Meet the Pfizer Executive Leadership Team: Amy W. Schulman
Meet the Pfizer Executive Leadership Team: Amy W. Schulman
Amy W. Schulman is an innovative, results-focused leader and a champion for diversity and women’s professional advancement. Since 2008 she has led the Pfizer Legal Division, which handles some of the most complex, challenging legal matters within a highly regulated industry. Ms. Schulman also leads Pfizer’s Consumer Healthcare (PCH) — a global $4 billion business that operates in more than 90 countries.
In 2012 Ms. Schulman was instrumental in the sale of Pfizer Nutrition to Nestle for $11.85 billion after assuming responsibility for the business in 2010. While President of the $2.1 billion, global business and leading provider of infant formulas and other nutritional products, Ms. Schulman led the business to increased profitability and above-market performance.
At Pfizer, Ms. Schulman also devised a groundbreaking approach to engaging outside counsel that transformed the traditional billable-hour model to produce better results for the company and its firms. In a December 2009 cover story, The American Lawyer wrote: “Amy Schulman knows how the game is played and has set out to change all the rules.” Ms. Schulman and the Pfizer Legal Alliance have been featured in numerous other publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times and The American Lawyer.
Ms. Schulman joined Pfizer as General Counsel in June 2008, when the company was exploring the purchase of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. She played a key role in the negotiations that led to the largest pharmaceutical acquisition in history.
As Executive Sponsor of Pfizer’s Global Women’s Council, Ms. Schulman helps shape the company’s efforts to increase diversity and expand opportunities for both women and men. In part due to the parity programs Ms. Schulman helps to lead, Pfizer has seen a significant increase of women in senior level jobs since 2009.
Ms. Schulman’s commitment to clients, professional development, legal advocacy skills and reform has earned her accolades from many leading publications and organizations. The American Bar Association honored her with the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement award in 2012, and she was one of 10 “leading lights” featured in The Financial Times’ 2011 U.S. Innovative Lawyers report. In 2009 Forbes magazine included her on its list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women,” while The National Law Journal cited her on its inaugural list of the “20 Most Influential General Counsel.” She is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard Law and Business Schools, Yale Law School and Tsinghua University in Beijing, among others.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University, Ms. Schulman earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1989. She serves on the Board of Directors for Wesleyan University and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Source: Pfizer Press Releases – Meet Our Executives