Kenneth Frazier on corporate political engagement
From International Executive of the Year 2022: Kenneth C. Frazier · · Executives' Club of Chicago
“I think the challenge is the country is divided down the middle I know and no matter what position you're taking you're going to alienate one side or the other and so for me it really was are you taking a position that you believe is consistent with the country's fundamental values and the company's values I'll give you an example some colleagues of mine and I started to work around voting rights okay um that was not easy as you might remember Mitch McConnell came out and said companies should not be involved in politics by the way I am the single largest Giver the year before to Mitch mcconell he never sent any money back okay I just want to be really clear okay he's always at the door okay why why Mitch MLL you're asking because I'm a CEO of a drug company right so from the perspective of Defending my company's business model I end up making Don Nations but I'm not going to be told that if I take a stand that says that voting is fundamental to Americans and that every eligible voter should be able to vote without undo interference that somehow that's wrong.”
On , Kenneth Frazier, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Merck & Co., spoke about corporate political engagement during International Executive of the Year 2022: Kenneth C. Frazier on Executives' Club of Chicago.
About Kenneth Frazier
Kenneth Frazier, former chairman and CEO of Merck, has spoken extensively about corporate leadership, racial equity, and the importance of taking public stands on social issues. In 2022, he was recognized as International Executive of the Year by the Executives' Club of Chicago. Frazier has described his decision to resign from President Trump's business council after the 2017 Charlottesville comments, stating that he felt an obligation to stand up against what he called "intolerance and extremism." He said his board unanimously supported him speaking to the company's values rather than as an individual. Frazier has also discussed the OneTen initiative, a coalition of companies committed to hiring one million Black Americans without four-year degrees over ten years, describing it as a way to create "family sustaining wages" by making jobs skills-based rather than credentials-based. Frazier has been outspoken about voting rights, noting that he helped organize a full-page ad signed by about 700 business leaders opposing what he described as undue interference with voting. He has said that "it's a mistake for corporations to take democracy for granted" and that companies should insist on "everyone who's an eligible voter having a fair and equitable opportunity to cast their vote." During the COVID-19 pandemic, Frazier emphasized the need for broad, equitable access to vaccines, stating that "unless all of us are safe none of us are safe." He has also criticized what he called "vaccine nationalism" and urged transparency in vaccine development, saying that pauses in clinical trials should reassure the public that safety systems are working.