Robert Kirby

Robert Kirby is the current Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital. Prior to this, they held various senior executive positions at Johnson & Johnson from June 1998 to December 2006. Robert was responsible for leading North American Operations, Worldwide Operations, and later the General Manager position as President of the Personal Products company. Robert was also responsible for the Integration of $16.5 Billion Pfizer Consumer Healthcare acquisition into J&J.

During their time at Johnson & Johnson, Kirby implemented lean /six sigma practices across operations, outsourced non strategic manufacturing, consolidated operations and upgraded procurement practices. Robert also developed a right first time initiative to assure excellence in new product launches, bringing science to drive outstanding customer service while reducing inventories. Robert was successful in identifying and developing a strong team of leaders that have gone into successful endeavors both inside and outside of J&J. Under their leadership, the Personal products company saw 15 percent growth in the first year and moved from number three to number two market share.

In November 2007, Kirby became CEO of a private equity firm called KKR (Accellent)and Bershire Parners (Vijon). Robert held this position until August 2011.