Merck Appoints Bridgette P. Heller As Executive Vice President and President, Consumer Health Care
February 15 2010 - 4:33PM
Business Wire
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) today announced the
appointment of Bridgette P. Heller as Executive Vice President and
President, Consumer Health Care. Ms. Heller will succeed Stanley F.
Barshay, who had postponed his planned retirement to serve in a
transition role following the merger of Merck and Schering-Plough.
Effective March 1, 2010, Ms. Heller, 48, will report directly to
Richard T. Clark, Merck’s chairman, president and chief executive
officer, and will serve on the company’s Executive Committee.
As leader of Consumer Health Care, Ms. Heller will leverage
Merck’s consumer products brands to capitalize on new growth
opportunities, including expanding the consumer business in markets
outside the United States. Merck’s Consumer Health Care division is
home to a variety of household names, including, among others,
AFRIN, CLARITIN, COPPERTONE, DR. SCHOLL'S, MiraLAX and LOTRIMIN.
Each day, millions of people count on one or more of Merck’s
industry-leading brands that help prevent or treat various common
conditions.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Bridgette as the leader of
our Consumer Health Care division,” said Mr. Clark. “While the
Consumer Health Care business already has an established presence
around the world, it also represents an attractive growth
opportunity for Merck. Bridgette has an impressive track record of
leading multi-billion dollar businesses, as well as exceptional
marketing acumen, both of which will serve her well in leading
growth initiatives for Merck’s consumer business.”
“This is an exciting time to join the new Merck, with its focus
on the consumer health care sector,” said Ms. Heller. “I look
forward to working with the talented team throughout this division
to pursue growth through enhanced innovation, creative research and
development and improved products in our Consumer Health Care
business.”
Ms. Heller most recently served as President of Johnson &
Johnson’s Baby Global Business Unit since 2007 and prior to that
she was Johnson & Johnson’s Global President, Baby, Kids and
Wound Care. While at Johnson & Johnson, Ms. Heller led a global
team across all functions of the business unit with worldwide
revenues of over $2.5 billion.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson Ms. Heller was founder and
managing partner at Heller Associates from 2004-2005, where she
provided consumer-centric growth strategies for companies outside
of the traditional consumer packaged goods arena. Previously, Ms.
Heller provided hands-on leadership as Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board of Chung’s Gourmet Foods, the second largest
U.S. egg roll manufacturer. And before that Ms. Heller served as
Executive Vice President and General Manager, Coffee Division at
Kraft Foods, Inc. where she had full P&L responsibility for the
largest coffee portfolio in the U.S. with $1.5 billion in revenues.
In this capacity, Ms. Heller operated across multiple sales
channels, including grocery, specialty retailers and
direct-to-consumer and directed an internal organization of 500
employees across four manufacturing facilities, and an additional
550 employees from three outsourcing partners. Prior to that, Ms.
Keller held a variety of managerial roles at Kraft since 1985.
Ms. Heller received an MBA from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate
School of Management at Northwestern University and received her
B.A. from Northwestern University.
About Merck
Today's Merck is working to help the world be well. Through our
medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer and animal
products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140
countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also
demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care
through far-reaching programs that donate and deliver our products
to the people who need them. Merck. Be Well. For more information,
visit www.merck.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements
may include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits
of the merger between Merck and Schering-Plough, including future
financial and operating results, the combined company’s plans,
objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that
are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon the
current beliefs and expectations of Merck’s management and are
subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may
differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results
to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements:
the possibility that the expected synergies from the merger of
Merck and Schering-Plough will not be realized, or will not be
realized within the expected time period, due to, among other
things, the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and
pending legislation that could affect the pharmaceutical industry;
the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully;
disruption from the merger making it more difficult to maintain
business and operational relationships; Merck’s ability to
accurately predict future market conditions; dependence on the
effectiveness of Merck’s patents and other protections for
innovative products; the risk of new and changing regulation and
health policies in the U.S. and internationally and the exposure to
litigation and/or regulatory actions.
Merck undertakes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause
results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements can be found in Merck’s 2008 Annual
Report on Form 10-K, Schering-Plough’s Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2009, the proxy
statement filed by Merck on June 25, 2009 and each company’s other
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available
at the SEC’s Internet site: www.sec.gov.
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