James Kugler is the CEO of EMD Digital at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a role he has held since 2019. In this capacity, he is dedicated to making science faster. He also serves as an EVP at Athinia, a position he has held since 2021, and as Chief Digital Officer at Merck Group since 2016.

Kugler's leadership extends to board service as a Director at Syntropy, a role he began in 2018. Prior to his current positions, he spent seven years and eight months at Sigma-Aldrich.