NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pfizer Inc.
(NYSE:
PFE) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected
Ian C. Read, 57, currently head of the Company’s global
biopharmaceutical operations, as President, Chief Executive Officer
and Director. Mr. Read succeeds Jeffrey B. Kindler, who has retired
from the Company.  

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The Board’s Lead Independent Director, Constance J. Horner,
said, “In 2006, Jeff Kindler took on the challenge of transforming
Pfizer in the face of enormous changes in the global health care
marketplace and significant patent expirations of major products,
including Lipitor.  Acting with the highest level of ethics
and professionalism, he moved aggressively to drive change at the
Company, including putting new, more focused and agile business
units in place, building and enhancing world class compliance
systems, recruiting talented new leaders, and refocusing and
streamlining operations in every part of the world.  He also
led the acquisition of Wyeth, which brought the Company valuable
in-line and pipeline products and capabilities in attractive growth
areas, including vaccines and biologics.  Due to the efforts
of Jeff, the executive leadership team and Pfizer’s talented
employees around the world, the Company is now a stronger, more
diversified and more focused company.”      

Mr. Kindler commented, “My nearly nine years at Pfizer and,
particularly the last four and a half as CEO, have been extremely
exciting and rewarding.  I feel our team can proudly boast of
some transformational accomplishments.  However, the
combination of meeting the requirements of our many stakeholders
around the world and the 24/7 nature of my responsibilities, has
made this period extremely demanding on me personally.  Now
that we are ab

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