Leigh Shultz

Executive Director, Business and Commercial Excellence

When her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, Leigh Shultz chose to become a scientist to help find new treatments to give people more time with their loved ones. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Florida and PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

After completing her studies, Leigh felt that Merck was the perfect place to contribute to innovation for patients while continuing her passion for learning, starting as a bench scientist working on formulations and contributing to the development of a key diabetes medication. With more than 24 years at Merck, Leigh is a seasoned leader in global healthcare operations, having held diverse roles in R&D project management, operational leadership, and crisis response. More recently she was overseeing commercial trade channel strategy across the company’s international markets while also earning her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was part of Merck’s senior executive crisis team. She is currently leading the Business & Commercial Excellence business unit at Merck Canada. As such, she and her team work on enhancing customer relationship and engagement, driving innovative local and global solutions, and enabling the company’s strategic vision through optimized processes and compliance.

Leigh loves to learn outside of work as well and translates this to a love of travel and reading. She blends this with trying new restaurants and coffee shops while returning to old favorites and enjoys sharing all of these with her two sons.