon: "We thank Bill for his disciplined, decisive and successful stewardship of Johnson & Johnson during a time of transformative change for health care and a turbulent world economy. His leadership and accomplishments over the past decade have been extraordinary and Johnson & Johnson is much stronger, much more diverse in its base of businesses and much better positioned to succeed in today’s evolving marketplace."

Mr. Gorsky will succeed Mr. Weldon, 63, as Chairman of the Company’s Executive Committee on April 26. Mr. Weldon will relinquish his role on the Executive Committee at that time and work with Mr. Gorsky in the interim to ensure a seamless transition of leadership.

"Our success at developing outstanding leaders from within is reflected in the selection of Alex to lead our great company forward," Mr. Weldon said. "Alex and Sheri are two extraordinary leaders. The future of Johnson & Johnson is in very capable hands."

Mr. Gorsky began his Johnson & Johnson career in 1988 as a sales representative with Janssen Pharmaceutica in the Pharmaceuticals business. Over the next 15 years, he advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and management. In 2001, he was appointed President of Janssen, and in 2003, promoted to Company Group Chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceuticals business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

He left the Company in 2004 to join the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he served as head of the company’s pharmaceuticals business in North America. Four years later, he returned to Johnson & Johnson as Company Group Chairman and Worldwide Franchise Chairman for Ethicon in the medical devices business. In 2009, he was appointed Worldwide Chairman of the Surgical Care Group and to the Johnson & Johnson Executive Committee. He was appointed Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee in January 2011.