2/21/2012 5:14 PM ET
(RTTNews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: News ) announced that its Board has appointed Alex Gorsky as its Chief Executive Officer, effective April 26, 2012, the date of the Company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Gorsky was also nominated for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting. Gorsky succeeds Bill Weldon, who has served as Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 2002. Weldon remains Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Gorsky began his Johnson & Johnson career in 1988 as a sales representative with Janssen Pharmaceutica in the Pharmaceuticals business. 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.
Gorsky 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, Gorsky 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.
Gorsky will succeed Weldon, 63, as Chairman of the Company's Executive Committee on April 26. Weldon will relinquish his role on the Executive Committee at that time and work with Gorsky in the interim to ensure a seamless transition of leadership, the company said.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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