Henri A. Termeer
Commencement speaker
Doctor of Global Business
Henri A. Termeer is a pioneer in the treatment of rare genetic diseases, and the former president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Genzyme Corporation. He led Genzyme’s growth from a modest entrepreneurial venture to one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies.
Mr. Termeer was appointed president of Genzyme in 1983, two years after the company’s founding. He became its chief executive officer in 1985 and chairman in 1988. Under his leadership, the company diversified from its original focus on genetic diseases to include kidney disease, orthopaedics, cancer, transplant and immunological diseases, and diagnostic testing.
Health care is more than a business to Mr. Termeer: It is a societal value, as shown by his ongoing contributions in the areas of humanitarian assistance, policy issues, and innovation in providing access to health care. He serves on the board of Partners HealthCare, and is chairman emeritus of the New England Healthcare Institute, a nonprofit applied-research health-policy organization he was instrumental in founding.
He is a strong voice in the realm of economic policy as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors, as a member of Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick’s Council of Economic Advisors, and as cochair of the Leadership Council of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative.
Mr. Termeer studied economics at the Economische Hogeschool (Erasmus University, in the Netherlands) and earned an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.