February 3, 2017 – Fairfield, NJ: The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) is thrilled to announce that its 2017 Honorable Mentor is Joaquin Duato, worldwide chairman, pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson.
Created in 2001, the Honorable Mentor award recognizes an individual who demonstrates long-term advocacy for current and future women leaders, has a personal dedication to developing, mentoring and promoting women in the industry, and who has been supportive of the HBA’s core purpose to further the advancement and impact of women in the business of healthcare.
“Joaquin Duato has a phenomenal track record of developing and promoting female leaders and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association is extremely proud to honor him as our 2017 Honorable Mentor,” says HBA CEO Laurie Cooke. “Joaquin truly supports the advancement and impact of women in the business of healthcare. Joaquin has been a champion of diversity and inclusion throughout his global career.”
“All of us at Johnson & Johnson are proud to have someone like Joaquin on the senior leadership team who has an uncompromising dedication to developing, mentoring and promoting women,” says Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive officer, Johnson & Johnson. “Joaquin is a living embodiment of Our Credo values and is a shining beacon for women’s development.”
Joaquin will be honored at the HBA’s 28th annual Woman of the Year (WOTY) event on Thursday, 11 May, at the New York Hilton Midtown. The WOTY event, which draws upward of 2,000 women and men from throughout the healthcare industry showcases the HBA’s core purpose of furthering the advancement and impact of women in the business of healthcare. Awards for Woman of the Year, STAR (Strategic Transformation Achievement Recognition) and a group of some 100 Rising Stars and Luminaries, noted for their accomplishments and contributions to the healthcare industry, also will be presented at the WOTY event.
“I am thrilled to be named the 2017 HBA Honorable Mentor,” said Joaquin Duato. “As a recent U.S. citizen, I deeply appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusion in ensuring business success. I am humbled to have had the privilege of working with, and for, some of the industry’s most talented female leaders. I firmly believe diversity of thought, ideas and experience is critical to ensuring Johnson & Johnson remains at the forefront of innovation.”
Joaquin is a respected, 32-year veteran of the industry and has led many teams throughout his career – always with strong women leaders. His current leadership team at Johnson & Johnson includes six female leaders – two of which lead the largest geographic regions for the company’s pharmaceutical business.
Joaquin has played an instrumental role in leading the dramatic turnaround of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals business since 2011. With a proven track record of creating innovative commercial solutions and processes to support the company’s cutting-edge medicines, he inspires employees to focus on transforming the lives of patients. In the same way he has accelerated the growth of the business, he has also rapidly accelerated the growth of female management within the company’s pharmaceuticals group.
With a career spanning three countries and two regions, he truly appreciates the value of diversity of experiences and perspectives in the business world. He brings this to bear externally as the current chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and as an active board member of the U.S. Spain Council. Within Johnson & Johnson, he is also the executive sponsor of the company’s African American Leadership Council. His commitment to nurturing a culture of diversity was recognized in 2015 when he was named one of America’s Top 10 Hispanic Business Leaders by Hispanic Career World.
As a father, Joaquin also recognizes the importance of building strong female leaders at an early age. He has actively encouraged his daughter to seek out leadership opportunities with Save the Children – with whom Joaquin is also a member of the Board of Trustees.
To learn more about Joaquin Duato, the 2017 HBA Honorable Mentor, visit his online biography.
About the HBA
The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) is a global nonprofit organization serving a community women and men in leading life sciences, biotech, pharmaceutical and supporting companies. The HBA has nearly 120 Corporate Partners and nearly 8,000 members served by more than 20 chapters and affiliates across the US and Europe.