Ruben Dario Taborda

As Group Chief Procurement Officer-Medical Devices and Supplier Diversity leader, Ruben is responsible for enabling value creation, innovation, risk mitigation and supplier diversity across a spend base up to $15 Billion at Johnson & Johnson.

Ruben joined Johnson & Johnson in 1984 as an Engineering intern. Throughout his 28 year career, he has rotated 13 times across eight different healthcare franchises spanning consumer, pharmaceutical and medical device healthcare sectors.

He holds a variety of diverse experiences in Procurement, Supply chain, Finance, Customer Marketing and Sales management. Key sales customers supported include Walmart, Publix, CVS, Rite Aid, AHOLD, Target, Costco, DeHaize, SuperValu and Kroger.

In 2008, Ruben assumed responsibility for the Johnson & Johnson Supplier Diversity program. Ruben brought his knowledge of the business and customers to drive increased executive sponsorship, awareness and accountability to the program. He reached out to partners in marketing, affinity groups and to customers to demonstrate the value and criticality of including diverse suppliers in our supply chain.

Under his leadership, Johnson & Johnson’s spend with diverse (minority and women owned) businesses grew over 20% in 2 years and in 2010 the Company’s spend passed the billion dollar mark for the first time ever. Johnson & Johnson is now the first healthcare company to become a member of the Billion Dollar Round Table, a prestigious group of only 17 corporations that spend over one billion dollars annually with diverse suppliers. 

Among other many accomplishments, Ruben is a past recipient of numerous supplier diversity awards from recognized institutions such as the NY Hispanic Chambers, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, American Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives and National Minority and Women’s business Enterprises.

Ruben earned his MBA from Fuqua’s Executive MBA program in 1994 and his BA in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1986. He also holds a Masters degree in Manufacturing from the Kettering Institute in Michigan.

He was born in Medellin, Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida.