Mastering Disruption: How One of the World’s Largest Healthcare Companies is Navigating Market Challenges to Ensure Patients Receive the Products They Need

  • Preparing for risks: Making strategic physical and digital investments can enhance your time-to-react and time-to-respond
  • Responding to risks: Looking beyond your own four walls and leveraging the strength of an ecosystem can drive measurable accountability and long-term, sustainable outcomes
  • Becoming proactively resilient: Leveraging a winning combination of people, processes and technologies at scale can help mitigate risks before they come to fruition

Kathryn E. Wengel (Kathy)
EVP, Chief Technical Operations & Risk Officer
Johnson & Johnson

Kathryn E. Wengel (Kathy) is Executive Vice President, Chief Technical Operations & Risk Officer for Johnson & Johnson, and a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. She has significant healthcare, operations and global business expertise – with more than three decades of experience in leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson.

In her current role, Kathy is responsible for the continued strengthening of the Company’s core technical operations and risk management capabilities. She leads key technical operations functions, including: Procurement, Engineering & Property Services, Sustainability and cross-sector Supply Chain teams focused on standards, services, strategic programs and data science, as well as critical risk functions, including: Quality & Compliance, Health Care Compliance, Environmental Health & Safety, Global Security and Global Brand Protection. A strong developer of globally diverse teams, Kathy also plays an important role with external stakeholders to advance critical risk management, resilience and technical operations priorities on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and the healthcare industry.

Most recently, Kathy served for nine years as Executive Vice President and Chief Global Supply Chain Officer, and prior to that, as the Company’s first Chief Quality Officer. Under her leadership, Johnson & Johnson has become the only healthcare company ever ranked among the top five on the Supply Chain Top 25 list by Gartner, Inc. – a ranking that recognizes the critical role its Supply Chain has played as an integrator across an ecosystem of internal and external partners.

Externally from Johnson & Johnson, Kathy serves as a member of the Board of Directors at the Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp), a leading global life sciences company. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the National Association of Manufacturers in the U.S. She also serves as Chair of the Board of GS1 Global, a nonprofit that develops and maintains global supply chain standards. Within Johnson & Johnson, Kathy is executive sponsor for the Women’s Leadership & Inclusion (WLI) initiative and the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design (WiSTEM2D) program.

In 2019, Kathy was recognized by the Council of Supply Management Professionals (CSCMP) with its lifetime Distinguished Service Award, and she was elected to the Supply Chain Hall of Fame, the industry’s top individual supply chain honor. In 2015, Kathy received the National Association of Female Executives’ (NAFE) Women of Excellence Award.

Kathy holds a BSE degree in civil engineering and operations research from Princeton University.