Robert C. Pozen, vice chairman of Fidelity Investments and formerly president of Fidelity Management and Research Company, has been appointed to The Commonwealth Fund's board of directors. Mr. Pozen, who was recently named to President Bush's commission on Social Security reform, has had a distinguished career in business, government, law, and academia. He will join the Fund's board when it next meets in November. "With his vast financial and legal expertise, Bob Pozen is eminently well-suited for the Fund's board," said Charles A. Sanders, M.D., who chairs the Fund's board of directors. "His experience in the business world, higher education, and the public sector will contribute to advancing the Fund's goals of expanding health insurance coverage and improving health care access and quality." Before being named president of Fidelity Management and Research Company, the largest U.S. mutual fund company, in 1997, Mr. Pozen served as its managing director and general counsel responsible for government relations, legislation, and litigation worldwide. He wrote the first textbook on comparative regulation of financial institutions in 1977, and recently published The Mutual Fund Business, a course-book for business schools. Mr. Pozen's wide range of interests is reflected in his service on a number of boards and committees and his participation in community and civic organizations. He has been a trustee of the Tufts New England Medical Center and serves on the boards of the Conference Board, the Boston Public Library Foundation, the Pro Arte Chamber Music Orchestra, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His support to Tufts New England Medical Center was crucial to the development of a hand-held computer device by Dr. Harry Selkirk that helps emergency room physicians better diagnose and manage chest pain in patients. Before joining Fidelity in 1987, Mr. Pozen was a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, where he headed the banking and securities department. He also served as associate general counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission and taught law at New York University. Mr. Pozen will remain at Fidelity working on various strategic projects through the end of the year. He will also devote his time to serving on President Bush's 16-member Commission on Social Security, which is charged with proposing ways to reform the federal entitlement program. Mr. Pozen later plans to teach at Harvard University. "We are very fortunate to have Bob Pozen join the board of The Commonwealth Fund," said Karen Davis, the foundation's president. "It is a tremendous opportunity for us to draw upon his diverse background in finance, law, and government in our efforts to help people live healthy and productive lives." A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mr. Pozen graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1968. At Harvard, he won a Knox Traveling Fellowship and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a law degree from Yale in 1972. Mr. Pozen and his wife Elizabeth have two children and reside in Newton, Massachusetts.
