Joanne Kennedy

Chief of Staff, Head of Management Office Sanofi

Joanne has more than 25 years experience in public affairs, communications and management operations. Currently she is the Chief of Staff and Head of the R&D Management Office at Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Paris.

Joanne spent the first part of her career working in telecommunications in the Canadian government with responsibilities for the emerging information technology sector. She supported the drafting of policy associated with the nascent internet, winning recognition from the Minister and Associate Ministers. Shortly thereafter she moved to join an international telecom company (Teleglobe) where she was Director of Government Affairs, and then Director of External Affairs which included public policy and communications.

From 2005-2010 Joanne managed her own communications agency serving clients in Canada, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. During that time, Joanne also taught Corporate Communications and Government Relations at the University of McGill and served as an executive member of the Canadian Public Relations Society in Quebec.

In 2010, Joanne was recruited to join Sanofi Canada in media relations. She quickly took on increasing roles of responsibility and in 2011, was named Head of Communications for Canada. Identified as a change agent, Joanne was recruited in 2015 by Sanofi Corporate Communications to become VP, Global Head of Sanofi R&D Communications. Her responsibilities included internal and external coms and covered engagement of the 15,000 person organization and contributions to the company’s corporate reputation.

In late 2019, Joanne decided to do a career pivot, leveraging her communications expertise to take on the role of Head of Operations for Sanofi’s Digital organization. The role was an exciting one as Sanofi embarked on its digital transition. In 2022, she returned to the R&D organization, where today she is Chief of Staff, and Head of Management Office, managing a team that contributes the communications, operations and strategy of Sanofi R&D.

Joanne Kennedy holds a Masters in Public Administration from Carleton University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from the University of Manitoba. She has participated in multiple Executive leadership training programs at Sanofi. She has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators as well as the Women’s Executive Network. She has been a conference speaker at multiple communications and women leadership-oriented international conferences and is published on the subject of communications and change management.

Joanne speaks French and English and lives in Paris, France with her husband and does as much facetime as possible with her four adult-children in Canada.