Ian C. Read (born 1953) is a Scottish-born American business executive and a chartered accountant, who is executive chairman of the pharmaceutical company

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

. He was succeeded as CEO by

Albert Bourla Albert Bourla (; born ) is a Greek-American veterinarian and businessman known for serving as the chairman and chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. He joined the company in 1993 and has held several executive roles across ...

on 1 January 2019, becoming executive chairman.

Early life

Read was born in

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

, Scotland, to a Scottish mother, but his parents returned to

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

(now Zimbabwe) when he was six-weeks-old, and he grew up there. Read received a bachelor's degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in 1974. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1978.

Career

Read has spent his entire career with

, starting in 1978 as an operational auditor. He worked in Latin America through 1995, holding positions ranging from CFO of Pfizer Mexico (Pfizer's largest subsidiary in Latin America) to country manager of Brazil. In 1996, he was appointed president of the Pfizer International Pharmaceuticals Group, Latin America/Canada. He assumed the position of executive vice president—Europe/Canada in May 2000, added the responsibilities for Africa/Middle East region as of January 2004 and responsibilities for Latin America in March 2006. He was named vice president of Pfizer in 2001 and promoted to president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations in 2006. He is a member of the Pfizer Leadership Team. On 5 December 2010, when Read "took over from Jeffrey Kindler as Pfizer’s CEO, the drug firm–the world’s largest–was facing the impending patent expiration of Lipitor, the bestselling drug ever made, and the utter failure of one of the most lavishly funded research laboratories on the planet to develop much of anything." Read is also a director of

Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...

. Read is now an American citizen. By October 2015 during the Drug Pricing Firestorm,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

journalist Matthew Herper, wrote how "Read, with his calculating mind, must get through the public’s rage over six-figure price tags for breakthrough drugs and yet keep Pfizer’s pricing power more or less intact. Doing so is absolutely critical: 34% of Pfizer’s revenue growth over the past three years has come from increasing prices on existing drugs, according to SSR, a Stamford, Conn.-based consulting firm. New medicines, especially for cancer, are selling for $100,000-plus–prices that were unimaginable five years ago." In January 2019, Albert Bourla succeeded Read as CEO at Pfizer. In September 2019, Pfizer announced Read would retire as executive chairman at the end of 2019, ending a four-decade career there.

Personal life

Read has a holiday home near

Bonita Springs Bonita Springs is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 53,644 at the 2020 census, up from 43,914 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, on the state's sou ...

, Florida.

References

External links

Pfizer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Ian 1953 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London British chemical engineers British accountants Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry Pfizer people British chief executives People from Forfar American chief executives American chemical engineers Rhodesian businesspeople Chief executives in the pharmaceutical industry