BIOPHARMA INDUSTRY LEADER AMY SCHULMAN JOINS POLARIS PARTNERS
July 29 2014 - 7:05AM
Polaris Partners today announced the hiring of biopharmaceutical
executive Amy Schulman as a Venture Partner, based out of Boston.
Schulman, who most recently served as General Counsel, EVP, and
Business Unit Lead of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, will apply
decades of experience to the Polaris healthcare portfolio. She will
also assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of Arsia
Therapeutics, an early stage Polaris-backed company co-founded by
Dr. Robert Langer and Polaris Partner Alan Crane. "Amy is a highly
respected and uniquely talented leader who brings a diverse and
valuable skill set to our team and to our companies," said Terry
McGuire, Founding Partner of Polaris. "Her proven success in
building global businesses coupled with her energy and enthusiasm
for the biotechnology space makes her an ideal partner. We are
looking forward to her contribution." In addition to taking on the
CEO role at Arsia, Schulman is expected to assume a number of
Polaris company board seats and continue to serve on the board of
Cambridge-based Alnylam (Nasdaq:ALNY). At Arsia, she will work
closely with Alan Crane who remains with the company as Chairman of
the Board. "We are thrilled to welcome Amy to the Polaris and Arsia
families," said Crane. "Her entrepreneurial spirit and deep
understanding of the process for drug development and
commercialization will serve us all well. She is a creative problem
solver with acuity for execution, a highly valuable combination
which we know she will employ across a myriad of opportunities with
us." At Pfizer, Schulman had a variety of executive roles including
leading the Nutrition business which was sold to Nestle for $11.85
billion and heading the Consumer business which comprised
well-known brands including Advil, ChapStick and Emergen-C. She
concurrently served as Pfizer General Counsel, managing a team of
700 legal professionals while overseeing IP, regulatory,
transactional and litigation related matters. Schulman is currently
a faculty member at Harvard Business School where she serves as a
senior lecturer. She is also the recipient of numerous awards and
accolades including Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business
2013, The American Lawyer's Top 50 Innovators 2013, and the
Margaret Brent Women Lawyers Achievement Award from the American
Bar Association in 2012. In choosing the next step in her
professional career, Schulman continued to place an emphasis on
substance and culture: "When I began connecting with the Polaris
team, I was struck by the distinct personalities of the individuals
and the way in which the partnership encourages different
perspectives and points of view," said Schulman. "Clearly the
partners respect one another and their portfolio companies. I was
drawn to the firm's nurturing, long-term approach to innovation and
company building and now I'm proud to join the Polaris team." About
Amy Schulman Amy W. Schulman is an accomplished business leader,
widely recognized for growing global businesses, demonstrating a
commitment to people, and fostering inclusive workplace cultures.
In July, 2014, she joined Polaris Partners as a Venture Partner and
assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Arsia Therapeutics,
a Polaris-backed company. She also joined Harvard Business School's
Faculty, as a Senior Lecturer. Prior to these roles, Schulman was
responsible for leading Pfizer Inc.'s $4 billion Consumer
Healthcare business, which operates in 90 countries and includes
well-known brands such as Advil, Centrum, and Chapstick. She also
served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Pfizer
Inc. Before joining Pfizer, Schulman was a partner at DLA Piper,
where she was a member of the Board and Executive Policy
Committees, and built and led the international law firm's mass
tort and class-action practice. Schulman has served as a visiting
professor at Harvard and Yale Law Schools and has been a guest
lecturer at Harvard Business School and Tsinghua University in
Beijing, among others. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan
University, Schulman earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989.
She serves on the Board of Directors of The Brookings Institution
and Wesleyan University. About Polaris Partners Founded in 1996,
Polaris Partners has more than $3.5 billion in capital under
management invested into a diverse portfolio of technology and
healthcare companies throughout their lifecycles. From the earliest
startup phases through the growth stages, Polaris Partners takes
minority and majority positions alongside outstanding management
teams to help grow industry leading companies. With offices in
Boston, San Francisco and Dublin, Polaris partners with an
unparalleled network of repeat CEOs, entrepreneurs, top scientists
and emerging innovators who are positioned to make a significant
impact in their fields and vastly improve the way in which we all
live and work. The result: Hundreds of growing companies, thousands
of jobs generated, and billions of dollars of value created. For
more information, visit: www.polarispartners.com.
CONTACT: Emily Mendell, Polaris Partners, em@polarispartners.com, 781-522-6732
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