Pablo G. Legorreta, founder and chief executive officer of Royalty Pharma, is elected to the Board

by Alexandra MacWade, assistant editor

Pablo G. Legorreta, the founder and chief executive officer of Royalty Pharma, has been elected to Rockefeller’s Board of Trustees. With his election, which took place at the Board’s February 15 meeting, the university has 49 voting trustees.

Founded by Mr. Legorreta in 1996, Royalty Pharma invests in intellectual property, primarily in the form of royalties in pharmaceutical and biotechnology products.The firm funds innovation in the life sciences by acquiring existing royalty interests from academic institutions, research hospitals, foundations, and inventors, and,more directly, by partnering with companies to help develop and fund products in late-stage human clinical trials. The firm currently owns royalty interests in 8 of the top 30 drugs in the world.

Mr. Legorreta is also involved with several educational and cultural institutions. He is the founder and chairman of Alianza Médica para la Salud, or AMSA, a nonprofit organization that grants scholarships to study abroad to Latin American doctors with the aim of improving the quality of health care in Latin America. He serves on the board of governors of the New York Academy of Sciences and is on the boards of the Hospital for Special Surgery, the Pasteur Foundation, the Open Medical Institute, the Park Avenue Armory, and Grace Church School.

“Rockefeller is one of the world’s preeminent centers of excellence in life sciences research and education. I have always admired the university’s unique ability to reconcile groundbreaking fundamental science with the needs of applied, disease-focused innovation,” says Mr. Legorreta. “I am honored to join the Board of Trustees and look forward to working with Rockefeller’s leadership in advancing the mission of the university.”

Before establishing Royalty Pharma, Mr. Legorreta spent a decade at the investment bank Lazard Frères, where he advised U.S. and European corporations on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Legorreta has a degree in industrial engineering from Ibero-American University in Mexico City. He lives in New York City with his wife Almudena and their two children.