Fisk Johnson: Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson

A person is smiling while wearing a light blue shirt and black zipper. He is standing in front of a window with horizontal blinds, with laboratory equipment visible in the background.

Company and Career

In addition to more than 35 years of global business experience, Fisk has over 30 years of experience as managing director of a private technology-oriented venture capital business.

Fisk at SC Johnson

Fisk Johnson joined SC Johnson in 1987, and he has served in a variety of management and marketing positions, both domestically and internationally. He became Chairman in 2000 and was appointed CEO in 2004.

Five simple humanoid figures are arranged around a rectangle representing a table, suggesting a meeting or group discussion setting. The figures are drawn in a minimalistic, line-art style.

Board of Directors

Fisk currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Consumer Goods Forum. He has also served on the boards of Conservation International, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business.

Federal Advisory Committees

He has also been privileged to serve on two federal advisory committees—as a member of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology from 2019 to 2021 and as a member of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations from 2002 to 2010 and again from 2011 to 2015.

A black medical symbol features a snake coiled around a rod, forming a circular design. It is used to represent medicine or healthcare.

Education

Fisk holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Physics; a Master of Engineering; a Master of Science in Physics; a Master of Business Administration; and a doctorate in Physics, all from Cornell University. He served on the Cornell University Board of Trustees from 1993 to 2001 and now is a Trustee Emeritus and Presidential Counselor. He has also served on the University of Chicago’s Physical Sciences Division Council since 1996.

Advocating against plastic waste

With his strong combined background in science and business, Fisk is a passionate advocate for practical paths forward on sustainability issues that include reducing plastic waste, green energy, carbon reduction, green chemistry, and ingredient transparency.

As an avid scuba diver for 50 years, Fisk has personally witnessed dramatic change in the health of our ocean ecosystems due to plastic waste. He has traveled all over the world studying the issue and potential solutions, and personally collected and studied microplastic in the environment from the Arctic to the Sahara Desert.

All of this has informed his sense of urgency about the need to address the plastic waste crisis head-on. Under his leadership, SC Johnson has worked to rethink and redesign its products, using more recyclable materials and increasing reuse and recycling.

Fisk strongly believes that to accelerate progress, the business community cannot solve this problem alone. It will take business innovation, better and smarter government regulation, scale and technological innovation in recycling systems, and even more sustainable behavior by consumers.

For this reason, Fisk is a strong proponent of Extended Producer Responsibility regulation that supports expanded recycling access and collection and helps fund recycling infrastructure development.

Fisk Johnson | Collective Action Needed on Plastic Waste

A person sits at a desk speaking into a microphone, smiling. A nameplate reads "H. Fisk Johnson." The setting appears formal, possibly a meeting or hearing, with people blurred in the background.

Testifying to Support Extended Producer Responsibility

Fisk shared our company’s stance with the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Litter, including plastic bottles and debris, scattered across a sandy beach; distant trees and a hazy sea form the backdrop.

Turning the Tide on Plastic Pollution: An Op-Ed

Fisk teamed up with Conservation International CEO M. Sanjayan to explain why they support a global plastics treaty

Business has both an opportunity and an obligation to make the world better.
Fisk Johnson
Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson

Working to eradicate malaria

At the same time, Fisk is the company’s greatest champion for another key effort to make the world better – ending mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.

SC Johnson has over 60 years of experience in entomology and is the world's largest producer of household insecticides and repellents with well known brands such as Raid^®, OFF!^®, Baygon^®, Autan^® and STEM™. Throughout its long history, the company has focused its science, innovation, and partnership expertise on combating mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, Zika, and dengue fever.

Its collaborative initiative on spatial repellents with the University of Notre Dame and The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, in partnership with UNITAID and with funding from the Gates Foundation, represents a critical next step in reaching the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.

With recent studies confirming the effectiveness of its Mosquito Shield™ and SC Johnson Guardian™ repellents in these settings, we are now supporting the remaining research required by the World Health Organization for a policy recommendation. Once approved, it will be one of the first new recommended malaria prevention tools in 25 years.

How SC Johnson is at work to help end malaria

Helping safeguard communities in the fight against malaria

Fisk stands in as “human bait” to catch mosquitos for a research study about malaria prevention

Awards & Recognitions

Fisk and SC Johnson have received numerous awards for environmental and social leadership including:

Environmental:

Presidential Green Chemistry Award
World Environment Center’s Gold Award - For International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development
The Environmental Agency’s Lifetime Atmospheric Achievement Award

Leadership: