Myrtle Potter
Real Estate Developer and Consultant
The Chapman Group
Myrtle Potter is president and CEO of Myrtle Potter & Company LLC, which advises public
and private life science corporations and boards of directors. She also owns and operates
a private real estate development company. Ms. Potter is a member of the board of directors
of Amazon.com (audit committee) and Medco Health Services Inc. (compensation committee).
She also was appointed by the Governor of California to serve on the five-member Citizens
Financial Accountability Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine Foundation, which focuses exclusively on stem cell research. She has recently
joined CNBC Television as a business contributor.
Previously, she was president and chief operating officer of Genentech Inc., where she
helped steer the company through one of the most successful periods in its history.
Previously, she was president of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $4 billion, 3,500-person U.S.
cardiovascular/metabolics business. Prior to Bristol-Myers Squibb, she worked at Merck
and Co. for more than 14 years. During her tenure at Merck, she established the new
pharmaceutical company Astra/Merck Inc. (now AstraZeneca). Following that assignment,
she directed the marketing of the blockbuster prescription drug Prilosec and set it on
course to become the largest-selling pharmaceutical product in the world. Her last position
at Merck was as vice president of an $800 million U.S. pharmaceutical business unit.
In 2009 Ms. Potter was honored as an “Everyday Icon” by Glamour magazine and in
2008 she was named one of “50 Directors under 50” by Directorship magazine. In 2007
Legal Momentum, the legal defense fund of the National Organization for Women, named
her “Woman of the Year.” Potter was also featured in Business Week in 2007 as “An
Entrepreneur to Watch.” In 2006 she was named “Woman of the Year” by the American
Diabetes Association and in 2005 and 2004 she was featured by the Wall Street Journal,
which listed her as one of its “50 Women to Watch.” In 2005 she was also profiled in
Harvard Business Review in an article titled “What Great Leaders Do” and was recognized
by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the “75 Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate
America.” In 2003 and 2004 she was listed in Fortune magazine’s “Top 50 Most Powerful
Women in Business” list. In 2004 she was awarded the Girl Scouts of America’s highest
honor by being named its National Woman of Distinction. In 2002 she was named
to Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Black Executives in America” list and to Time
magazine’s “15 Young Global Business Influentials” list.
Ms. Potter is a graduate of the University of Chicago, has two college-age children, and
resides in Northern California.