Emma Walmsley

Walmsley was born in June 1969 in Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire (now Cumbria), the daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Walmsley and Lady (Christina V.) Walmsley (née Melvill). She boarded at St Swithun's School, Winchester, and has an MA in Classics and Modern Languages from Oxford University, where she was at Christ Church.

Walmsley worked at L'Oréal for 17 years where she held a variety of general management and marketing roles in Paris, London and New York, including General Manager of Garnier-Maybelline. In 2007 she moved to Shanghai as General Manager, Consumer Products for L'Oreal China, where she ran the company's Chinese consumer products business, overseeing global brands including L'Oréal Paris, Maybelline and Garnier, as well as Mininurse, a Chinese skincare brand. At the time of her move to GSK in 2010, Advertising Age quoted company insiders surprised at her departure from L'Oreal, where she had been tipped for one of the most senior global management roles.

She joined GlaxoSmithKline in May 2010 as President of Consumer Healthcare Europe, rising in October 2011 to head its global consumer healthcare division as President of Consumer Healthcare Worldwide and a member of the executive team. In March 2015 she became the chief executive officer of Consumer Healthcare. Walmsley was particularly involved in leading the company's sales drive in emerging markets. Under her leadership the consumer products division, one of the world's largest consumer health groups with brands including Panadol, Voltaren and Horlicks, made up nearly a quarter of GlaxoSmithKline's revenues.

She was a non-executive director of Diageo from January to September 2016.

She took over as chief executive of the company in April 2017, making her the first woman to run a major pharmaceutical company. At the time, analysts commented that Walmsley's appointment could be seen as a signal that GSK would keep its consumer operation as a core part of its business.

In August 2017, Walmsley stated that her priority was for GlaxoSmithKline to become more adept at developing and commercialising new drugs. She announced a narrowed set of priorities for drug development, setting a target of allocating 80% of pharma R&D capital to a maximum of four disease areas. However, industry analysts noted that GlaxoSmithKline's decisions to hold its dividend would restrict the amount of cash available for R&D and acquiring intellectual property from other companies. Walmsley has made changes, including "the transformation of the leadership team within R&D."

In January 2018, it was reported that Walmsley had replaced 50 of GlaxoSmithKline's top managers across the company's businesses, and created a number of new roles, including hiring Karenann Terrell from Walmart as chief digital and technology officer.

In September 2019, Walmsley joined the Microsoft board as an independent director.

Walmsley was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the pharmaceutical industry and business.

In 2023, Walmsley received £12.7 million in total pay, a 51 per cent increase from her compensation in 2022, making her the second highest paid chief executive of a European pharmaceutical company.

In September 2025, it was announced that Walmsley will step down as chief executive of GSK at the beginning of 2026.

Outside work, Walmsley enjoys yoga. She married David Owen in September 1995 in Greenwich, London, and they have four children.