Jeffrey Whitford Named a CSR/ESG Professional of the Year in Ragan & PR Daily's Communicators of the Year Awards
Jeffrey Whitford, head of sustainability and social business innovation at the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, was named a CSR/ESG Professional of the Year in Ragan and PR Daily’s Communicators of the Year Awards. The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada.
The CSR/ESG Professional of the Year award recognizes Jeffrey’s contributions to providing customers with the tools and data necessary to make informed sustainable choices. Unlike most companies, which focus on in-house efforts, Jeffrey and his team helped reduce the Life Science business’ ecological impact through its products while simultaneously driving business.
Across a business with more than 26,000 employees located in over 55 manufacturing and testing sites worldwide, 300,000-plus products and about $7 billion in sales, he is responsible for developing and implementing strategic programs in green chemistry, product recycling, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility.
Among his many accomplishments, Jeffrey leads a team that has been instrumental in bringing nearly 2,000 greener products and services to market and spearheading the efforts for the first-in-class USDA Certified bio-preferred solvents portfolio. The team also launched Cyrene™, which eliminates petroleum-based sources as a feedstock. This bio-based solvent has a carbon footprint nearly five times lower than materials it can replace.
His work, and team-based approach, has also led to several other accolades for the company’s groundbreaking work in sustainability and CSR.
Jeffery earned his bachelor’s in journalism and strategic communications from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and his master’s in business administration at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a board member of MyGreenLab and has previously served on the board of the International Institute in St. Louis and the St. Louis chapter of JDRF.
Learn more about Jeffrey in his Ragan & PR Daily honoree profile. You can also visit the sustainability and social business innovation webpage to see how the company takes an active role in shaping the future through its products and technologies, enabling brilliant people to solve global challenges.
