Albert Borla, is a Greek-American veterinarian and the chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. He joined the company in 1993 and has held various executive positions across divisions of Pfizer, and before becoming CEO, Borla served as Chief Operating Officer.
Headquartered in Manhattan, Pfizer develops and produces drugs and vaccines for a wide variety of medical specialties, including immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neuroscience.
From a young age, Burla loved animals and medicine, and is credited with reshaping Pfizer into a company focused on research and development. He is also credited with focusing the company’s vaccine division on developing drugs for diseases caused by staphylococcus, Clostridium difficile infection, pediatric diseases, and the Pfizer-Biointek vaccine for COVID-19. Burla opposes government intervention in drug pricing, which he says will hinder spending on developing new drugs.
Burla received the 2022 Genesis Prize for his leadership in developing the Pfizer-BioIntech vaccine for COVID-19.
Born on October 21, 1961 in Thessaloniki, Greece, Borla received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1985. He left Greece with his wife when he was 34 years old following a promotion within Pfizer » Since then he has lived in seven different cities, in four different countries.
Borla joined Pfizer in 1993, initially as a veterinarian and technical director of the company’s animal health department in Greece, and in 2001, he immigrated to the United States.
Burla held several executive positions at Zoetis, a subsidiary of the Pfizer Group, and from 2005 to 2009 served as the head of Pfizer’s animal health division in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. From 2009 to 2010, he oversaw the Europe, Africa and Pacific Pharmaceutical division and oversaw the merger of Fort Dog Animal’s business with Pfizer.
From 2010 to 2013, Borla served as president and general manager of Pfizer’s product unit, and there, he built a drug business for the company that had recently lost patent exclusivity.
From January 2014 to January 2016, he was president of the global Pfizer Group for Vaccines, Oncology and Consumer Healthcare, where he contributed to the development of treatments for cancer and heart diseases. Burla became Pfizer’s chief operating officer on January 1, 2018, where he oversaw drug development, manufacturing, sales and strategy development for the company, and pushed the company’s employees to develop “Covid-19” vaccines, while restructuring the company and segmenting the consumer healthcare business during His tenure as Executive Director of Operations.
In 2018, Borla rose to become CEO of Pfizer, succeeding Ian Reed.
In 2020, Borla was named the Best CEO in the Pharmaceutical Industry by Institutional Investor magazine.
