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Amid consumer spinoff and CEO transition, Johnson & Johnson names new leadership team

Less than a month after revealing a plan to spin its consumer health business off as a new publicly traded company, Johnson & Johnson has shed more light on its future by naming new members of its executive committee.

The newly minted executive committee will serve under Joaquin Duato, who takes over as CEO on Jan. 3. In a move that J&J unveiled in August, Duato will soon take the reins from Alex Gorsky, J&J’s CEO since 2012, who will become the company’s chairman.

“I am thrilled to appoint this group of dynamic and experienced leaders to Johnson & Johnson’s executive committee,” Duato said in a statement. “Each represents a high level of dedication to our mission, as well as proven track records of strategic thinking, strong execution, and credo-based leadership.”

Vanessa Broadhurst, the company’s chairman of global commercial strategy for pharmaceuticals, will take over as the VP of global corporate affairs. Broadhurst previously served as president of J&J’s North America pharma unit Janssen.

Bill Hait, J&J’s global head of external innovation, will become VP of external innovation, medical safety and global public health.

Mathai Mammen, the head of R&D at Janssen, will become VP of pharmaceuticals R&D.

Additionally, in a separate move, J&J will bump chief information officer Jim Swanson up to a VP role as he replaces Michael Sneed, who is retiring after 38 years with the New Jersey-based company. Snead has been J&J’s VP of global corporate affairs and chief communications officer.

In another previously revealed change, chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels will retire on Dec. 31 after 19 years with the company. Going forward, his duties will be split between Mammen and Hait.

Remaining in place on J&J’s exec committee are CFO Joseph Wolk, pharmaceuticals chief Jennifer Taubert, medtech chief Ashley McCoy, consumer health chief Thibaut Mongon, general counsel Michael Ullman, global supply chain chief Kathy Wengel and HR chief Peter Fasolo.

J&J has yet to name a new CEO for its consumer health spinoff. The company said that the separation will take between 18 and 24 months to complete.

This has been a year of rapid transition for J&J. After prolonged efforts to fend off litigation over its role in the opioid crisis, J&J agreed in July—along with three distributors—to an historic $26 billion settlement which resolved claims with a large group of states. J&J also cut separate deals with other states not participating in the landmark settlement.

Meanwhile, the company also made a controversial move in an attempt to rid itself of litigation over its talc products as it formed a new subsidiary, LTL Management, to handle the liabilities and filed for bankruptcy.

With these and other moves, J&J is trying to leave the past behind as it stakes out a new future. Another step in the process came Thursday with the tweak to its executive committee.

“As a whole, they are representative of the deep bench of talent we see at every level of our organization, as well as the tremendous opportunity ahead for Johnson & Johnson as we enter a new and exciting chapter,” Duato said in the statement.