2024 Woman of the Year Yvonne Greenstreet
Dr. Yvonne Greenstreet was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam in October 2021. For nearly seven years, as President and Chief Operating Officer and now CEO, she has led Alnylam in the pursuit of innovative therapies to address unmet medical needs. She is responsible for overall corporate vision, strategy, value creation, organizational development, and R&D of RNAi therapeutics to address genetic medicine, cardio-metabolic diseases, and hepatic infectious diseases. Throughout her 25 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, she has been instrumental in delivering medicines that transform the lives of people living with diseases in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
Since assuming leadership of Alnylam, she has achieved FDA approval for AMVUTTRA, the first second-generation RNAi therapeutic, and has overseen many additional milestones across Alnylam’s clinical pipeline. These successes have increased momentum toward the company’s Alnylam P5x25 goals. As President and COO, she led the transformation of Alnylam from an R&D organization to a commercial company. Dr. Greenstreet oversaw creation of all commercial capabilities, including creation of a sales force, and launched ONPATTRO, GIVLAARI, and OXLUMO, the company’s first commercial products which ushered in a new class of medicines: RNAi therapeutics. She secured partnerships and landmark financing for Alnylam, raising $2.2 billion over 5 years, and secured the largest-ever royalty monetization of a non-approved product.
Born in London and raised in Ghana, Dr. Greenstreet was educated in England and France, earning a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Leeds. She then practiced as a clinician before receiving her MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and moving into the biotechnology industry where she could have greater impact on more patients. She moved to the United States in 2004.
In 2023, she was named "Middle Market Executive of the Year" by Boston Business Journal. In 2022, she was named among the "100 Most Inspiring People in the Life Sciences" by PharmaVoice, "100 People Transforming Business" by Business Insider, and was featured in the "Involve Heroes Executives Role Model List" of 2022. In 2020, she was included in Boston Business Journal’s list of "Women Who Mean Business." In 2013, Fast Company named her among the "100 Most Creative People in Business," and she has been repeatedly recognized as a role model for women of color in the biopharmaceutical sector.
Dr. Greenstreet previously served as Senior Vice President and Head of Medicines Development at Pfizer where she was on the executive team leading a rapidly growing $16 billion division. For the previous 18 years, she worked at GlaxoSmithKline plc as Senior Vice President and Chief of Strategy for Research and Development, as well as in various prior positions of increasing responsibility.
Dr. Greenstreet serves on the board of directors of The American Funds. She is a member of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee and the Discovery Council of Harvard Medical School. She also is a member of Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Health Section Governing Board (HSGB).