BOARD MEMBER
Senior Vice President, North America Janssen
Maria Elisa Martinez is the SVP of HR for North America Pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson. In this role, she oversees the Organizational, HR and talent strategy for our pharmaceutical business across the North America region, which includes the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Before moving to the US, Maria Elisa was the Head of HR for Latin America (LATAM). In this Cross-Sector role, she served as chair of the Regional HR Leadership Team and worked with the sectors and global functions to deliver on business and talent strategies. In this role, she was tasked with leading a new HR delivery model that combined executing on both Sector and Enterprise talent strategies.
Prior to this role, Maria Elisa served as HR Head of Janssen Pharmaceuticals for LATAM, where she was responsible for leading the development and implementation of talent and organizational strategies to drive short and long-term business growth. In her 15-year career at Johnson & Johnson, she has also held roles as HR Director for Medical Devices in the Northern Region and Head of Talent Acquisition for LATAM, where she successfully piloted an integrated cross-sector approach to Talent Management.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Maria Elisa held HR positions at Colgate Palmolive in New York City and Citibank in Colombia. She holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University in New York and a BA degree from Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. She is also a certified executive coach.
Maria Elisa is an active champion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. In LATAM she was a public advocate for gender equity policies such as J&J’s paternity leave. Maria Elisa was included in the 2019 list of the most influential leaders in Colombia by “Revista Dinero”, a well-known business magazine in Colombia.