Kathy Wengel, Worldwide Vice President of Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain (JJSC), AWESOME Advisor, and recipient of the 2014 AWESOME Legendary Leadership Award, in an interview for strategicsourceror.com, speaking about her experience as a young woman embarking on a career that was typically male. She adds, “I was fortunate that J&J was a very forward-looking company, and invested to help educate and build a culture of diversity.”
For the article “Breaking the ‘Glass Ceiling’ Within Supply Chain at A Top 100 Fortune Company,” writer Tatiana Scripnic asked Kathy to share thoughts about being one of only three female heads of supply chain and procurement within Fortune 100 companies and one of two females on the J&J executive management team. J&J ranks 39th on Fortune’s list of 100 top companies.
Kathy offers advice about overcoming obstacles and says she is someone who “tends to run into the fire.”
“I also built my career around moving quickly into whitespace, proposing ideas or crafting roles based on emerging needs. Of the 13 distinct jobs I have had in 28 years, only #8, #10, and #13 existed before I went into the role, and each of those I shaped into something very different than they were before I went into them,” she explains.
This is in-depth interview focuses on Kathy’s gender diversity perspective and says her hopes for the future include “setting women up for success” in the supply chain space.
Johnson & Johnson’s strong association with AWESOME dates back to the first Symposium in 2013 when Kathy Wengel was member of a panel of top supply chain leaders. In 2014, she was chosen as one of the first two recipients of the AWESOME Legendary Leadership (ALL) Award. In 2015, J&J stepped up to be the first Symposium Host Partner, and in 2016 was the first corporation to participate at the “AWESOME Leader” level of sponsorship. J&J, along with NIKE, Inc., the 2016 Symposium Host Partner, is a Fifth Anniversary Sponsor for the 2017 Symposium, May 3-4, in Chicago.