Adele Gulfo
Adele Gulfo is Regional President of Latin America in Pfizer’s Emerging Markets Business Unit In this capacity, she leads a team of over 4,000 colleagues operating across more than 23 countries. In 2012, Pfizer Latin America achieved more than US $3 billion in revenue and has become the largest revenue generator within the Emerging Markets Business Unit. Previously, Adele served as President and General Manager of Pfizer’s U.S. Primary Care Business Unit, which included the Managed Markets (Corporate and Government Customer) organization for all of Pfizer’s Biopharmaceutical Business Units. In 2011, Pfizer’s U.S. Primary Care business generated more than $10 billion in revenue under her leadership.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Ms. Gulfo was Vice President of Business Development, Innovation and Design for Launch at Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. In her nine years with the company, she led the multi-billion dollar cardiovascular business, including marketed and emerging products. Among her top achievements, she grew Toprol-XL sales from $200 million to $2 billion and launched cholesterol-lowering medicine Crestor with a significantly differentiated life-cycle development program, which enabled dramatic growth to over $2 billion in 2009 in a highly competitive market.
The highpoint of her work on Crestor was leading the strategy and execution of the JUPITER trial, the first study of the effects of cholesterol-lowering therapy on people with “normal” cholesterol levels but elevated hs-CRP levels. The unprecedented results secured a new FDA indication to prevent heart attacks and death in people with no evidence of heart disease, and enabled a 29% growth trajectory for Crestor while other statins were declining.
Before joining AstraZeneca, Ms. Gulfo held positions of increasing responsibility at Warner-Lambert, including senior director of cardiovascular marketing. It was in this role that she launched LIPITOR, the world’s most successful medicine with over $10B in peak year global sales. Ms. Gulfo developed award-winning medical and public education campaigns that helped to establish the significance of lowering cholesterol in preventing and managing heart disease. Partners included the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and leading academic institutions.
Trained as a scientist with experience in both operational and strategic roles, Ms. Gulfo serves as an advisor for the Cleveland Clinic’s Innovation Center. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America – Greater New York, Council of the Americas (COA) the premier international business organization committed to economic and social development throughout the Western Hemisphere, and the Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only membership organization of the world’s most successful women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
Ms. Gulfo has been awarded five U.S. Patents for innovative packaging designed to help patients adhere to their medicines. She frequently speaks at leading industry and business conferences including The Wall Street Journal’s Women in the Economy: An Executive Task Force conference, and has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, ICEDR (The International Consortium for Executive Development Research), and the Wall Street Journal. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association’s (HBA) Advisory Board. Among many honors, she is especially proud of receiving the 2012 C200 Luminary Award for Corporate Innovation, and the 2013Oracle Award by Springboard Enterprises.
Ms. Gulfo holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from Seton Hall University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University, both with honors. She studied post-graduate microbiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Ms. Gulfo was Vice President of Business Development, Innovation and Design for Launch at Astra-Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. In her nine years with the company, she led the multi-billion dollar cardiovascular business, including marketed and emerging products. Among her top achievements, she grew Toprol-XL sales from $200 million to $2 billion and launched cholesterol-lowering medicine Crestor with a significantly differentiated life-cycle development program, which enabled dramatic growth to over $2 billion in 2009 in a highly competitive market.
The highpoint of her work on Crestor was leading the strategy and execution of the JUPITER trial, the first study of the effects of cholesterol-lowering therapy on people with “normal” cholesterol levels but elevated hs-CRP levels. The unprecedented results secured a new FDA indication to prevent heart attacks and death in people with no evidence of heart disease, and enabled a 29% growth trajectory for Crestor while other statins were declining.
Before joining AstraZeneca, Ms. Gulfo held positions of increasing responsibility at Warner-Lambert, including senior director of cardiovascular marketing. It was in this role that she launched LIPITOR, the world’s most successful medicine with over $10B in peak year global sales. Ms. Gulfo developed award-winning medical and public education campaigns that helped to establish the significance of lowering cholesterol in preventing and managing heart disease. Partners included the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and leading academic institutions.
Trained as a scientist with experience in both operational and strategic roles, Ms. Gulfo serves as an advisor for the Cleveland Clinic’s Innovation Center. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America – Greater New York, Council of the Americas (COA) the premier international business organization committed to economic and social development throughout the Western Hemisphere, and the Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only membership organization of the world’s most successful women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
Ms. Gulfo has been awarded five U.S. Patents for innovative packaging designed to help patients adhere to their medicines. She frequently speaks at leading industry and business conferences including The Wall Street Journal’s Women in the Economy: An Executive Task Force conference, and has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, ICEDR (The International Consortium for Executive Development Research), and the Wall Street Journal. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association’s (HBA) Advisory Board. Among many honors, she is especially proud of receiving the 2012 C200 Luminary Award for Corporate Innovation, and the 2013Oracle Award by Springboard Enterprises.
Ms. Gulfo holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from Seton Hall University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University, both with honors. She studied post-graduate microbiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
