Merck appoints Dirk Toepfer as new Chief Information Officer

Merck appoints Dirk Toepfer as new Chief Information Officer

• Toepfer joins from Metro Group, where he served as Head of the IT service company Metro Systems

DARMSTADT, 26-Jan-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that Dirk Toepfer will join the Group as the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) on March 1. Toepfer will report to Udit Batra, CEO Life Science and Member of the Executive Board with responsibility for the Group function Business Technology, among other things. Dirk Toepfer succeeds Jim Stewart, who now heads Merck Business Services (MBS), the function responsible for the Group’s shared service centers.

“We are pleased to have Dirk Toepfer joining us as an internationally experienced IT executive with more than 15 years in senior management positions and strong commercial acumen,” said Batra. “He has a proven track record in successfully managing large-scale IT transformation initiatives, as well as building cost-effective international IT organizations.”

Toepfer studied physics, also at Dortmund University, where he earned a doctorate while working at DESY (Deutsche Elektronen-Synchrotron) institute in Hamburg. He began his professional career as project manager at Bertelsmann mediaSystems, where he was lastly responsible for Bertelsmann’s global IT infrastructure. From there, he joined Metro Group in 2002 as Managing Director and later as the CEO of the IT service company Metro Systems, consolidating international IT systems and restructuring the organization by establishing major offshore capabilities.

For more information, please contact Markus Talanow
+49 6151 72-7144
Email

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About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life – from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2016, Merck generated sales of € 15.0 billion in 66 countries.

Founded in 1668, Merck is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.

SOURCE: Merck KGaA