Merck says Kenneth Frazier will retire as CEO on June 30

Merck’s outspoken CEO Ken Frazier will step down from the company on June 30 after 30 years at the drugmaker, Merck announced Thursday.

Frazier, 66, will be replaced by Robert Davis’ chief financial officer and will serve on Merck’s board as executive chairman “for a transitional 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 as head of Merck since January 2011.

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

Frazier’s last years at Merck were marked by his outspoken opposition to former President Donald Trump. He led an uprising among executives as the first to resign from Trump’s U.S. manufacturing council shortly after the former president’s supportive comments from white nationalist, “alt-right” and neo-Nazi groups during a violent protest in Charlottesville , Va. In 2017.

A former lawyer, Frazier, becomes one of the country’s most prominent black CEOs. Before Frazier joined Merck, he helped free a black prisoner falsely accused of murder.

Davis will become Merck’s president from April 1, the company said. He joined the pharmaceutical company in New Jersey in 2014 as its leading financial officer.

Two years later, Davis’ work was expanded to include ‘the company’s global support functions that include corporate business development, investor relations, information technology, sourcing, fixed operations and corporate strategy’.

“Rob has helped Merck take the right actions to adapt to the changing healthcare environment, while being committed to investing in the scientific innovation we expect to advance our future growth.

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