Matheson Neal

Biography

Neal Matheson is an independent contractor leveraging his broad experience in consumer products R&D with Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever. His focus is particularly on strategy and innovation. Neal returned to J&J in 2012 as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, a role he held previously from 1994–2007. During his 2 year return, Neal led the development of the strategy and organization for the global R&D function as it embarks on a new course to again drive growth and deliver high-value innovation. Between 2007 and 2012, Neal was based in London as CTO and Head of the New Businesses Unit at Unilever. His primary focus was to deliver new technologies to accelerate growth. While at Unilever, Neal reorganized the Discover part of R&D with a clear focus on longer-term technology development, breakthrough technologies, and processes for rapid transfer of opportunities to Category Design teams. He was also responsible for identifying and progressing new business opportunities for the New Businesses Board chaired by the CEO, and he was accountable for the open innovation and other critical functional capabilities within R&D (eg Patents, Safety, Regulatory,etc) Prior to Unilever, Neal spent 13 years as CTO of the J&J Consumer Group, where he helped achieve consistent above-market growth by introducing new innovation platforms across the brand portfolio. In particular, his contributions helped grow the Skin Care category from a relatively small business into a multi-billion dollar leader. Neal was also responsible for the Baby, Women’s Health, Oral Care, Wound Care and OTC categories, as well as for professional Skin Care, Engineering and Quality Assurance. 

Research Interest

 Healthcare