Jennifer Taubert, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, has been named to Fortune‘s 2021 list of the Most Powerful Women in Business for the sixth consecutive year. Criteria for inclusion on the list include the health and direction of a leader’s business and her social and cultural influence.
Taubert is responsible for shaping the global strategy of transformational medical innovation at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, which includes bringing new medicines to market that help improve the lives of patients living with cancer, immune-related diseases, heart disease and diabetes, infectious diseases including HIV, pulmonary hypertension and serious mental illness.
A commitment to reaching patients across the globe
In a time of unprecedented challenges, strong leadership has never been more important. Despite the continued impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Taubert has ensured that Janssen never lost sight of its top priorities: ensuring the company’s critical medicines remained available around the world; clinical trials progressed; innovation advanced, particularly in areas of high unmet need; and patients and healthcare providers received the support they so crucially need. In addition, under her leadership, Janssen delivered more than half of Johnson & Johnson’s $82.6 billion in 2020 revenues, with market-leading growth. That momentum has continued into 2021.
Janssen has had two new product approvals in 2021, including one for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The other, for non-small cell lung cancer for patients with a specific genetic mutation, is just one example of how the company is making progress toward its vision to eliminate cancer.
Under Jennifer’s leadership, our Pharmaceuticals business reached new heights and positively impacted millions of people around the world. Add to that her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), and it’s easy to see why she remains on Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women in Business.
Another important area of focus for Janssen this year: CAR-T cell therapy, in which a patient’s own immune system is harnessed to help fight multiple myeloma. The investigational therapy is under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has granted it Breakthrough Therapy Designation.
“Under Jennifer’s leadership, our Pharmaceuticals business reached new heights and positively impacted millions of people around the world,” says Joaquin Duato, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee at Johnson & Johnson. “Add to that her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), and it’s easy to see why she remains on Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women in Business.”
As part of her focus on DE&I, Taubert serves as Executive Committee sponsor of one of Johnson & Johnson’s four global Employee Resource Groups: the Alliance for Diverse Abilities, which supports employees living with physical limitations and mental health and neurological challenges. She is also Executive Sponsor of Johnson & Johnson Nursing, a program dedicated to helping elevate the visibility and impact of nurses as innovative leaders who have the power to help strengthen health systems—a cause that is a cornerstone of the company and is rooted in its legacy of supporting these critical frontline health workers since the 1800s.
In addition, she has overseen Janssen’s implementation of the Johnson & Johnson “Our Race to Health Equity” platform, which aspires to help eradicate racial and social injustice as a public health threat by eliminating health inequities for people of color.
Johnson & Johnson congratulates Taubert on this important recognition, which speaks to her success as a leader who is helping profoundly impact the health of people around the world.
