Tombros Named Chairman of Alpharma Board of Directors

18 September 2006—Peter G. Tombros, Distinguished Executive in Residence and the James and Alvina Balog Faculty Fellow of Science, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors at Alpharma, Inc. Alpharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company providing pharmaceutical products for poultry, livestock, and humans in more than 60 countries.

Tombros was chairman and chief executive officer of Vivoquest, Inc., a private drug discovery company, from 2002 to 2005. From 1994 to 2001, he was president and chief executive officer of Enzon, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company. He held senior management positions at Pfizer, Inc. for twenty-five years (1968-1994). In 1986 he became executive vice president of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and was elected vice president for corporate strategic planning in 1990. He also had been senior vice president and general manager of the Roerig Pharmaceutical Division from 1980 to 1986.

Tombros has served as a member of Alpharma’s Board of Directors since 1995. He currently serves on the boards of Cambrex Corporation; Dendrite, Inc.; NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Protalex, Inc. Since 2005, he has donated his time and expertise to train honors students in the Science BS/MBA Program in the Eberly College of Science, where he advises students on their careers and recruits prominent guest speakers.

Tombros has contributed his time and resources to many non-profit organizations. He served on the boards of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and Dominican College in Orangeburg, New York. He served on Cancer Care and The National Cancer Care Foundation Board of Trustees, the Central Park Conservancy, and he represented Pfizer in the restoration of the historic Brooklyn Borough Hall. From 1998 to 2001, Tombros was chairman of the New Jersey Technology Council, the state's largest technology trade association.

In 2001, Tombros and his wife, Ann, established the Tombros Foundation, which supports a broad range of institutions including higher education, healthcare, and social-service organizations. At Penn State, the Tombros' have supported the University Libraries, athletics, and the sciences.

Tombros received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and biological sciences and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Penns State in 1964 and 1968, respectively, and received his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He recently received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Penn State Board of Trustees. He also was named an Alumni Fellow at Penn State in 1993.

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