Deidra Merriwether

Deidra C. Merriwether was named Grainger’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in January 2021. She oversees the company’s financial activities, including controllership, treasury, financial analysis, investor relations, internal audit, tax and financial operations. She is also responsible for Grainger’s corporate strategy, analytics, and real estate functions. Deidra is an accomplished business leader with broad general management, operations and financial experience, focused on delivering customer results. She led transformations at Sears Holdings, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Eli Lilly, and is known for delivering consistent top quartile performance. At Grainger, Deidra previously served as Senior Vice President and President, North American Sales and Services. In this role, she was responsible for sales, inventory management solutions, and customer engagement strategies in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. She also served as Senior Vice President, Direct Sales and Strategic Initiatives, leading the U.S. sales team, pricing strategy and gross margin optimization. In 2017, Deidra developed and launched Grainger’s new pricing strategy, reinvigorating the company’s relationships with large and medium customers. Deidra joined Grainger in 2013, as Vice President, Finance, Americas, where she led financial planning and analysis supporting the U.S., Canadian and Latin American businesses. In this role, she launched the Grainger Procurement Company and led the company’s efforts to expand operating margins through improved expense leverage. Deidra earned an MBA in Finance and Operations Management from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. She is also a graduate of the Executive Accounting Program at the University of Texas and a fellow of the CEO Perspectives program at Northwestern and Kellogg Schools of business. Deidra currently serves on the board of directors of Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest timberlands operators, as well as the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. W.W. Grainger, Inc., with 2021 sales of $13.0 billion, is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. Grainger achieves its purpose, We Keep the World Working®, by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with a wide range of product categories that keep customer operations running and their people safe. The Company also delivers services and solutions, such as technical support and inventory management, to provide tangible value and save customers time and money. Grainger offers more than 2 million maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products in its High-Touch Solutions assortment and more than 30 million products through its expanding Endless Assortment offering. For more information about the company, please visit www.grainger.com/pressroom.