Celeste Warren
Vice President Human Resources Manufacturing Division and Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence, Merck & Co.
See Celeste on the 2016 WOTY Red Carpet
Celeste Warren is Vice President, Human Resources for Merck's Manufacturing Division & Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence. In this dual role, she has responsibility for the strategic and operational Human Resources support of Merck's global Manufacturing Division which operates worldwide, with ~17,000 employees working to form an integrated, interdependent network to supply Merck products to customers in 140 countries.
As the leader for Merck’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence, she is responsible for working with Merck’s global leaders to advance and embed diversity management as a strategic approach to maximize business performance and create a competitive advantage.
Ms. Warren joined Merck in 1997 and has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility within its Human Resources organization. Most recently, in addition to her role as Vice President Human Resources of Merck’s Manufacturing Division, she was also the leader of Merck’s Global Labor Relations and US Employee Relations Center of Excellence from 2011 through 2014.
From 2009 to 2011, she was Human Resources Leader for Merck's Vaccines organizations. In this role, she led efforts to forge alliances and end to end processes between the Vaccine Research, Vaccine Manufacturing and Vaccine Commercial organizations. She worked directly with the leaders to manage the critical linkages between basic research, late-stage development and manufacturing to expand Merck's vaccine offerings throughout the world.
During her tenure at Merck, Ms. Warren has supported various businesses and corporate staff functions and has held positions of increasing responsibility.
Prior to joining Merck in 1997, Celeste worked for nine years in Human Resources at Kraft Foods, Inc. and General Foods and held several positions of increasing responsibility including such roles as Training & Development Leader, Diversity leader, Labor Relations Director and Human Resources Leader for several organizations within Kraft and General Foods.
She is a member of several associations including the 2012 Harvard Women's Leadership Board, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Association for Female Executives, the National Association of Professional Women and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources.
She has been honored with many awards, including the Black Achievers in Industry award, the Tribute to Women in Industry Award” (TWIN award), Merck's Most Amazing Women Award and named one of the National Diversity Council’s “Most Powerful and Influential Women of Pennsylvania.”
Celeste attended the University of Kentucky where she earned her B.S. degree in Telecommunications. She received her Masters Degree in Human Resources Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
She is the wife of John Warren and the mother of two children, Christina-Celeste (14) and John Steven, Jr. (12).
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