Sir Richard Sykes

Sir Richard Sykes joined Glaxo Research in 1972 as Head of its Antibiotic Research Unit. In 1977 he moved to the US to join the Squibb Institute for Medical Research where he progressed to Vice President, before rejoining Glaxo in the UK as Chief Executive of Glaxo Group Research in 1986.

In March 1993 Sir Richard was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Glaxo, taking
on the same roles at Glaxo Wellcome in 1997 following the acquisition of Wellcome.
He subsequently led the company until 2002, through the formation of GlaxoSmithKline.

Sir Richard was Rector of Imperial College London from 2001 to 2008.

Board Mandates

Sir Richard is Chairman of the NHS London. He is Vice-Chairman at Swiss life sciences company Lonza Group, Senior Non-Executive Director of Eurasian National Resources Corporation and Executive Chairman of Toumaz Holdings.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Life Sciences Advisory Board and a member of Temasek Holding’s International Advisory Board.

He is also Chairman of the Healthcare Advisory Group of Apax Partners, Circassia and the UK Stem Cell Research Foundation.

Sir Richard has also been Chairman of the British Pharma Group, Medeus Pharma, member of the President's Committee of the Confederation of British Industry, member of the UK Trade Policy Forum, Chairman of the Task Force for Inward Investment in the UK Pharmaceutical Industry, member of the Advisory Committee for Human Genome Research, member of the Council for Industry & Higher Education and member of DTI's Strategy Board.

Awards

Sir Richard was knighted in 1994, awarded Honorary Citizenship of Singapore in 2004 and holds 20 honorary doctorates.