[ About Merck & Co ]Building a legacy of scientific excellence.
Merck & Co., known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, is a global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation, committed to discovering, developing, and delivering medicines and vaccines that save and improve lives. Founded in 1891, Merck’s enduring mission has been to harness the power of science to address humanity’s most pressing health challenges.
From discovery to delivery.
Across oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, and animal health, Merck transforms breakthrough research into accessible, life-changing therapies. The company’s collaborations with global health organizations and research institutions reflect its belief that medical progress thrives at the intersection of innovation, equity, and integrity.
A promise of trust and global impact.
For more than a century, Merck has combined scientific rigor with social responsibility—advancing health equity, expanding access, and supporting sustainable development worldwide. Its purpose remains constant: to build a healthier, more hopeful future for people and communities everywhere.
[ My Role ]At Merck & Co., I led global data modernization and service delivery programs—where analytics met governance, and precision strengthened performance.
At Merck & Co., I directed enterprise-wide data transformation initiatives that unified analytics, compliance, and IT delivery across global operations. My mission was to modernize how data supported scientific, regulatory, and business functions—building a scalable foundation that improved transparency, auditability, and decision confidence across every domain.
In this role, I led strategic data and service delivery programs that migrated a $9.6M analytics ecosystem to a modern SQL/Spark-based architecture—enabling faster, more reliable insights for both operational and compliance use cases. Collaborating with engineering, finance, and risk teams, I oversaw the rollout of Tableau, Looker, and internal data governance tooling, doubling reporting efficiency and ensuring consistency across global functions.
Beyond technical modernization, I championed enterprise data governance and delivery excellence, managing a distributed 45-member IT organization spanning SAP, Salesforce, and analytics engineering. These initiatives aligned Merck’s data infrastructure with its scientific mission—ensuring that every dataset, dashboard, and decision reinforced the company’s global standard of integrity, reliability, and measurable health impact.
[ strategic outcomes ]Strategic Outcomes
Enterprise Analytics Modernization
Led a $9.6M multi-year transformation of Merck’s analytics ecosystem to a SQL/Spark-based architecture—reducing reporting latency, enhancing scalability, and enabling real-time insights across scientific, regulatory, and business domains.
Data Governance & Compliance
Implemented enterprise-wide governance frameworks and metadata tooling that strengthened auditability, traceability, and regulatory alignment—ensuring every dataset met compliance and quality standards across global operations.
Operational Intelligence Integration
Unified data and service delivery across SAP, Salesforce, and analytics platforms—creating a single operational view that improved coordination, decision velocity, and accountability for distributed global teams.
Reporting Efficiency & Insight
Deployed Tableau and Looker dashboards enterprise-wide, doubling reporting efficiency and transforming how business leaders visualized performance, risks, and opportunities in real time.
“John brought structure and intelligence to one of Merck’s most complex data environments. He unified analytics, governance, and delivery into a single ecosystem of precision—transforming how insights informed science, compliance, and operations. His leadership elevated data from a reporting tool to a strategic asset that powered confident, evidence-based decisions.”
— Daniel Morris, Executive Director, Data & Analytics Transformation, Merck & Co.
Data → Automation → Intelligence → Impact
Stage 01Enterprise Data Modernization
Led a $9.6M multi-year modernization of Merck’s analytics ecosystem—migrating legacy data infrastructure to a SQL/Spark-based foundation that unified scientific, regulatory, and business data into a single, trusted source of intelligence.
Stage 02Automated Data Delivery
Redesigned BI and reporting workflows through automation and ETL modernization—cutting reporting latency by over 50% while embedding governance and audit controls that ensured accuracy, traceability, and compliance across global datasets.
Stage 03Operational Intelligence
Integrated Tableau, Looker, and SAP analytics to deliver unified visibility across research, manufacturing, and commercial operations—empowering leaders to act on real-time performance insights and drive enterprise-wide efficiency gains.
Stage 04Measured Business Impact
Delivered measurable improvements in operational precision and decision speed—doubling reporting efficiency, strengthening regulatory readiness, and establishing data intelligence as a catalyst for Merck’s innovation and scientific excellence.
[ the journey ]A disciplined ascent through modernization, automation, and trust.
Inclusions
At Merck & Co., my journey focused on transforming legacy data ecosystems into an intelligent foundation that strengthened scientific and operational decision-making. From leading a $9.6M modernization of analytics infrastructure to unifying governance across research, manufacturing, and compliance functions, every initiative balanced precision with purpose—reducing reporting latency, increasing auditability, and elevating data as a source of measurable trust.
By integrating SQL/Spark-based data pipelines, Tableau/Looker visual frameworks, and enterprise governance tooling, I helped design a data environment where accuracy accelerated innovation. Each system was built not only to inform but to empower—enabling teams across functions to move from reactive reporting to proactive intelligence.
This stage reinforced that modernization is less about migration and more about meaning. It’s not simply the movement of data—it’s the elevation of confidence, where insight becomes a shared language between technology, science, and leadership.
Exclusions
At Merck, I learned that transformation is not achieved through scale alone—it’s achieved through stewardship. Bigger platforms didn’t guarantee better outcomes; better alignment did. The goal was never to automate for efficiency’s sake, but to embed accountability into every data flow—ensuring compliance, traceability, and trust in the information that drives discovery and enterprise resilience.