Kenneth Frazier is stepping down as CEO of Merck in a shake-up for the pharmaceutical giant as the industry seeks to contribute solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic even as it faces bipartisan scrutiny over drug prices.
Frazier, who will be succeeded as CEO by the company s chief financial officer, will become executive chairman for an undetermined period of time when the transition occurs at the end of June.
He joined Merck in 1992 as a vice president, became president of the company s Global Human Health Division in 2007 and was elevated to CEO and chairman in 2011.
Frazier is one of only a handful of Black CEOs of major corporations. Of the 279 top executives in the 50 biggest companies in the S&P 100, only five were Black as of an analysis conducted in 2020 by USA TODAY.