Introducing Ray Jordan, J&J PR Veep, Winemaker!

Every once in a while we are treated to a story that keeps on getting better. Such is the case with the J&J Red Cross Curfuffle.

Yesterday, I summarized what several other bloggers in the Pharma Blogosphere had to say about this (see "Blogger Brouhaha Over the Cross") and today, over at Pharma Marketing Blog, I concluded that the biggest mistake J&J made was to let the lawyers run wild while key PR people were away on vacation (see "J&J Lawyers Go Wild; PR on Vacation!").

When I wrote that, I had no idea who Ray Jordan was -- Ray, you remember, was the person who wrote J&J's response to the Red Cross Curfuffle in the JNJ BTW Blog (read that response here and also here).

Being a blogger and not a journalist, I didn't check my facts nor did I even bother to find out who Ray was. But Scott Hensley over at the WSJ Health Blog did the job for me (see "J&J Versus Red Cross: Blog Edition"). Scott uncovered the fact that Ray Jordan is a winemaker and has been blogging on that subject since 2003! Plus, Scott provided hints where we can find Ray's bio (here t is), which isn't included on the JNJ BTW blog site!

Ray, like many people in pharma corporate communications, began his career as a reporter for a regional daily newspaper. [Just like Ed Silverman!] Ray then made an early career move into finance and systems analysis of business and marketing processes, first with Bristol-Myers.

Just out of curiosity: What percentage of all phrama corporate communications people start out as "unbiased" journalists?

But the most interesting thing about Ray is his passion for wine! His blog is called Chez Ray Winemaking and it is quite neat!

[I won't make any jokes about making wine while J&J burned on the cross!]

Here's Ray with some friends.

"At a recent dinner where the 2006 line of Mollydooker Wines were being unveiled," says Ray, "I had a rare chance to spend a few minutes in conversation with Sparky Marquis, CEO and Winemaker at Mollydooker."

You know, now that I think of it, I know Ray!

He used to work at Pfizer, according to his bio. I met him when he worked there! At the time, I was president of the Internet Healthcare Coalition (IHCC) and Ray was interested in helping that non-profit organization. [BTW, IHCC never licensed any J&J trademarks to 3rd party retailers.]

Remember me, Ray!

It's nice for me to connect a name with a face and learn about Ray's life interests outside of being a pharmaceutical company spokesperson!

P.S. Ray, how about sending me a case of your 2006 vintage!

P.P.S. You know I' kidding, right? BTW, I agree with Fard Johnmar who said in a post today "This, my friends is what corporate blogging [typos and all! -- my comment added] should be all about. Reading the tea leaves, responding quickly and having the courage to grapple with the tough issues of the day."