Pfizer vice chair says hasta la vista

He didn't win the horse race, so he's heading out for greener pastures. Pfizer Vice Chairman David Shedlarz will retire at year's end after a 31-year career there.

Shedlarz stuck around for a year to help restructure after Pfizer chose Jeffrey Kindler to fill the CEO post. Kindler, Shedlarz and Karen Katen were all elevated to vice chairs in 2005 as the company evaluated who'd take the top slot. Shedlarz had been CFO for 10 years.

Now, though, the person in Shedlarz's old CFO suite is an outsider, Frank D'Amelio, brought in to continue revamping the company. And Kindler isn't a Pfizer careerist, either; he worked at McDonald's Corp. before joining the drug maker as general counsel and then vice chairman.

-read the news release from Pfizer
-read the Wall Street Journal's article or the item in its Health Blog