Natively from Mangalore, he spent his early years in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India, where he did his schooling at Madras Christian College and graduated from Loyola College in Madras. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Metallurgy from Trinity College at Cambridge University. In 1976, he obtained an MSIA degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Janssen Pharmaceutica, a pharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, with its headquarters in Beerse, Belgium, until February 2012, when he retired. He joined Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1976 and has held various positions in the company, including President of Janssen Pharmaceutica Incorporated., Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America, from 1986 until 1989 in order to establish the business in the United States of America. He was Managing Director of Janssen Pharmaceutica from 1999 till 2008 and he was Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2004, when he succeeded Bob Stouthuysen, until February 2012, when he retired. Most recently he was head of Enterprise Supply Chain at Johnson & Johnson, reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer Bill Weldon.
He has spent 36 years at Johnson & Johnson in varying capacities.
He was elected Manager of the Year in 2004 in Flanders by the magazine Trends and the Flemish Management Association (VMA). In 2007, King Albert II of Belgium bestowed the title of Baron on Ajit Shetty for his exceptional merits. In 2008 he was conferred a Honorary doctorate by Manipal University In February 2010 he received a Life-Time Achievement Award in India.
Shetty is a member of the Board of Directors of VOKA since April 2000, and a member of the Board of Directors of Forum 187 in Brussels since April 2006, and was elected as its Chairman in May 2006. He is also a Member of GS1 (Global Board of Governors, a global standards organization) in Belgium, a Member of the Corporate Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Baltimore, Doctor of Medicine, United States of America, and a Member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
