William C. Steere, Jr.

William C. Steere Jr. (born June 17, 1936) is a former chief executive officer of Pfizer. He is also a member of the board of directors of the New York Botanical Garden. While Steere was CEO of Pfizer, the company acquired Warner-Lambert and brought to market blockbuster drugs including Viagra, Zoloft, and Zithromax. a period in which sales of the company doubled.

Early life and education Steere was born in 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Steere's father, William C. Steere, was an American botanist known as an expert on bryophytes. In 1959, Steere graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biology.

Board memberships Between 1997 and 2007, Steere was a member of the board of directors of Dow Jones & Company. From 1999 to 2010, he was a member of the board of directors of MetLife.

Steere was a member of the executive committee of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; a member of the board of overseers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and of The Business Roundtable; and a director of the Council on Competitiveness, the New York University Medical Center, WNET, The Business Council, Texaco, and the New York Botanical Garden. He served as a class B director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, having been elected for a three-year term ending December 31, 1995.

Steere enjoys scuba diving and spearfishing and lives in Bonita Springs, Florida, where he owns a boat and a marina.