Pfizer’s Kindler Said to Resign After Jilting Read

Jeffrey Kindler resigned as Pfizer Inc.’s chief executive officer after he refused to name a head of operations as part of a plan agreed to by senior managers in September, said a person familiar with the proceedings.

Kindler, 55, quit hours before a special board meeting was scheduled on Dec. 5 to discuss his future, the person said. Ian C. Read, 57, was named to replace him. Senior executives had agreed Read should be named chief operating officer, said two people who asked not to be named because the deliberations were private. That appointment never happened.