Tony O’Donnell is Vice President – Tax for EMD Holding, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Merck KGaA is a 350 year old company employing 50,000 people worldwide and focusing its activities in three business sectors which are known in the United States as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials. EMD Serono is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on providing therapies to treat diseases in oncology, multiple sclerosis, infertility and endocrinology disorders. MilliporeSigma is a top 3 global Life Sciences business which provides the tools and materials necessary to perform research and achieve a broad range of biotechnological advancements. EMD Performance Materials makes and sells specialty materials for use in a wide range of applications from liquid crystals to advanced electronics to pigments.
Tony has been with the company since 2008 and is based in the Boston area. He is responsible for all manner of tax issues ranging from global M&A and licensing transactions to local property incentives. Prior to 2008, Tony worked at several US headquartered pharmaceutical companies based in New Jersey handling a broad range of tax matters, with principal focus on transactional, transfer pricing and audit and controversy matters.
Tony started his career as an Attorney Advisor to Hon. James Halpern, US Tax Court and then as a Tax Associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington DC. Tony received a B.A. in History from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, where he was an editor of the GW Law Review.
Tony lives in Needham, Massachusetts and is married with three boys.