Peter R. Dolan (born January 6, 1956) is an American

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

. In 2009, he became chairman and CEO of Gemin X Pharmaceuticals after joining the board in July 2008; he was formerly the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consist ...

before being discharged from that company in September 2006 as a result of a federal investigation into questions concerning the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

of drug

Plavix Clopidogrel, sold under the brand name Plavix among others, is an antiplatelet medication used to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in those at high risk. It is also used together with aspirin in heart attacks and following the pla ...

Personal life

The son of John Ralph Dolan and Lois Burkhart, Peter Dolan was born in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

, on January 6, 1956. (subscription required) Dolan attended St. John's Preparatory School (Massachusetts) before going on to

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

earning a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1978 before going to the

Tuck School of Business The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1900 as the first institution in th ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

to earn his

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in 1980. While at Tufts, he joined

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834, at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North America ...

fraternity. He wed former executive director of Saint Joseph's Hospital Katherine Helen Lange, with whom he shares two children.

Early career

In 1983, Dolan began working at

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

, rising to general product manager by 1986. In 1988, he took a job at Bristol-Myers Squibb. While at Bristol, Dolan was involved in developing the cancer-treating medication

Erbitux Cetuximab, sold under the brand name Erbitux, is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor medication used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Cetuximab is a chimeric (mouse/human) monoclonal a ...

, as well as, before becoming chief executive officer, making the consumer products and medical device divisions of Bristol successful. Dolan became CEO in May, 2001, replacing Charles Heimbold. Subsequently, Bristol was involved in a major financial scandal when, in the words of a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

report, it "was accused of exaggerating revenue by $2 billion from 2000 to 2001 by coaxing wholesalers to buy far more of its drugs than they could hope to sell". The company avoided criminal charges by accepting probation in June 2005, and Dolan brought in former

United States federal judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. S ...

Frederick B. Lacey Frederick Bernard Lacey (September 9, 1920 – April 1, 2017) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Education and career Lacey was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1920 to Frederick ...

to act as an adviser to Bristol. In 2006,

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 ...

reported that Dolan was 250th in compensation among CEO's in the United States, earning a single year $5.54 million to make a five-year total of $17.80 million. In September 2006, Dolan was fired from Bristol on the recommendation of Lacey in response to a federal investigation that followed questions concerning the patenting of Plavix. Bristol was accused of attempting to prevent the marketing of a

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

competitor for the drug by entering into a secret, unlawful arrangement with

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

generic-manufacturer

Apotex Apotex Inc. is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with annual sales exceeding . By 2023, Apotex employed close to 8,000 people as Canada's large ...

. The investigation centered around statements allegedly issued by Dr. Andrew Bodnar, who was an adviser to Dolan assigned to settle the situation with Apotex. A ''New York Times'' article from 2006 indicated that Lacey criticized Dolan for not properly communicating with the Bristol board about the situation. Bristol provided Dolan a

severance package A severance package is pay and benefits that employees may be entitled to receive when they leave employment at a company unwilfully. In addition to their remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following: * Any additional payment based ...

with a combined value of approximately $10.7 million, expressing appreciation for his service but also indicating that it held Dolan "accountable" as

for the Plavix incident. As of 2007, Dolan had not released an official comment on the Plavix situation, nor had he been charged in conjunction with the investigation.

Later career

In July, 2008, Dolan was appointed to the board of Gemin X Pharmaceuticals. and became CEO and chairman in 2009. Gemin X was sold to Cephalon for $225 million in March 2011 with an additional $300 million in future milestones. He founded a non-profit organization called ChildObesity 180, which has raised over $10 million in funding. He is on the board of a Partnership for a Healthier America, a non profit organization devoted to working with private industry on solving childhood obesity, and created in conjunction with First Lady Michelle Obama's

Let's Move! Let's Move! was a public health campaign in the United States led by First Lady Michelle Obama. The campaign aimed to reduce childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle in children. The Let's Move! initiative had an initially stated ...

program. He has continued active ties with his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

s. He serves as a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

at Tufts University and is now chairman of the board, also sitting on several committees. He is also a member of the board of overseers at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. In 2013, he was elected as Tufts University chairman of the board, to take office in the fall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolan, Peter R. 1956 births Living people American health care chief executives Tufts University alumni Bristol Myers Squibb people American pharmaceutical industry businesspeople Tuck School of Business alumni St. John's Preparatory School (Massachusetts) alumni