Kevin Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Organon & Co.
In business history, the universe of people tasked with transforming a disparate set of products and forming it into a cohesive corporation is exceedingly small. Kevin Ali was asked to do just that by Merck’s then-CEO Ken Frazier, as the Fortune 100 powerhouse decided to spin off assets it considered non-core.
The result: Organon, a $6B-plus company formed with the goal of becoming the leading women’s healthcare company, which just recently celebrated its first anniversary as a standalone company.
Kevin spent his 30-year career at Merck, where he began as a sales rep and culminated as leader of the international business, where he spurred unprecedented growth. Along the way, he invested in building teams and company culture as well as the business. He didn’t hesitate in accepting Frazier’s challenge—and the opportunity to continue to blaze a trail for others.
“I have seen tremendous inequity on every continent, especially relating to women and their health,” he says. “The world needs a company focused on addressing the tremendous unmet medical needs of women—not just reproductive health, but across every stage of life.”
Convincing others that Organon’s vision was not only noble, but the basis of a sustainable business, was far from automatic. But Kevin was resolute, even as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and threatened to challenge the spinoff’s success.
When Kevin and his hand-picked leadership team rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 3, 2021, with an incredible 70% female board of directors, 9,000 employees, and a global footprint in more than 140 markets, the world took notice.
Since then, Organon has set an unrelenting pace of business development, bringing new hope to medical areas such as postpartum hemorrhage, endometriosis, premature labor, and more—areas that represent significant morbidity and mortality for women and for which there are few or no treatment options. Kevin has led the charge, helping to close deals and create an innovative business model that redirects profits from the biosimilar and established brands portfolios to new innovations in women’s health.
Earlier this year, in recognition of the healthcare-related gender disparities accelerated by the pandemic, Kevin published a full-page open letter in The Wall Street Journal to issue a call to action on International Women’s Day, asking the private sector to join Organon in giving employees the day off to focus on their health. More recently, Kevin led the launch of Organon’s Her Promise ESG platform and goals, including a commitment to prevent 120 million unintended pregnancies by 2030.
“Organon’s purpose has generated amazing support from our stakeholders and our employees, who want to make a difference,” he says. “I’m honored to help lead this company, which has such an important role to play for society.”
