Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute to Honor Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co, Inc., with Legend in Leadership Award

Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and CEO of Merck & Co, Inc., will accept the Legend in Leadership Award of the Yale School of Management’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute in a ceremony during the 25th anniversary gathering of the institute’s CEO Summit on December 17 at the Waldorf Astoria New York.

The award will be presented to Mr. Frazier by Frank Blake, retired chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, and Thomas H. Glocer, founder and managing partner of Angelic Ventures, LP, Merck board member, and former CEO of Thomson Reuters.

Summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, commented: “Ken Frazier is revered by fellow pharmaceutical titans and is an inspiration to leaders across industries and sectors. CEO since 2011, Ken has made courageous, successful long-term investments in R&D just as so many of his peers slashed such advancements of science to chase short-term returns. As the chairman of the industry group PhRMA, he has worked to advance the support for innovation in pharmaceuticals while calling out the misconduct of outlier firms.”

Frazier completed high school at age 16, graduated with highest honors from Pennsylvania State University in 1975, and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1978. As CEO of Merck, he has remained committed to a customer-centric culture and has worked to expand Merck’s work into the developing world. More recently, he has catapulted Merck into the top league of hepatitis C drug makers, and the company’s breakthrough cancer immunotherapy medicine, Keydruda, is considered a potential blockbuster.

The Legend in Leadership Award was created 25 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends and inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Past recipients include: Jim McNerney of Boeing, Ian Cook of Colgate-Palmolive, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Klaus Kleinfeld of Alcoa, Jiang Jianqing of ICBC Bank, Fu Chengyu of Sinopec, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Jeff Immelt of GE, Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner, Frank Blake of Home Depot, Dave Cote of Honeywell, Ellen Kullman of DuPont, Scott Davis of UPS, Alan Mulally of Ford, Andrew Liveris of Dow, Duncan Niederauer of the NYSE, Ken Chenault of American Express, David Stern of the NBA, Ratan Tata of the TATA Group, Mike Ullman of JCPenney, Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Robert Iger of Walt Disney, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Roger Enrico of PepsiCo, John Pepper of Procter & Gamble, Don Keough of Coca-Cola Co., McKinsey founder Marvin Bower, Jim Kelly of UPS, Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon, Richard Teerlink of Harley-Davidson, Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, financier Wilbur Ross, and Lou Gerstner of IBM.

The summit theme is “In Whom Do We Trust: Optimist Visionaries or Cynical Pragmatists.” Distinguished global corporate leaders from across industries will engage in lively, candid discussions at this invitation-only leaders’ conference hosted by the Yale School of Management.  

Additional summit participants include: Paul Volker, 12th chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System; Kevin Rudd, 26th prime minister of Australia; Frank Blake, retired chairman and CEO of the Home Depot; Macy’s chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren; Steve Miller, president and CEO of the International Automotive Components Group; Roger Crandall, chairman, president, and CEO of MassMutual; Stanley Black & Decker chairman and CEO John Lundgren; Stuart Miller, president and CEO of Lennar; Joe Papa, chairman, president, and CEO of Perrigo; Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of W.L. Ross & Company; Jim Chanos, managing partner of Kynikos Associates; Geoff Colvin, senior editor at large, Fortune; Bethany McLean, contributing editor of Vanity Fair; Andrew Ross Sorkin, editor of DealBook, New York Times; and Kelly Evans, co-anchor of Closing Bell, CNBC, along 15 U.S. mayors, including the mayors of Pittsburgh, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Minneapolis.

Conference partners include Brunswick Group, Deloitte, IBM, Korn Ferry, PepsiCo, CNBC, and UPS.

The Chief Executive Leadership Institute was founded in 1989 to provide original research on top leadership and lively, current educational forums through peer-driven learning for accomplished leaders across a range of sectors. Visit the CELI website for more information. 

For an interview with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld or to register for the award presentation and final conference session please contact Nathan Williams, 203-432-7817; nathan.williams@yale.edu, or Joe DeLillo, 202-742-4452; joseph.delillo@yale.edu.