Merck says Kenneth Frazier will retire as CEO effective June 30

Merck’s outspoken CEO, Ken Frazier, will retire on June 30 after nearly 30 years with the drug company, Merck announced Thursday.

Frazier, 66, will be replaced by the company’s CFO Robert Davis and will serve as executive chairman of Merck’s board of directors “for a transition period determined by the board,” the company said in a statement. Frazier, one of the few black business leaders in the United States, has served Merck’s chief since January 2011.

“It has been a privilege to serve as Merck’s CEO for the past decade and to work with the most dedicated and talented employees and management team in the industry,” Frazier said in the statement Thursday. “As Executive Chairman, I look forward to working with Rob and our board of directors to help Merck achieve even greater success.”

Frazier, a former attorney, led a revolt among CEOs as the first to resign from President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council, shortly after Trump’s supportive comments from white nationalist, “alt-Right” and neo-Nazi groups in a violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. in 2017.

Frazier is one of the country’s most prominent black CEOs. Before joining Merck, Frazier helped release a black death row inmate who was falsely charged with murder.

Davis will become Merck’s president on April 1, the company said. In 2014, he joined the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company as a senior finance officer.

Two years later, Davis’s job was expanded to include “the company’s global support functions, including business development, investor relations, information technology, procurement, real estate operations and corporate strategy.”

“Rob has been instrumental in helping Merck take the right steps to adapt to the changing healthcare environment, while remaining committed to investing in the scientific innovation that we expect will drive our future growth .

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