New leadership appointed at Mcneil

Johnson & Johnson has appointed new leadership to oversee McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the company’s troubled Fort Washington-based subsidiary that has issued a series of recalls over the past two years.

The pharmaceutical giant announced Sept. 13 Sandra E. Peterson will join Johnson & Johnson as a group worldwide chairman and a member of the company’s executive committee starting Dec. 1, according to a press release. Peterson will have responsibility for the company’s consumer group of companies, including McNeil; information technology; and global supply chain.

Peterson comes to Johnson & Johnson from Bayer, where she has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bayer Crop- Science AG since 2010, according to the release. Prior to that, Peterson held the posts of president and chief executive officer of Bayer Medical Care and president of Bayer HealthCare AG’s Diabetes Care Division. Before working with Bayer, Peterson worked in various roles for Medco Health Solutions, Nabisco Inc. and Whirlpool Corp.

“Sandi Peterson is an experienced global leader known for her strategic thinking and proven track record in growing businesses,” Johnson & Johnson’s new CEO Alex Gorsky said in the release. “She brings 25 years of experience to her new role, which will draw on her expertise in building fully integrated global businesses and focusing on growth.”

Peterson will be based out of Johnson & Johnson’s New Brunswick, N.J., headquarters, according to the release.

By overseeing the company’s consumer companies, Peterson will be responsible for McNeil Consumer Healthcare, which is headquartered in the Fort Washington Office Park with a plant on Camp Hill Road in the Fort Washington section of Whitemarsh Township.

Since late 2009, McNeil has issued a string of more than 20 recalls for medication produced at the Fort Washington plant, including the April 30, 2010, recall of more than 136 million children’s and infants’ products — the largest recall of children’s medicine in history.

McNeil halted production at the plant following that recall, and production has yet to resume two and a half years later. Johnson & Johnson officials have announced plans to gut the facility and invest more than $100 in renovations, with the plant not expected to reopen until 2013.