Executive Management

D.G. Macpherson is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc.

From 2015 to 2016, D.G. served as Grainger’s Chief Operating Officer, and prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Group President, Global Supply Chain and International, where he led the development of corporate strategy and continuous improvement, the global supply chain organization, the company’s single channel online business model and international operations in Asia and Europe.

D.G. joined Grainger in 2008 from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where, from 2002-2008, he was Partner and Managing Director. In that capacity, he served as a consultant to Grainger on a number of strategic and operational efforts including availability improvement, pricing strategy, product line expansion and sales force effectiveness.

At BCG, D.G. was a member of the Industrial Goods Leadership Team with strong experience in production systems and continuous improvement methodologies. Early in his career, he was an operations manager for Rain Bird Sprinkler Manufacturing Company and a test engineer with the U.S. Air Force.

D.G. holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

D.G. serves on the Museum of Science and Industry Board of Trustees and in 2021, he was appointed to the International Paper Company Board of Directors.

Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz was named Grainger’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer in January 2023. She oversees the company's legal and corporate environment, health and safety and corporate security teams.

Nancy is an accomplished leader with extensive legal, ethics and compliance experience and leadership in the Army. Berardinelli-Krantz joins Grainger from Eaton Corporation, where she was Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Legal Officer. Most recently, she was Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Legal Officer and oversaw a global team of attorneys and legal professionals. Prior to Eaton, Nancy served in senior leadership positions at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and worked for the international law firm of Jones Day. She is also a Veteran of the United States Army, Judge Advocate General's Corps, where she served as a trial attorney in Fort Hood, Texas, and for the Contract Appeals Division in Washington, D.C. She also served as a trial defense counsel in Baghdad, Iraq.

Nancy earned a bachelor's degree in political science from John Carroll University, and a juris doctorate, magna cum laude, from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

She currently serves on the board of trustees for the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, and as a board member for The Command Purpose Foundation, an organization serving the next generation of veteran leaders to bridge the gap between military and civilian life.

Kathleen Carroll is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc. She is responsible for global human resources strategies and operations, communications and corporate responsibility that enable the company’s business goals, support a high-performance culture and strengthen the company’s brand as an employer of choice. During Kathleen’s time at Grainger, the company has been recognized for multiple awards including Fortune Best Companies to Work For, Best Workplaces for Women and Best Workplaces in Chicago.

Before joining Grainger in 2018, Kathleen was Executive Vice President and CHRO at First Midwest Bank. Prior to that, she held a number of leadership positions with Aon Corporation, which included Global Head of Talent Acquisition and HR Lead for Mergers and Acquisitions. She also held leadership roles in Corporate Development and Strategy where she led strategic initiatives, acquisitions and divestitures. She served as the overall project leader for the creation and development of Aon Hewitt’s Corporate Health Care Exchange business and played a central role in the Aon/Hewitt merger integration.

Kathleen brings 30 years of experience with a unique combination of deep finance and accounting expertise with human resources leadership. She has held finance, HR and strategy roles at companies specializing in consulting, e-commerce, financial services, private equity, supply chain, and telecommunications. Kathleen has a proven track record driving profitable growth and designing environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies related to executive compensation, ethics, governance, sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion

Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Missouri and received a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She currently serves on the boards of directors for the International Women’s Forum and Leadership Greater Chicago, where she serves on the Executive Committee.

For more information, visit invest.grainger.com.

Barry Greenhouse is the Senior Vice President and President, Global Supply Chain and Customer Experience of W.W. Grainger, Inc. He is responsible for all aspects of the customer experience from order to delivery, as well as the overall design and capabilities for Grainger’s industry-leading fulfillment network. This includes the North American distribution centers (DC), customer service centers and U.S. and Canadian Branch Network, as well transportation, inventory planning and investment, and supplier performance management.

Since joining Grainger in 2004, Barry has held several roles of progressive responsibility in the supply chain organization. He was promoted to his current role in November 2019. The distribution network Barry manages is highly automated and geographically dispersed, providing next-day service to customers in 99 percent of U.S. postal codes and shipping around 145,000 orders a day. Barry’s leadership was instrumental during Grainger’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring continuity in supply chain operations as an essential business providing critical products to help customers maintain a safe, healthy and productive work environment. He started his Grainger career as an Operations Manager at the Los Angeles Distribution Center in Mira Loma, Calif.

Prior to joining Grainger, Barry held roles in operations, sales, marketing, and project management at McMaster-Carr and Webvan. Barry holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and an MBA, both from the University of California, Los Angeles.

He currently serves on the board of trustees for Grainger-affiliated MonotaRO, a Japan-based leading eCommerce direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products. He also serves on the advisory board of the Marquette Center for Supply Chain Management and the board of FIRST Illinois Robotics, which designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Recently he was appointed to the board of Erika’s Lighthouse, an organization dedicated to the prevention, early identification and early intervention of youth mental health issues,

For more information, visit invest.grainger.com.

John L. Howard currently serves as Senior Vice President on the Grainger Leadership Team. From January 2000 – January 2023, John served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, overseeing all of the company’s legal and corporate environment, health and safety and corporate security functions.

Before joining Grainger, John served as Vice President and General Counsel for Tenneco Automotive, a subsidiary of Tenneco, Inc. Prior assignments included Vice President, Law, and Assistant General Counsel at Tenneco. From 1990 to 1993, John served in The White House as counsel to the Vice President of the United States. From 1984 to 1990, he held a variety of legal positions within the federal government, including Associate Deputy Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice.

John earned his bachelor’s degree in finance, with honors, from the Indiana University School of Business in 1979. He earned his JD from Indiana University in 1982. In 1989, he received his LL.M. from George Washington University, graduating with highest honors. John completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 2003.

John is a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the boards of 1871 Chicago, Rush University Medical Center and The Grainger Foundation. In February 2002, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a five-year term as Chairman, Special Panel on Appeals. He also has served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Seventh District Advisory Council and as Vice Chairman of the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Jonny LeRoy is the Chief Technology Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc. He is responsible for the technology systems, security and operations that underpin Grainger’s business model

Jonny joined Grainger in 2020 after a 15-year career at ThoughtWorks, where as Head of Technology for North America, he led their technology organization, growing new offerings and capabilities, while also helping to progress their talent, culture and delivery expertise. In prior roles at ThoughtWorks, Jonny served as Market Tech Principal for the West Coast and Lead Developer in the U.S. and UK. Earlier in his career, Jonny was a founder and CTO of a successful UK start-up.

Jonny holds CPE from Westminster University, and a MA, Literae Humaniores from the University of Oxford. Jonny is a 2022 Daniel Burnham Fellow with Leadership Greater Chicago, is on the governing body of the Evanta Chicago CIO community and is an active member of the Inspire ChicagoCIO Leadership Network. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Computing.

Deidra (Dee) Merriwether is the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc. 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, operations in the U.K. (Cromwell) and real estate functions.

Before becoming CFO in 2021, Deidra served as Senior Vice President and President, North American Sales and Services, responsible for sales, inventory management solutions, and customer engagement strategies in Canada, Latin America and the United States. 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, leading financial planning and analysis for Canada, Latin America and the United States. In this role, she launched the Grainger Procurement Company and led efforts to expand operating margins through improved expense leverage.

Deidra is an accomplished leader with more than two decades of broad management, operations and financial experience. She started her career as an engineer and production leader at Eli Lilly and gained valuable accounting and M&A experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She held both general management and financial roles of increasing responsibility at Sears Holdings, departing as Chief Operating Officer in 2013. Over her career, she is known for delivering customer results and consistent top quartile performance.

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’s Kellogg School of Management.

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.

For more information, visit invest.grainger.com.

Paige Robbins is Senior Vice President and President, Grainger Business Unit for W.W. Grainger Inc. She oversees Grainger’s integrated commercial function, which includes sales, customer solutions, marketing, customer strategy, merchandising and supplier management. Paige is also responsible for Grainger’s Canadian and Latin American operations.

Before assuming her current role in 2021, Paige served as Grainger’s Senior Vice President, and Chief Technology, Merchandising, Marketing and Strategy Officer, where she held responsibility for developing strategy and building MRO and technology solutions for customers and team members. Her teams included the Grainger Technology Group, as well as marketing, merchandising, supplier management, customer and corporate strategy, analytics and customer insights.

Earlier in her Grainger career, Paige served as Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Branch Network, Customer Service Centers and Corporate Strategy, where she was responsible for all aspects of the customer experience, from order to delivery. This included managing the company’s distribution centers, branch network, customer service centers, inventory investment, transportation network, the overall design and capabilities of the fulfillment network and Grainger’s corporate strategy, analytics and customer insight teams. Paige joined Grainger in September 2010 as Vice President, Logistics Management.

Prior to Grainger, Paige served as Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she specialized in industrial companies. She helped her clients with a broad range of issues, including growth, customer segmentation, pricing, profit improvement, supply chain and merger and acquisition strategies.

Paige received bachelor of science and master of science degrees in industrial engineering from Stanford University, before earning an MBA from Harvard University. She is a fellow of the CEO Perspectives program at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Masaya Suzuki was named Managing Director, Endless Assortment Business in January 2020. His responsibilities include overseeing Grainger’s entire endless assortment portfolio, which includes Zoro in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as continuing his role as President and CEO of MonotaRO in Japan.

In 2000, Masaya joined MonotaRO as part of a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation and W. W. Grainger, Inc. In 2012, he was named President and CEO of MonotaRO. He has since led the company to achieve substantial revenue growth, expand its product offerings and launch new businesses in South Korea, Indonesia and India.

As part of the Grainger and Endless Assortment Leadership Teams, Masaya continues to focus on product expansion, acquiring more customers, and driving more independence for Grainger’s Zoro operations.

Brian Walker is the Chief Product Officer of W.W. Grainger, Inc. In this role, Brian leads the prioritization of Grainger’s technology investments including Grainger’s digital platforms, mobile solutions and the industry leading Grainger.com.

Brian has held many roles of increasing responsibility at Grainger. Most recently, Brian served in technology innovation capacities including Vice President, Digital Architecture and Operations and President of Gamut.com. Prior to that, while headquartered in London, England, he served as Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Grainger’s Online Business with operations in Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Brian has also led teams responsible for corporate strategy, merchandising and pricing for the Grainger U.S. Business. He joined Grainger in September 2006 as Purchasing Manager.

Prior to joining Grainger, Brian led teams in warehousing, logistics, supply chain and sales operations at McMaster-Carr Supply Company.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in Applied Statistics from DePaul University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Brian serves on the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Board Chair Executive Council and is on the Board of Advisors for IIT’s Institute of Design. He has served as a founding board member for Wesleyan’s Quantitative Analysis Center and is a current member of Wesleyan’s President’s Council. Brian also is a Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University for their CIO and CDigitalO programs.

For more information, visit invest.grainger.com.