John E. Watson
John E. Watson has more than 40 years of experience in sales, marketing, strategic
partnering, alliance management, and C-suite executive leadership, with the last 26
years focused on healthcare and life sciences within the pharmaceutical and contract
research organization (CRO) industries.
He currently serves as the president of the Dean's Advisory Board for the E. J. Ourso
College of Business at LSU and as a member of the LSU Foundation National Board. He
consults with various organizations in the healthcare services and life sciences space
and served on the board of Transparency Life Sciences (TLS), a decentralized clinical
trial software start-up, for three years.
Prior to retiring from Covance Drug Development, a LabCorp company, Watson served
as the chief commercial officer and president of strategic partnering where he was
responsible for all global commercial activities for the $ 2.6B company. During his
sixteen-year tenure at Covance, Watson held several senior-level positions of increasing
responsibility. Roles he held include vice president of sales, client services and
program management in Madison, Wi. for the Early Development businesses, followed
by moving to the company’s worldwide headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey as the
vice president of corporate marketing & sales.
In his most recent role, Watson was responsible for developing and building strategic
partnerships within the industry and helping clients advance their pipelines, with
a focus on reducing the time and cost of drug development through the Covance Integrated
Drug Development group. In addition, Watson served on the Covance Global Leadership
Council and the Operating Committee, which were the key governing bodies for Covance
were responsible for the development and execution of the company’s overall strategy.
Lastly, he served as a Section 16 officer for the company.
Along with driving consistent, profitable growth at Covance, Watson was responsible
for delivering the two largest strategic partnerships in the CRO industry. With Watson’s
leadership as executive sponsor and lead negotiator for both deals, Covance secures
two ten-year strategic partnerships with Eli Lilly ($ 1.6B) and Sanofi ($ 2.2B) spanning
all of Covance’s drug development services and involving the acquisition of three
research and development sites with over 400 employees.
Prior to joining Covance, Watson spent 12 years in various roles of increasing responsibility
in sales and sales management, marketing and corporate accounts within the Bristol-Myers
Squibb (BSM) companies, focused on the diagnostic imaging and nuclear medicine marketplaces.
His teams consistently met or exceeded their objectives earning him the Go-Getter
Awards twice and he was chosen as runner-up for the Go-Getter Award twice as well
during his time with BMS.
Watson attended LSU on a full athletic scholarship for football. After lettering four
years, starting three years, earning the Outstanding Offensive Lineman award in his
senior year, and becoming free agent with the Dallas Cowboys, Watson returned to finish
his degree at LSU-Shreveport, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in marketing.
Watson was fortunate to be the son of a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, relocating
to Bossier City, La. as a ten-year-old in 1970. It didn’t take long for him to become
an avid LSU fan with a goal to attending LSU upon graduation from Bossier High School.
He’s very proud of his military upbringing and the life lessons it taught him. Watson
currently splits time between Doylestown, Pa. and Bonita Springs, Fl. with his wife
of 41 years and native Louisiana resident, Wendy. He loves spending time with his
three children and four grandchildren while working in retirement to bring his golf
handicap down each year. Watson loves LSU and takes every opportunity to promote our
great university and be an ambassador for all things LSU.