Merck restructures its Executive Board

The Executive Board of Merck has been structured for 2021. The Board of Partners of E. Merck KG has appointed to Belén Garijo as the Chair of the Executive Board and CEO.  She will take over from Stefan Oschmann from May 1, 2021. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Executive Board and Deputy CEO of Merck as well as CEO Healthcare. Oschmann will leave the company as planned after ten years on the Executive Board, five of them as Chairman and CEO, to turn to other tasks.

Peter Guenter will join the Executive Board of Merck effective January 1, 2021, at the latest. He will assume board responsibility for the Healthcare business sector and will be located in Darmstadt, Germany. Since 2017, Guenter has been CEO of the publicly listed pharma company Almirall in Barcelona, Spain. Like Merck, the company is predominantly family-owned. The Belgian national previously held various country, regional and global management positions at Sanofi since 1995, last as Executive Vice President Global Diabetes and Cardiovascular. Guenter holds a Master’s degree in Physical Education from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Ghent, Belgium.

Matthias Heinzel will join the Executive Board of Merck effective April 1, 2021, at the latest. He will assume board responsibility for the Life Science business sector and will be located in Burlington, Massachusetts, and Darmstadt, Germany. Heinzel is currently President Nutrition & Biosciences at DuPont and is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a Member of DuPont’s Executive Board. Prior to that, he held various global executive positions at DuPont in the US and Germany since 2003. The German national studied industrial engineering at the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, and holds a doctorate in business administration. He started his career at McKinsey.

Kai Beckmann and Marcus Kuhnert will continue to pursue their current tasks as Members of the Executive Board.

As of May 2021, the Executive Board of Merck will be structured as follows:

Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO

Board responsibility for Group functions Communications / Corporate Affairs / Environment, Health, Safety, Security, Quality / Human Resources / Internal Auditing / Legal & Compliance / Strategy & Transformation

Kai Beckmann, Member of the Executive Board

CEO Performance Materials and Board responsibility for Group functions Inhouse Consulting / Patents & Scientific Information / Site Operations

Peter Guenter, Member of the Executive Board

CEO Healthcare

Matthias Heinzel, Member of the Executive Board

CEO Life Science

Marcus Kuhnert, Member of the Executive Board

Chief Financial Officer and Board responsibility for Group functions Information Technology / Procurement / Merck Business Services