Ajit Shetty, Ph.D.

Board Member at Saama

Dr. Ajit Shetty currently serves as the chairman of the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology in Zwijnaarde, Belgium, which is among one of the world’s top 10 research institutes. He is also on the board of trustees at Carnegie Mellon University, and serves on the boards of Agile Therapeutics, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, and the Institute of Tropical Medicine.

Ajit helped launch the pharmaceutical arm of Janssen USA and turned it into a viable stand-alone company. He was the Chairman of Janssen Pharmaceutica and a member of the Operating Committee at Johnson & Johnson for nine years, where he developed and institutionalized a major transformation of the enterprise supply chain. This initiative resulted in a benefit of $6–7 billion.

During his tenure at Janssen Pharmaceutica, Ajit worked as Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Finance, a role in which he spearheaded the expansion and growth of the Janssen Group of Companies via innovative product launches and effective commercialization strategies.

Ajit was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, India in 2008. The honor of Right Honorable Sir and the title of Baron were conferred upon him in 2005. He was also elected “Manager of the Year 2004” by the Trends/Flemish Management Association.

Ajit holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. (Metallurgy) and BA (Natural Sciences) from Trinity College, Cambridge University.