2021 Great Immigrants
Albert Bourla
Chairman and CEO, Pfizer
Born in Greece
When he was appointed to lead Pfizer and asked in the boardroom if he had anything to say, Albert Bourla’s response was: “Only in America.”
“Only in America someone with humble beginnings like me, from a small country, with a heavy accent, would make it to the top of one of the major multinational corporations in the world,” he explains. “It was an expression of appreciation for the country.”
Pfizer — which was also founded by an immigrant, the German-born Charles Pfizer — is now a household name as a company that successfully developed a COVID-19 vaccine, which Bourla has called “the biggest scientific breakthrough of the last 100 years.”
Bourla grew up in Greece, the son of Holocaust survivors. His mom escaped a firing squad during the Nazi occupation, and his father had to pretend he was a Christian to escape death — a threat that, as Jews, many of his family members faced.
Bourla came to the United States in his 30s — a doctor of veterinary medicine who also had a doctorate in the biotechnology of reproduction. He has been at Pfizer for more than 25 years.
“I have great admiration for this country,” he has said. “I became a U.S. citizen and I like to say I’m Greek by birth, American by choice.”
