Executive Management

DG Macpherson was named Chairman in October 2017 and Chief Executive Officer and appointed to the Board of Directors in October 2016. He served as Chief Operating Officer for Grainger from August 2015 through September 2016.

Prior to these roles, DG 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 endless assortment business model and international operations in Asia and Europe. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and President, Global Supply Chain and Corporate Strategy.

DG 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, DG 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.

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

Kathleen Carroll was named Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) in December 2018. Her responsibilities include aligning and implementing talent and workplace strategies across the enterprise that support a high-performance culture and strengthen the company’s brand as an employer of choice.

Kathleen has more than 25 years of experience in leading human resources and organizational strategies to drive business results. Her expertise encompasses end‑to‑end talent acquisition, learning and development, employment branding, succession planning, compensation and benefits, diversity and inclusion, and related metrics and analytics.

Prior to Grainger, Kathleen was with First Midwest Bank, where she served as Executive Vice President and CHRO. 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. Kathleen also had management positions with Sprint and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she began her career in consulting and accounting.

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 is also a board member of Leadership Greater Chicago and the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation.

Barry Greenhouse was named Senior Vice President and President, Global Supply Chain and Customer Experience, in November 2019. He is responsible for overseeing distribution center (DC) operations, transportation, inventory planning, and supplier performance management for North America, branch and customer service centers in the United States and Canada, and network strategy, capacity planning and management, and warehouse management systems application support.

Barry joined Grainger in 2004 as an Operations Manager at the Los Angeles DC. In 2005, he relocated to the Northeast to lead the New Jersey DC and in 2008, driven by the continued growth in the DC network, transitioned to the role of Director, DC Space Management Systems and Processes. Barry oversaw the 1.2M square feet expansion of the Greenville DC and construction of new DCs in San Francisco, New Jersey, Chicago, Louisville, and Toronto representing more than 5.0M square feet. Under his leadership, the DC network made investments in both enhanced software applications and higher levels of automation. Over the past ten years, he has taken on increasing responsibility, including leadership of the network design, transportation, and Canadian supply chain organizations.

Prior to joining Grainger, Barry spent seven years in the distribution industry at McMaster-Carr and Webvan in operations, sales, marketing, and project management.

Barry holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and an MBA, both from the University of California, Los Angeles.

John L. Howard joined Grainger and was named Senior Vice President and General Counsel in January 2000. His responsibilities include 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.

Deidra C. Merriwether is Senior Vice President and President, North American Sales and Services. In this role, she is responsible for North American sales, solutions and customer-engagement strategies. Under her leadership, Grainger Sales and Services professionals are focused on deepening customer relationships by providing high-impact and value-added solutions, enabling customers to achieve their business goals.

Deidra is an accomplished business leader with broad general management and financial experience, focused on delivering customer results. She transformed businesses for half her career at Sears Holdings, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Eli Lilly, and is known for ensuring top quartile performance.

At Grainger, Deidra was named Senior Vice President, Direct Sales and Strategic Initiatives in September 2017. In this role she led the U.S. sales team, pricing strategy and gross margin optimization. She also successfully updated Grainger’s pricing strategy, and reinvigorated our relationship with large and medium customers, ensuring the company’s ability to drive above market share gains in the U.S.

Previously, Deidra was 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 Grainger’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 the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Thomas B. Okray was named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in April 2018. His responsibilities include accounting and financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, financial shared services, internal audit, investor relations and treasury operations.

Tom joined Grainger from Advanced Auto Parts, where he served as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that role, he held positions at Amazon, culminating in the role of Vice President of Finance, Global Customer Fulfillment.

For more than 20 years, Tom grew his career with General Motors, where he held positions of increasing responsibility within the United States and internationally, including serving 15 years abroad. At General Motors, he achieved the role of Chief Financial Officer, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. Early in his career, Tom was a design and development engineer for Exxon.

Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Paige Robbins is Grainger’s Senior Vice President, Chief Technology, Merchandising, Marketing and Strategy Officer. She has responsibility for building, merchandising, marketing and delivering MRO and technology solutions for Grainger’s customers and team members. Her teams include the Grainger Technology Group including Grainger.com (eleventh largest eCommerce site in North America ranked by Internet Retailer); marketing; merchandising and supplier management; customer and corporate strategy, analytics and customer insight teams.

Most recently Paige was Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Branch Network, Contact Centers and Corporate Strategy. In this role she had responsibility for all aspects of the customer experience from order to delivery. Her responsibilities included managing the company’s distribution centers, branch network, contact 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 of Logistics Management.

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

Paige received both her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Stanford University in Industrial Engineering. Ms. Robbins also earned an MBA from Harvard University.

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, United Kingdom and Europe – as well as continuing his role as President and CEO of MonotaRO in Japan.

In 2000, Mr. Suzuki joined MonotaRO as part of a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation and W. W. Grainger, Inc. In 2012, Mr. Suzuki 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, China and Indonesia.

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