Andrew Witty

Sir Andrew Philip Witty (born 22 August 1964)[1] is a British business executive, who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of GlaxoSmithKline between 2008 and 2017. Witty was succeeded by Emma Walmsley on 1 April 2017.[2][3] He formerly held the role of Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.[4]

Sir Andrew Witty
Witty in 2015
Born (1964-08-22) 22 August 1964
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham
OccupationCEO, UnitedHealth Group
PredecessorDavid Wichmann
Spouse(s)Caroline M. Hall
Children2[1]

Early life

Witty attended Malbank School (originally the "Nantwich and Acton Grammar School") in Nantwich, and then gained a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Nottingham.[1][5]

Career

Witty joined Glaxo UK in 1985 as a management trainee.[6] He held various positions in the UK, including Director of Pharmacy & Distribution in Glaxo Pharmaceuticals UK.[7]

He served as a vice president and general manager of marketing of Glaxo Wellcome Inc., a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline with responsibility for strategy development, marketing execution and new product positioning. He served as an economic adviser to the Governor of Guangzhou, China from 2000 to 2002.[8]

He was appointed president, Pharmaceuticals Europe of GlaxoSmithKline plc in January 2003[8] and succeeded Jean-Pierre Garnier as CEO following his retirement in May 2008. He is paid an annual salary of GB£948,000 and receives bonuses and other compensation amounting to GB£2,180,000 for this role.[9][10]

In February 2009 he pledged to make a major change in the way GSK pharmaceuticals are priced, in an attempt to make vital drugs more affordable in countries with the lowest incomes. At the same time he announced that GSK would place certain patents in a pool so that they were freely available for others in the search for new drugs.[11]

On 2 July 2012, GSK pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to a $3 billion settlement of the largest health-care fraud case in the U.S. and the largest payment by a drug company.[12] The settlement is related to the company's illegal promotion of prescription drugs, its failure to report safety data,[13] bribing doctors, and promoting medicines for uses for which they were not licensed. The drugs involved were Paxil, Wellbutrin, Advair, Lamictal, and Zofran for off-label, non-covered uses. Those and the drugs Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent, and Valtrex were involved in the alleged bribery scheme.[14][15][16]

In October 2012 it was announced that he had been appointed the Chancellor of the University of Nottingham with effect from 1 January 2013, having maintained strong ties with the university since graduation.[17] Witty announced his retirement from the role of Chancellor in November 2017.[18]

In July 2013, the People's Republic of China announced that they were investigating allegations of fraud perpetrated by GSK going back to 2007 and involving thousands of millions of renminbi.[19] Four GSK executives have already been arrested in China. It is alleged that the money was used, inter alia, to bribe around 25 travel agencies that organize conferences for doctors, in order to encourage the agencies to host GSK events. Witty later claimed that he knew nothing about the China fraud and tried to pass the blame onto subordinates.[20]

In November 2015, Witty's leadership of GSK was criticised by Neil Woodford, who said that "he’s not doing a very good job". Woodford called for GSK to be split into four companies.[21] In March 2016, Witty announced that he was to stand down as chief executive.[22]

In July 2018, Witty became CEO of Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group.[23] In November 2019, he was named president of UnitedHealth, in addition to his role as CEO of Optum.[24]

In April 2020, Witty took a leave of absence from Optum to assist the World Health Organization in developing a vaccine for COVID-19.[25]

He became CEO of UnitedHealth Group in February 2021.[26]

Other activities

Political advisory

From 2010 until 2015, Witty served on the business advisory board of Prime Minister David Cameron.[27]

From 2013 to 2015, Witty served on the UNAIDS–Lancet Commission for Defeating AIDS and Advancing Global Health, co-chaired by Joyce Banda, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Peter Piot.[28][29] From 2015 until 2016, he was a member of the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, led by Ruth Dreifuss and Festus Mogae.[30]

From 2017 until 2018, Witty led the National Health Service’s Accelerated Access Collaborative.[31][32] In May 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he was appointed to the expert advisory group for the UK Government's Vaccine Task Force, chaired by Patrick Vallance.[33]

Corporate boards
  • G1 Therapeutics, non-executive director (since 2017)[34]
  • Synthego, member of the advisory board (since 2017)[35]
  • Hatteras Venture Partners, advisor[36]

Non-profit organizations

Recognition

Witty was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the economy and the UK pharmaceutical industry.[39] He was also conferred the Honorary Citizen of Singapore in 2018.[40]

Personal life

Witty is a keen marathon runner, and ran the London Marathon in 2008.[41][42]

References
  1. Davidson, Andrew (26 July 2009). "The Andrew Davidson Interview: Andrew Witty". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  2. Kollewe, Julia (17 March 2016). "GSK chief Andrew Witty to leave drugmaker". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  3. "Emma Walmsley". GSK. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  4. "Chancellor". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  5. Pagnamenta, Robin (12 January 2008). "Business big shot: Andrew Witty". The Times. London. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  6. "Andrew Witty's journey from Graduate to GSK CEO". GlaxoSmithKline. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  7. "Andrew Witty profile". GlaxoSmithKline. 15 January 2010. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  8. "GlaxoSmithKline appoints Andrew Witty CEO designate". GlaxoSmithKline. 8 October 2007. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  9. "Andrew Witty Profile at Forbes.com". Forbes. 2009. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  10. "Andrew Witty: Executive Profile & Biography at BusinessWeek". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  11. Boseley, Sarah (13 February 2009). "Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline pledges cheap medicine for world's poor". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  12. "GlaxoSmithKline". BBC News. 4 July 2012.
  13. "GlaxoSmithKline Agrees to Pay $3 Billion in U.S. Drug Settlement". Bloomberg. 2 July 2012.
  14. Fred Mogul (2 July 2012). "NY to Get Millions in GlaxoSmithKlein Settlement". WNYC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  15. "BBC News -GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3bn in US drug fraud scandal". BBC Online. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  16. Thomas, Katie; Schmidt, Michael S. (2 July 2012). "Glaxo Agrees to Pay $3 Billion in Fraud Settlement". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  17. University of Nottingham appoints new Chancellor - The University of Nottingham
  18. Cass, Liz (3 November 2017). "Chancellor set to retire". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  19. Ahmed, Kamal (19 July 2013). "GSK chief Andrew Witty set to admit China 'scam'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  20. Rojas, John-Paul (24 July 2013). "GlaxoSmithKline boss Sir Andrew Witty:: UK headquarters 'knew nothing' of China fraud". The Independent. London. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  21. Romeo, Valentina. "Neil Woodford launches fresh attack on GlaxoSmithKline - Money Marketing Money Marketing". Moneymarketing.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  22. "GlaxoSmithKline chief Sir Andrew Witty to step down - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  23. "UnitedHealth names former GSK CEO Andrew Witty as Optum head". reuters. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  24. "UnitedHealth Group names Optum CEO as president". Star Tribune. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  25. Bruce Japsen (15 April 2020). "Optum CEO Witty To Take Leave To Join WHO's COVID-19 Vaccine Effort". Forbes. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  26. "UnitedHealth Group CEO steps down, Optum Chief takes over". Star Tribune. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  27. Elizabeth Rigby and Sarah Gordon (27 July 2015), David Cameron replaces his entire business advisory board Financial Times.
  28. New UNAIDS and Lancet Commission to explore HIV and global health in the Post-2015 debate UNAIDS, press release of 26 May 2013.
  29. UNAIDS and Lancet Commission address strategic challenges for the future of AIDS and global health UNAIDS, press release of 1 July 2013.
  30. United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines Calls For New Deal to Close the Health Innovation and Access Gap UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, press release of 14 September 2016.
  31. Accelerated access scheme means patients will get new treatments faster Department of Health and Social Care, press release of 3 November 2017.
  32. New chair appointed to improve patient access to innovation in the NHS Department of Health and Social Care, press release of 19 June 2018.
  33. Funding and manufacturing boost for UK vaccine programme Government of the United Kingdom, press release of 17 May 2020.
  34. G1 Therapeutics Appoints Sir Andrew Witty to Board of Directors G1 Therapeutics, press release of 13 July 2017.
  35. Sir Andrew Witty, Former CEO of GSK, Joins Synthego Advisory Board Synthego, press release of 20 September 2017.
  36. Andrew Witty Hatteras Venture Partners.
  37. Michael Mills (18 June 2020), WHO COVID-19 vaccine co-lead appointed to head Business School Advisory Board Imperial College Business School.
  38. Global Advisory Board Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI).
  39. "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. p. 2.
  40. "Singapore Confers Honorary Citizen Award on Sir Andrew Witty" (PDF). 26 June 2018.
  41. "Flora London Marathon - Andrew Witty's Fundraising Page". JustGiving. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  42. Peston, Robert (30 August 2008). "Leading Questions: Andrew Witty" (Flash video, 21m30s). BBC News. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
Business positions
Preceded by
Jean-Pierre Garnier		 Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline
2008–2017		 Succeeded by
Emma Walmsley
Academic offices
Preceded by
Yang Fujia		 Chancellor of the University of Nottingham
2013–2017		 Succeeded by
Vacant
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