Singapore, April 2026 — Kunal Karani has started a new position as Head of HR, Cardiovascular, Asia Pacific at Johnson & Johnson. In this role, he is responsible for leading talent across the company’s cardiovascular portfolio in APAC, including Electrophysiology, Neurovascular, and Heart Recovery, while partnering with regional leaders on comprehensive talent strategies aimed at building a high-performance culture and team.
Before taking on this role, Kunal Karani served at Johnson & Johnson as Head of HR, Heart Recovery Asia Pacific, where he focused on building and scaling the Heart Recovery organization across the region. In that assignment, he partnered closely with leaders across Asia Pacific to strengthen the talent organization and support growth in a business area described as one of the largest unmet needs within cardiovascular care.
Earlier, he held the role of Head of HR, SouthEast Asia MedTech & APAC Regional Groups at Johnson & Johnson, serving as HR business partner to the Area Managing Director and supporting a workforce of more than 600 employees across a business of around USD 350 million. He also managed a multi-country HR leadership team in that role, reflecting his growing responsibility across regional HR strategy and people leadership. Prior to that, he was HR Leader, Singapore, where he partnered with the country managing director and drove the talent agenda across all sectors, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer health. He also served as APAC HR Senior Manager, further building his regional HR experience within the company.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Kunal Karani spent nearly a decade at Accenture, where he held a series of human resources leadership roles across Singapore, Thailand, and the broader ASEAN region. These included Global Client Account Human Resources Lead, Country Human Resources Lead, Associate Manager, Human Resources, Resource Management Specialist, Human Resources, and Senior Analyst, Human Resources. Across these assignments, he partnered with senior leaders to drive people agenda, supported complex client-facing teams, handled HR service delivery, managed resource planning and manpower allocation, drove performance management and engagement initiatives, and led transition and HR process activities across multiple businesses and geographies.
He began his earlier professional journey at the Aditya Birla Group as Executive – Human Resources, where he front-ended HR support for employees and handled induction of new joiners. Taken together, his career reflects strong progression across HR business partnering, leadership development, workforce strategy, employee engagement, regional HR leadership, and talent scaling in large multinational organizations.
His appointment at Johnson & Johnson comes with a deep background in healthcare, MedTech, people strategy, and regional leadership. With experience across India, Singapore, Thailand, and the broader Asia Pacific region, Kunal Karani brings a well-rounded and international HR leadership profile to this important role in the company’s cardiovascular business.
About Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson says that health is everything and positions its healthcare innovation strengths around building a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured. Through expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, the company works across the spectrum of healthcare solutions to deliver future breakthroughs and impact health for humanity.
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