Sir Andrew Philip Witty (born 22 August 1964)
is a British business executive, who is the current chief executive officer (CEO) of
UnitedHealth Group. He was also the CEO of
GlaxoSmithKline
GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...
between 2008 and 2017. He formerly held the role of chancellor of the
University of Nottingham.
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.
Career
Witty joined Glaxo UK in 1985 as a management trainee. He held various positions in the UK, including director of pharmacy & distribution in Glaxo Pharmaceuticals UK.
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.
He was appointed president, Pharmaceuticals Europe of GlaxoSmithKline plc in January 2003
and succeeded
Jean-Pierre Garnier
Jean-Pierre Garnier (born 31 October 1947) is a French businessman, and a former chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline.
Early life
He was born in Le Mans in the Pays de la Loire region of western France. He attended Lycée Kléber in Strasbourg. He ...
as CEO following his retirement in May 2008. He is paid an annual salary of and receives bonuses and other compensation amounting to for this role.
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.
From 2010 until 2015, Witty served on the business advisory board of
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
.
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. Witty announced his retirement from the role of chancellor in November 2017.
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
The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
. Witty stated "It appears that certain senior executives in the China business have acted outside our processes and controls to both defraud the company and the Chinese health care system. To see these allegations about people working for GSK is shameful. For me personally they are deeply disappointing."
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. 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.
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. In March 2016, Witty announced that he was to step down as chief executive.
From 2017 until 2018, Witty led the
National Health Service’s Accelerated Access Collaborative.
In July 2018, Witty became CEO of
Optum, a division of
UnitedHealth Group.
In November 2019, he was named president of UnitedHealth, in addition to his role as CEO of Optum.
In April 2020, Witty took a one-year leave of absence from Optum to assist the
World Health Organization in developing a
vaccine for
COVID-19. In May 2020, he was appointed to the expert advisory group for the UK Government's Vaccine Task Force, chaired by
Patrick Vallance.
Witty became CEO of UnitedHealth Group in February 2021.
In April 2021, he was also appointed to the Pandemic Preparedness Partnership (PPP), an expert group chaired by Vallance to advise the
G7 presidency held by the
government of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
Boris Johnson.
Corporate Membership
Corporate boards
*
G1 Therapeutics
G1 Therapeutics, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company specializes in developing and commercializing small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of patients with cance ...
, non-executive director (since 2017)
* Synthego, member of the advisory board (since 2017)
* Hatteras Venture Partners, advisor
Non-profit organizations
*
Imperial College Business School, chair of the advisory board (since 2020)
* Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI), member of the global advisory board
*
Singapore Land Authority Board, member
Recognition
Witty was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in the
2012 New Year Honours
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
for services to the economy and the UK pharmaceutical industry. He was also conferred the
Honorary Citizen of Singapore in 2018.
References
External links
Witty’s biography at GlaxoSmithKline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witty, Andrew
Living people
GSK plc people
English chief executives
Place of birth missing (living people)
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry
Knights Bachelor
People from Nantwich
1964 births
Honorary Citizens of Singapore
American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies