John E. Pepper Jr. (born August 2, 1938) is an American businessman.NNDB
/ref> He served as chief executive officer and/or chairman of

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

from 1995 to 2002. He was also CEO of the

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, based on the history of the Underground Railroad. Opened in 2004, the Center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure fr ...

,Forbes
/ref> and until 2012 served as the chairman of the board of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

.Disney biography
/ref>

Biography

John E. Pepper Jr. was born August 2, 1938, in

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of t ...

. He graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School (then Portsmouth Priory) in Rhode Island, then graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in 1960, where he served on the board of the ''

Yale Daily News The ''Yale Daily News'' is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878. It is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. The ''Yale Daily News'' has consis ...

''. From 1963 to 2003, he served in various positions at

, including chairman of the board from 2000 to 2002, and CEO. He served as chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of The

Company until December 2003. He then served as vice president of finance and administration at

from January 2004 to December 2005. He was a director of The Walt Disney Company beginning in 2006 (chairman from 2007 to 2012) and of Boloco from 2007 to 2015, a Boston-based restaurant chain that his son John co-founded in 1997. He served as a fellow of the

Yale Corporation The Yale Corporation, officially The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Assembly of corporation The Corporation comprises 19 members: * Three ex officio An ''ex officio'' m ...

from 1995 to 2003, including two years as senior fellow, and also served as a member of the advisory committee of the

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executive ...

. He now serves on the board of trustees of

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

. He also serves on the boards of

Boston Scientific Boston Scientific Corporation ("BSC"), incorporated in Delaware, is a biomedical/biotechnology engineering firm and multinational manufacturer of medical devices used in interventional medical specialties, including interventional radiology, i ...

and

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

. He is a member of the executive committee of the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, and he sits on the boards of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and the

Partnership for a Drug-Free America Partnership to End Addiction, first known as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) then later as the Partnership at DrugFree.org, and The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, is a New York, New York, New York City-based nonprofit, non-profit ...

. He was inducted into the

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential lea ...

U.S. Business Hall of Fame The Global Business Hall of Fame, powered by JA Worldwide, was established by Junior Achievement in 1975 as the U.S. Business Hall of Fame, the result of an idea by Willard F. Rockwell, Jr. (former chairman and CEO of Rockwell International) an ...

in 2008. His children include Cincinnati politician David Pepper and North Carolina bluegrass musician Susan Pepper, as well as entrepreneur, labor activist and drone pilot John Pepper and kitesurfer Doug Pepper.

Bibliography

*''What Really Matters'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

, 2007)

References

1938 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Pepper, John E. Pepper, John E. People from Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pepper, John E. Xavier University people Procter & Gamble people Motorola American chief executives American chairpersons of corporations Chairmen of The Walt Disney Company Disney executives Portsmouth Abbey School alumni {{US-business-bio-stub