Willie A. Deese
Executive Vice President, Merck
President, Merck Manufacturing
Background:
Willie A. Deese has been Executive Vice President of Merck & Co. Inc. since January 2008 and President of Merck Manufacturing Division at Merck & Co. Inc. since May 2005.
Deese joined Merck as senior vice president, Global Procurement, in January 2004, after nearly three decades of experience as an executive and manager for several pharmaceutical, health care and high technology companies, including GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, PLC; SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, PLC; Kaiser Permanente and Digital Equipment Corp.
Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines in more than 20 therapeutic categories. The company devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines, but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck also publishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service.
Deese earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration at North Carolina A&T State University in 1977, and his MBA at Western New England College in 1983.