Nicholas Institute Board of Advisors

Peter Nicholas
Retired Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Peter M. Nicholas is a co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Boston Scientific Corporation, a leading producer of scientific and medical equipment. Prior to co-founding this corporation in 1979, Mr. Nicholas held various positions, domestically and internationally, at Eli Lilly and Company and Millipore Corporation. He served as Boston Scientific’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until March 1999.  Under his vision and leadership, Boston Scientific grew from a start-up company with 38 employees to a $3 billion company, employing more than 13,500 people worldwide.

An architect of medical device industry consolidation, Mr. Nicholas pioneered the concept of Strategic Mass, which involves selectively assembling the business operations, products and technologies required for success and leadership in chosen business segments.  Under his direction, Boston Scientific successfully completed an acquisition program that allowed the company to rapidly achieve strategic mass in the less invasive medical device industry.

Mr. Nicholas is currently a member of the American Academy of Achievement.  He is a recipient of the Phoenix Lifetime Achievement Award (which acknowledges industry leadership by his peers) and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and is a “Fellow” and a member of the Trust of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Mr. Nicholas is also a member of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and serves on the Board of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, as well as not-for profit Boards.

A native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Mr. Nicholas received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Duke in 1964, after which he served as an officer in the United States Naval Reserve.  He resigned his commission in the USNR in 1966 in order to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania from which he received an MBA in 1968.  He has served on various corporate and not-for-profit boards, and has been an active volunteer for Duke, serving as class agent, reunion gift chairman, and chairman of the Board of Visitors for Trinity College.

Both Mr. Nicholas and his wife, the former Virginia (Ginny) Lilly, also a Duke graduate, have received the Charles A. Duke Award for Outstanding Service to Duke.  Their two sons J.K. and Peter and their daughter Katherine are graduates of Trinity College, as is J.K.’s wife, Virginia Shannon Nicholas.  J.K. and Peter Jr. are also recent recipients of degrees from the Fuqua School of Business.  The Nicholases live in Boston.

First elected to the Board of Trustees in 1993, Mr. Nicholas served two terms and served as chairman from 2003 to 2005.  Mr. Nicholas retired from the Board of Trustees and was elected Trustee Emeritus effective July 1, 2005.