John Kelly

John Kelly is the Strategic Initiatives and Operations Integration Site Lead at J&J Innovative Medicine (Janssen Bio Cork). A mechanical engineer (MEng, BE Hons) with more than 25 years’ experience, he specialises in delivering capital projects, operations readiness, and live-plant integrations within the pharmaceutical sector. John leads the scoping, resourcing, and delivery of strategic programmes across the site, embedding continuous improvement, prioritisation and robust integration while ensuring compliance with cGMP, EHS and regulatory standards. Previously the Operations Readiness & Shutdown Lead for the BioCork 3.2 expansion, he served as the single point of contact for operations and maintenance during commissioning and a complex integrated shutdown. He has held senior engineering and maintenance leadership roles overseeing capital planning, reliability improvements, and project portfolio governance. A former part-time lecturer and industry external examiner, John is recognised for pragmatic leadership, strong stakeholder engagement and delivering projects safely and efficiently in live manufacturing environments.