Early career Kindler earned his BA in 1977 from
Tufts University summa cum laude and his JD in 1980 from
Harvard Law School magna cum laude, where he was an editor of the
Harvard Law Review. Kindler was an attorney at the
Federal Communications Commission. He was a law clerk to Judge
David L. Bazelon of the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and later as a law clerk to U.S.
Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan Jr. Following his clerkship with Justice Brennan, Kindler practiced civil and criminal litigation at the Washington, D.C., firm of
Williams & Connolly, where he became a partner. Kindler later became vice president of Litigation and Legal Policy. In 1994, Kindler worked with future Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division
William Baer and renowned trial lawyer
Dan Webb on the winning litigation team tasked with defending GE against diamond price-fixing claims. Although GE was acquitted at trial,
De Beers was also charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to keeping prices in the worldwide industrial diamond market artificially high. In 1996, Kindler joined
McDonald's Corporation as executive vice president and general counsel for legal and corporate affairs. After leading the acquisition of
Boston Market, Kindler became president of Boston Market Corp. and then of Partner Brands, which consisted of all of McDonald's non-hamburger concepts, including
Chipotle Mexican Grill,
Donatos Pizza, and
Pret a Manger. In 2009, Kindler oversaw Pfizer's $68 billion acquisition of
Wyeth. The acquisition gave Pfizer access to Wyeth's entire product line, eight late-stage clinical trials, and four compounds awaiting FDA approval. Kindler established Pfizer's program to distribute more than 70 of its medications for free to people who meet certain criteria, including job loss and the absence of prescription drug insurance. Kindler also collaborated with former president Bill Clinton's
Clinton Global Initiatives on a range of programs to reduce the costs of essential medicines for AIDS patients in developing markets. In March 2010, Kindler was named chairman of
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Kindler retired from Pfizer in 2010.
2011–present Kindler became CEO of Centrexion Corp, a biotechnology company based in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2013. Kindler is a director of Starboard Capital Partners, a private equity firm, Operating Partner at Artis Ventures, Global Chair of the GLG Institute. ==Philanthropy==