Amgen promotes two senior executives: names Brian McNamee executive vice president and Stuart Tross senior vice president

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced the promotion of two senior executives, Brian McNamee to executive vice president and Stuart Tross to senior vice president, effective November 1.

McNamee will be responsible for leading a series of multi-year initiatives aimed at delivering growth and increasing productivity and agility by transforming Amgen’s operational capabilities and improving its ability to serve patients globally. McNamee will continue to report directly to Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer.

McNamee joined Amgen in 2001 and has served as senior vice president of human resources for the past 12 years, during which time Amgen grew from a company with $3.5 billion in sales with 7,500 staff in 22 countries, to the current enterprise with over $18 billion in sales and 20,000 global staff soon to be delivering medicines in over 100 countries.

McNamee brings over 25 years of management experience to his new role. Prior to joining Amgen, he spent 12 years with General Electric (GE) in increasingly responsible positions across a variety of GE businesses and geographies. During his GE tenure he was involved in the launch of multiple transformational programs, including the deployment of WorkOut, the Change Acceleration Program. In 1999, he led the launch of six sigma in Asia for GE’s largest global business.

McNamee received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University and received his master’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University.

Brian McNamee is an outstanding choice to lead work building the capabilities that Amgen requires to capitalize on the opportunities we have created through our strategic advances,” said Bradway. “Brian has been a tireless advocate in building the talent base at Amgen, even as he has served as a trusted business counselor to me and our entire senior leadership team.

Tross will be responsible for Amgen’s global human resources activities, succeeding McNamee in this role. He will also report directly to Bradway.

Tross joined Amgen in 2006 and most recently served as vice president of human resources for Amgen’s research and development group. Prior to that, he was vice president of human resources for the office of the chief operating officer and earlier, served in the same capacity for the global commercial operations unit.

Prior to joining Amgen, Tross was with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in positions of increasing responsibility, including serving as vice president of global human resources for Mead Johnson Nutrition. Earlier in his career, Stuart was a management consultant for Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson).

Tross has earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in organizational psychology from Georgia Tech, and an M.A. in counseling psychology from Spalding University. He holds his B.S. degree from Cornell University.

Bradway said, “I am delighted to have Stuart Tross leading human resources for Amgen. His experience and leadership will be critical for Amgen as we create an organization that is positioned to drive future growth.”