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Chris Scalet, Former Executive Vice President of Global Services and Chief Information Officer of Merck

December 17, 2012

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About the Guest

Chris Scalet

Former Executive Vice President of Global Services and Chief Information Officer of Merck

Episode Overview

Among other topics, Chris discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:

How Chris familiarized himself in new environments through engaging business leaders who understand the industry and company, as well as customer interactions and the company’s value proposition
How Chris’ role expanded as Merck built a multifunctional shared services capability, which included pieces of Finance, HR, and Supply Chain, in order to improve service levels and reduce the cost structure
How Merck focused on the three step model of consolidate, integrate, and optimize, and how the organization found natural synergies across the portfolio of services Chris was responsible for
How the CIO role has evolved such that CIOs are more about the business than they are technology, and how CIOs better understand the business and how to build customer-based services that enable business
Eye on Trends: Mobility and how it changes the way we interact with customers, business partners, and employees; the need for CIOs to embrace and appropriately manage consumerization of IT, and how cloud computing will become more pervasive

Chris Scalet’s Biography

Chris is the former executive vice president, Global Services, and chief information officer at Merck. In that role, Chris was responsible for the company’s information technology and global services functions, which included real estate; facilities services; Lean Six Sigma; shared business services; security; energy; travel and aviation. He was a member of Merck’s executive committee and reported to Merck’s president and chief executive officer.

Prior to his time at Merck, Chris served as senior vice president and chief information officer of International Paper (IP), managing information technology and telecommunications strategy, planning, and operations for the world’s largest paper and forest products company. He was a member of IP’s senior leadership team and the company’s eBusiness Steering Committee.

Prior to his time at IP, Chris was vice president and chief information officer at MAPCO, Inc. (now The Williams Co.), a Fortune 250 diversified energy company.

Chris is on the Board of Directors of IntraLinks and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and he serves on the AT&T Customer Advisory Council. He is a former board member of the Netezza Corporation and past Honorary Conference Chair for the National Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA).

Chris received his bachelor’s degree in management science and computer systems from Oklahoma State University and completed the executive development program at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

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