Johnson & Johnson CEO pay doubled in 2023; Former J&J MedTech leader's comp also climbed (2024)

Johnson & Johnson paid former EVP and J&J MedTech Worldwide Chair Ashley McEvoy more than $9 million in her final year leading the medical device business, according to the company’s latest executive compensation disclosure.

McEvoy stepped down in October 2023 but remained an advisor to the company until leaving J&J entirely in February 2024, the company said in the disclosure, which covers the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2023.

Her 2023 pay increased 27% from $7.4 million the year before, which was the first year that J&J disclosed her compensation under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

McEvoy’s pay in both years appears to be the highest for any woman in medtech focused solely on medical devices, though she made slightly less than J&J EVP and Innovative Medicine Worldwide Chair Jennifer Taubert on the company’s pharmaceutical side. (Look for more details on pay for Taubert and other top J&J executives below.)

McEvoy’s 2023 compensation included a salary of nearly $1.1 million, stock awards of $4.0 million, option awards of $1.7 million, cash bonuses of $1.3 million, a $1.3 million change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings and $47,665 for contributions to defined contribution plans. Her perks and other personal benefits were not disclosed because they were less than $10,000.

McEvoy “did not receive a February 2024 [long-term incentive, or LTI] award for 2023 performance or any severance payments or benefits in connection with her departure,” the company said in the filing. “Upon termination of her employment, she forfeited outstanding long-term incentive awards that had not vested per the terms and conditions of each outstanding award.”

McEvoy joined the Procter & Gamble board in December 2023. It’s not clear whether she’ll return to the medtech industry in a leadership role, but she spoke at the MedExec Women 2024 conference in April, discussing innovation, servant leadership, medtech regulation and the importance of gender and ethnic equity to improve patient care as well as business performance.

J&J replaced McEvoy with longtime vet Tim Schmid, whose compensation has not been disclosed.

Recruiting and retaining top talent — both at the executive and engineering level — is crucial in the medtech industry, but employee compensation is kept secret in most cases.Medical Design & Outsourcingtracks and analyzes these pay figureswhen disclosed by major device developers and manufacturers.

2023 analysis:How does medtech CEO pay stack up to the rank and file?

J&J MedTech is the world’s second-largest medical device company according to our Medtech Big 100 ranking, trailing only Medtronic. Medtronic recently reported $8 million in total compensation to former CFO Karen Parkhill in her final year before resigning to join HP as CFO.

Related: Medtronic CEO pay jumps 30%, employment and median worker pay drop

Johnson & Johnson’s top-paid executives

In 2023, Johnson & Johnson Chair and CEO Joaquin Duato — who oversees both the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses — received total compensation of $28.4 million, including a $1.6 million salary, stock awards of $11.2 million, option awards of $4.8 million, cash bonuses of $4.4 million and a $6.2 million change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings.

He also received other compensation of $241,992, including personal use of a company car and driver and $145,685 worth of personal use of corporate aircraft.

Duato’s total compensation increased 117% from $13.1 million in 2022.

Johnson & Johnson’s second-highest-paid executive was a new hire who received a cash signing bonus to join the company from another major pharmaceutical company.

J&J EVP of Innovative Medicine and R&D Dr. John Reed received $20.6 million in total compensation for 2023, including a $840,385 salary, a $5.7 million signing bonus, stock awards of $11.7 million, a $374,000 change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings and other cash bonuses of $1.7 million.

J&J said that signing bonus makes up for pay from his previous employer, Sanofi, that he forfeited to join J&J.

“The value of the award was based on his forfeited equity incentives that would have vested within 12 months of his hire date, 2022 cash annual incentive and retirement plan unvested value,” J&J said in the filing. “Dr. Reed would need to fully repay this amount to the company if he were to leave within the first two years of his employment.”

Reed also received other compensation totaling $313,031, including personal use of a company car and driver, $182,850 worth of personal use of corporate aircraft, and $58,226 in relocation expenses.

“As part of our standard executive relocation package, Dr. Reed was provided with airfare between his current home and the company’s offices, a corporate apartment and an insured automobile,” the company said. “These expenses are only available to him within his first 12 months of hire.”

Up next was J&J EVP and CFO Joseph Wolk, who received $13.9 million in total compensation for 2023, including a $1.1 million salary, stock awards of $5.8 million, option awards of $2.5 million, cash bonuses of $1.9 million, a $2.5 million change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings, and other compensation of $98,072.

Wolk’s compensation increased 58% from $8.8 million in 2022.

J&J EVP and Innovative Medicine Worldwide Chair Jennifer Taubert received $11.0 million in total compensation for 2023, including a $1.1 million salary, stock awards of $4.2 million, option awards of $1.8 million, cash bonuses of $1.9 million, a $1.8 million change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings, and other compensation of $78,332.

Taubert’s total compensation increased 25% from $8.8 million in 2022.

J&J EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Peter Fasolo received $7.5 million in total compensation for 2023, including a $877,692 salary, stock awards of $3.0 million, option awards of $1.3 million, cash bonuses of $1.2 million and a a $1.1 million change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings. He also received other compensation of $111,744, including $49,182 worth of personal use of corporate aircraft.

J&J did not disclose Fasolo’s prior-year pay.

“The board believes that an executive compensation program should align management with shareholders and not incentivize leaders to take excessive risks.” the company said in the filing. “When determining executive compensation, the board reviews our company’s financial performance as well as other strategic factors, including product quality metrics, talent development, diversity, equity and inclusion, access to medicines, and other [environmental, social and governance — or ESG] goals to ensure our leaders are driving long-term growth in a manner aligned with Our Credo values.”

J&J shareholders overwhelmingly voted in support of the company’s executive compensation packages in an advisory “Say-on-Pay” vote at this year’s annual meeting.

J&J’s CEO pay ratio

In the same filing with its executive pay packages, J&J also disclosed its CEO pay ratio. The SEC requires publicly traded companies to calculate a CEO pay ratio showing how much more the chief executive makes than the median employee.

J&J estimated its median employee wage at $84,000, up from $80,000 the year before but down from $90,000 in 2021.

“The net effect of changes in currency exchange rates contributed to the decrease in the median,” the company said in its filing. “If the exchange rates had not changed during 2022, the median would have been $88,000.”

That median wage and Duato’s $28.4 million pay package puts J&J’s CEO pay at 338 times more than the median worker, compared to a164:1 ratio the year before.

J&J said that ratio is likely a conservative estimate, and that the true pay gap between the CEO and median worker may be narrower.

J&J did not describe its median employee by location or job title. At other medtech companies that offer more details about their median workers than required by the SEC pay disclosure rules, those median medtech workers often hold technical roles such as device design or engineering.

More medtech compensation analysis for CEOs, top-paid executives and median workers

• Medtronic CEO pay jumps 30%, employment and median worker pay drop
• Boston Scientific’s median worker pay plunges in latest executive compensation disclosure
• Stryker pay climbs for top execs and median worker as sales break $20B mark
• No bonuses for Penumbra execs despite growing sales 25% to $1B
• Integer discloses executive pay, including separation payments for ex-EVPs
• Outset Medical investors target executive pay after recalls and warning letter
• Intuitive pay increases for executives, drops for median worker —but its top-paid employee wasn’t the CEO
• Pay drops for Medtronic CEO and the median employee; bonus plan changes
• BD limits executive severance after ‘golden parachute’ shareholder proposal overcomes board opposition
• Zimmer Biomet changes executive pay plans after shareholder vote