Matthew Emmens began his career in international pharmaceuticals with Merck & Co, Inc. in 1974. There he held a wide range of sales, marketing, and administrative positions before volunteering in 1992 to help establish Astra Merck, the joint venture between Merck and Astra AB of Sweden. He later became president and chief executive officer. In 1999 he joined Merck KGaA and established EMD Pharmaceuticals, the company's US prescription pharmaceutical business. He was later promoted to president of the global prescription business and lived in Germany. In 2003, he joined Shire Pharmaceuticals as chief executive officer and member of the board. As CEO of Shire, Emmens has engineered an extraordinary revitalization, transforming Shire into one of the top of specialty pharma companies in the world in just a few years’ time. Shire now has almost 3,000 employees in 15 countries and reported over 1.6 billion dollars in sales for the fiscal year 2005.

Emmens is also a leader who is recognized for his ability to mentor younger workers, as is attested to by his being named, in 2006, the Honorable Mentor by the HBA. Emmens is frequently asked to keynote conferences, appearing, over the last six months, at the HBA event in New York, the Windhover Pharmaceutical Strategic Outlook, the Pharmaceutical Executive Sales Summit, and the 11th Annual Pharmaceutical Conference, among others. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.