This is exactly what happened to William C. Weldon who worked all his life at Johnson & Johnson (J&J). One thing about this company is it never hired an outsider to lead it since its founding in 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Working his entire career at J&J allowed him to prove himself as an able executive and become the company’s only 6th chairman in 2002.
Weldon was not particularly an academic achiever in school and was more inclined to sports. He got married while in college studying at Quinnipiac University. He said marriage made him more serious with his studies. After graduating with a bachelor of science degree in 1971 he got a job in the sales and marketing department at McNeil Pharmaceutical a division of J&J.
From
their Weldon quickly rose through the ranks.
By 1982 he was the manager of J&J’s ICOM Regional Development Center
in Southeast Asia. More promotions followed. Weldon became president of Ethicon
Endo-Surgery (EES) a newly formed J&J company in 1992. Although coming from
a pharmaceutical background Weldon worked hard to make the company a market
leader in the medical-instruments market overtaking the number one company by
1996.
This
stunning achievement led to more promotions and in 1998 he became worldwide
chairman of J&J’s Pharmaceutical Group and became a member of the company’s
executive committee. The group was lagging in performance and Weldon was tasked
to revive it. He engineered the acquisition of Centocor which had a number of
promising drugs. Weldon led another major acquisition in 2001 when J&J
acquired Alza Corporation which was known for its transdermal patches.
Weldon
was eventually appointed CEO and chairman of J&J in January 2002. His
tenure has been marked by growth and major acquisitions. It has also been
rocked by recalls of liquid children’s Tylenol, other medications, and products
like contact lenses. He relinquished the CEO post in April 2012 while remaining
as chairman.
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