Kenneth Frazier – Stepping Forward for the Sake of Justice
On June 1, 2020, Merck chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier said that George Floyd—the African American man who died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer put his weight on his neck for close to 9 minutes—“could be me.” Frazier, who is also African American, stated during CNBC’s Squawk Box business broadcast that what happened to Floyd could have happened to any other black man in the country. In confronting one of the most serious issues of our time, a voice like Frazier’s carries great weight, and he chose to put his values at the forefront by speaking out.
Overcoming obstacles
Since Floyd’s death, and those of other African American men and women killed at the hands of police, African Americans and their allies in Minneapolis and cities of every size have poured into America’s streets to protest these many acts of injustice and violence. Frazier pointed out that it was not until this level of public outcry that the officer who knelt on Floyd until he died was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Frazier is familiar with the impact that generational racism and inequality have had on African Americans’ ability to obtain a good education and quality health care, as well as to obtain fair treatment under the criminal justice system. The now 65-year-old Frazier grew up in Philadelphia’s inner city, and he remembers being bused more than an hour to get to school. He was one of only nine African American schoolchildren selected to attend a formerly all-white school in the days when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was leading the fight for civil rights.
American society is still home to a huge “opportunity gap,” Frazier told CNBC. He stated that it is one that he himself may not have bridged had it not been for the intervention of mentors who were determined to give him a chance.
Looking at the opportunity gap that still exists, and in light of the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic that has put more than 40 million Americans out of work, he called on the business community to unite behind the creation of new jobs in order to provide opportunities and hope to today’s generation.
Frazier is one of only four black CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. The others are Marvin Ellison of home improvement retailer Lowe’s, Jide Zeitlin of luxury lifestyle brand Tapestry, and Roger Ferguson of the financial services company TIAA. These three individuals have also come forward to address the problems of structural racism in the days since Floyd’s killing.
Taking a stand
Frazier’s vocal support of the rights of African Americans is not the first time that he has stood up publicly for what he believes. In 2017, he drew media attention when he stepped down from President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council when the president praised “both sides” after white supremacist mobs turned violent against counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
While Frazier was rewarded with a hostile and demeaning tweet from the president, the mass exodus of CEOs that followed him away from the council quickly led the president to disband it.
Frazier’s predecessor at Merck, Roy Vagelos, defended him after his resignation from the council. Vagelos has known Frazier for a quarter-century, and in fact recruited him to join Merck. He said that Frazier is known for making consistently thoughtful and ethical decisions.
A trailblazer for African Americans
Kenneth Frazier was born in Philadelphia in 1954. His mother passed away when he was only 12, and he and his siblings were raised by their father, a custodian who possessed a third-grade education. Frazier’s paternal grandfather was born into slavery.
Kenneth Frazier earned his high school diploma at the age of 15, and found himself too young to be accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Instead, he matriculated at Pennsylvania State University and graduated in the year that he turned 21.
He went on to earn his JD from Harvard Law School and entered private practice with the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath. He became one of the firm’s first African American partners and was mentored by its first-ever African American partner. In 1992, Frazier left the firm to serve as in-house attorney for Merck, one of the firm’s flagship clients. He accepted the position of chairman and CEO of the company in 2011, becoming the first African American CEO of a Big Pharma firm.
Remembering his roots
While most of Frazier’s work has been in the corporate arena, he has undertaken notable pro bono work. In 1991, a friend at the Death Penalty Representation Project requested his help in representing James “Bo” Cochran, an African American man who was on death row in Alabama for killing a grocery store manager. No one else wanted the case, but Frazier took it.
Frazier’s work resulted in Cochran’s conviction being overturned in 1995. In a new trial two years later, Cochran was found not guilty. Frazier discovered evidence that pointed to an accidental police shooting and later a cover-up, and that Cochran had originally been denied access to effective counsel and a fair jury.
In 2011, Frazier entered the national spotlight when, as a member of Penn State’s board of trustees, he was chosen to lead the commission charged with investigating Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach accused of child sexual abuse. Frazier supported his alma mater in its controversial decision to fire nationally popular head coach Joe Paterno, and helped steer the board through the public fallout.
He took on the job of leading the Sandusky investigation at the same time that he assumed the top role at Merck out of loyalty to his alma mater, an institution that he credits with providing him with the education that enabled him to reach his goals.