Henri A. Termeer

Retired Chairman, President, and CEO of Genzyme - in memoriam

Henri A. Termeer served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Genzyme Corporation for nearly three decades. 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. He retired from Genzyme in June 2011 following the acquisition of Genzyme by Sanofi in a transaction valued at more than $20 billion.

Widely acknowledged for his contributions to the biotechnology industry and health care field, Mr. Termeer was active in the areas of humanitarian assistance, policy issues, and innovation in providing access to health care.



Mr. Termeer was a board member of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation and served on its executive committee, a director of Massachusetts General Hospital, board member of Partners HealthCare, a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School, and on the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). He also served on the boards of Abiomed, Inc., AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Verastem, Inc., and Medical Simulation Corporation. In 2008, he was appointed to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Council of Economic Advisors and was a co-chair of the Leadership Council of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative. Mr. Termeer was also chairman emeritus of the New England Healthcare Institute, a nonprofit, applied research health policy organization he was instrumental in founding. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.

Mr. Termeer was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors from 2010-2011 and served on the board of directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Mr. Termeer studied economics at the Economische Hogeschool (Erasmus University, The Netherlands) and earned an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Mr. Termeer has been recognized by several highly regarded organizations for his contributions to the health care and entrepreneurial fields.