John Chiminski Honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at CDMO Leadership Awards

• Catalent’s former CEO recognised for transforming pharmaceutical services division into global leader at the CDMO Leadership Awards

John Chiminski, the former CEO of Catalent, has received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Pharma Services award at the CDMO Leadership Awards ceremony hosted by Life Science Connect during DCAT Week 2025.

The awards was presented by Orientation Marketing’s Elliott Berger, who praised Chiminski for his remarkable 15-year leadership journey that transformed a “completely unknown division of Cardinal Health” into the “world premier CDMO” spanning small molecules, biologics and cell and gene therapies.

Under Chiminski’s stewardship, Catalent established a global manufacturing network that notably produced “multiple billions of COVID vaccines” in challenging conditions across the United States and Europe.

In his acceptance speech, Chiminski expressed “immense pride” for the CDMO industry and credited his success to the collective efforts of his team. “We built something really special at Catalent,” he said. “Catalent and myself get a lot of recognition, but that recognition needs to go to all the teams around the world, at all of our sites, all the great professionals that we had.”

He emphasised that the name “Catalent” itself represents “Catalyst plus talent,” reflecting the company’s focus on assembling exceptional professionals. “There’s no way that one person could have done what we did at Catalent, and it’s really a tribute to the amazing team that we had there,” Chiminski noted.

The former CEO also highlighted the critical role CDMOs play in healthcare, particularly during crises. He recounted a significant challenge when Catalent’s Corby facility experienced a severe fire in the early 2010s. Despite the destruction, the company relocated equipment to their Swindon site and resumed production within 40 days.

“This is what CDMOs do,” Chiminski remarked. “We overcome challenges and take heroic action for our customers and their patients.”

When asked for advice to commercial teams facing industry challenges, Chiminski stressed the importance of operational excellence: “When you have the best operations and quality in your business, selling is easy.” He added that commercial teams must “be advocates for your customers” and push leadership to ensure operational and quality excellence.

The Lifetime Achievement Award acknowledges not only Chiminski’s personal accomplishments but also “the progress of our entire industry,” as he noted in his closing remarks.

Chiminski’s legacy extends beyond Catalent’s business growth, with Berger highlighting that “the true mark of a leader” is leaving behind “not only a great company, but a great team that grows and leads the industry.”