This just turned up, in the "Goofy Deal Goggles" bin, as a rainy Friday morning unfolds. So, we once again take a quick look at the various legacy Schering-Plough executives (at least six, at last count) who've followed Fast Fred in one role or another -- over to the pre-IPO Bausch + Lomb C Suite -- to take one more ride on one of Fred's gilded Gulf-Streams.
Thanks entirely to our alert commenters -- we have one more confirmed -- and one more rumored. First, the facts: Merck has lost its VP of IR, Alex Kelly, who will join Fred, as his B + L Investor Relations maven (in much the same role he held at Pharmacia and Upjohn, and then at Schering-Plough, making him a triple bagger Fred follower):
. . . .Bausch + Lomb, the global eye health company, today announced that Alex Kelly has joined the company as vice president, Investor Relations, reporting to the company's president and chief financial officer, Bob Bertolini [also a Schering-Plough alum]. In this capacity, Kelly will serve as the primary point of contact for the investment community. . . .
Kelly joins us from Merck & Co., where he served most recently as vice president, Investor Relations. Prior to Merck, he was group vice president of Global Communications and Investor Relations at Schering-Plough. Earlier in his career, Kelly held senior Investor Relations roles with Novartis and Pharmacia & Upjohn. . . .
It will surprise me if Carrie Cox returns to the Fast Fred Fold -- given her other public company duties. [That is, I think she has a safer path ahead, if she stays put -- she'd at least arguably have to surrender her seat on the board of directors of Cardinal Health, a distributor of competing products, if she were head of pharmacy sales for B + L. She also sits on Celgene's board, and the board of Texas Instruments. Each of these public boards offer stable, safe income, and equity -- that is liquid. She is, in addition, CEO of a private company called Humacyte, at the moment -- lots of equity and cash there, as well.] Even so, Fred does have a way of platinum-plating his job offers -- to those most loyal to his causes. So -- it could be. It might be. But it is mere rumor, at this point.
Does anyone out there have a definitive piece of evidence on this? Do share.
