Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees Vice Chair Fred Lowery has been named chief executive officer of Henry Schein Inc., a Fortune 500 company.
The company is the world’s largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental and medical practitioners.Henry Schein cited Lowery’s record of scaling complex businesses and driving sustained growth and value creation.
The company praised Lowery’s “extensive commercial, logistics, and manufacturing expertise,” noting that he possesses “the combination of experience and capabilities necessary to accelerate growth and value creation.”
Lowery graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Lowery most recently served as executive vice president and president over laboratory products and bioproduction at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham said the appointment reflects the university’s mission and Lowery’s leadership. Oldham connected Lowery’s career path to the values promoted on campus.
“At Tennessee Tech, we challenge our students to be bold, fearless, confident and kind. Fred Lowery has embodied those values throughout his life and career,” Oldham said. “We are proud to see one of our own selected to lead a global organization like Henry Schein Inc., and we are grateful for Fred’s continued dedication to Tennessee Tech and its students.”
Lowery has served on the Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees since 2019. The Tennessee General Assembly unanimously confirmed Lowery twice to the board, with the original House Joint Resolution describing Lowery as “a person of integrity who brings a strong commitment to the citizens of Tennessee.”
Lowery is a Knoxville native and attended Tennessee Tech on a football scholarship after graduating from Austin-East High School. Lowery has often credited the university with shaping both professional and personal leadership philosophy.
“At Tech, I learned how to frame and solve problems from my experience in engineering,” Lowery said in previous remarks. “But I also learned how to interact with people in a way that brings out the best in every situation.”
Lowery received Tennessee Tech’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2021, the Alumni Association’s highest honor. The award recognized professional accomplishments and service to the university.
Through the Lowery Family Fund, Lowery established three scholarship endowments at Tennessee Tech: the Fred M. Lowery Award Scholarship for students from Austin-East High School, the Chi Lambda Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Scholarship and the Dr. Leo McGee Scholarship Award. The fund also supports community-focused initiatives and organizations in Tennessee and beyond.
In 2024, Lowery and fellow alumnus and trustee Tom Jones pledged a combined $1 million to support Tennessee Tech athletics. Lowery also delivered virtual commencement remarks to the fall 2020 graduating class, encouraging graduates to set clear goals and focus on helping others.
“Whoever helps the most people, wins,” Lowery told the class.