Paul Schreier, COO (2019-2023), interim CEO (2023-2024)
Paul joined Wellcome as Chief Operating Officer in 2019, responsible for finance, research funding, digital and technology, legal matters, Wellcome’s extensive international operations, and the Wellcome Collection. He was appointed Wellcome's Interim Chief Executive Officer between February 2023 and January 2024 to cover the position while recruitment was carried out.
He is also a member of the investment committee that oversees Wellcome’s investments’ activities. Early in his tenure, Paul chaired the work that brought together a new strategy for Wellcome, and from the beginning of 2020 led Wellcome’s efforts on Covid-19 treatments. This eventually resulted in his becoming the global therapeutics co-lead of the WHO’s accelerating Covid tools partnership, involving several other multilateral agencies.
Paul was born in Australia and came to the UK for university, taking his BA, Master’s and PhD degrees in engineering at Cambridge before joining the Royal Navy, subsequently serving as a navigator and fighter controller. After commanding a ship, he left to join McKinsey & Company’s London office, where he became a partner before moving to Kuala Lumpur. In 2010, he was appointed to the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, becoming deputy secretary with responsibility for economic policy and strategy.
Later, he served as deputy vice-chancellor and chief operating officer at Macquarie University in Sydney, before joining Hakluyt, a professional services firm, in 2016 as chief executive.
Paul is a member of the Council of the National Army Museum in London, and is on the boards of the Francis Crick Institute in London, and the Sanger Institute near Cambridge.
