Meet 2023 Hall of Fame Honoree Rita Karachun, Senior Vice President Finance - Global Controller Merck & Co. Inc.

As Global Controller, Rita is responsible for all accounting and reporting aspects for Merck.
In this role, Rita has oversight responsibility for all accounting at Merck including developing accounting policies for Merck, the interpretation of those policies for specific transactions and the consolidation of Merck’s results. Rita also oversees Merck’s external reporting, the accounting for business development activity, managing the financial supply chain of intercompany sales transactions as well as the accounting and reporting associated with collaborations.
Rita joined Merck in 2007 as an Assistant Controller for Schering-Plough and continued as Assistant Controller for Merck after the merger between Schering-Plough and Merck in 2009. In these roles, Rita led the integration of Schering-Plough’s acquisition of OBS, a Netherlands-based company and also led the implementation of a global consolidation system.
Before joining Schering-Plough, Rita worked at AT&T Corp. and it’s leasing subsidiary, AT&T Capital, for 16 years. Her last position with AT&T was Assistant Controller and Chief Accountant. Rita held a variety of roles at AT&T of increasing responsibility, including investor relations manager and controller of corporate units. Prior to AT&T, Rita was a senior at Arthur Andersen & Co.,
Rita is a member of the Board of Directors for JBWS, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is the prevention of domestic violence through the protection and empowerment of the victim, the rehabilitation of family members, the advocacy for social reform to prevent partner violence, and the education of the public about domestic violence and its consequences. Rita is also a member of Financial Executive International’s (FEI) committee on corporate reporting and an advisory member to the AICPA’s future of finance initiative.
Rita is a certified public accountant and a chartered global management accountant, earning a B.S. degree in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University, graduating Summa Cum Laude.