Mark Merritt is President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs drive prescription drug costs lower for more than 200 million Americans and manage about 70 percent of the more than three billion prescriptions dispensed in the United States each year.
Mr. Merritt took the helm of PCMA in March 2003 and quickly raised the industry’s profile in Washington. National Journal noted that a “new player has appeared on the field among the associations in Washington’s health care lobbying game” and named Mr. Merritt one of the most influential players in the Medicare prescription drug debate. Mr. Merritt is also repeatedly ranked as one of the most effective trade association CEOs in America by The Hill newspaper in Washington, DC.
Mr. Merritt is credited with designing and implementing innovative, campaign-focused strategies that go beyond traditional Washington-style lobbying campaigns. Mr. Merritt has pioneered strategies that reach beyond the boundaries of Washington politics to communicate more effectively with diverse constituencies from Wall Street to Main Street and even Hollywood.
Mr. Merritt has served as a senior strategist with America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) as well as with the presidential campaigns of current U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and former Senator Robert Dole. Mr. Merritt has also served as a Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he lectured on the intersection of public policy and the news media.
He holds both an MA and BA from Georgetown University. He and his wife Jayne have four children.