Caren Merrick

Caren DeWitt Merrick is an American entrepreneur who co-founded webMethods with her husband Phillip Merrick in 1996.webMethods is the most successful software IPO to date, with the fourth most successful debut on the NASDAQ.Caren and Phillip also founded the webMethods Foundation in 2001, the year of their IPO, a private family foundation named after their successful company.The purpose of the foundation was to help lower income families, primarily in the area of education. One of the foundation's first grants was to Venture Philanthropy Partners.

In October 2012, Merrick was appointed to the board of The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority by the Governor of Virginia. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority manages and operates Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, which together serve more than 40 million passengers a year. The Airports Authority also operates and maintains the Dulles Airport Access Road and the Dulles Toll Road and manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail system into Loudoun County, Va. The Airports Authority is led by a 17-member board of directors, appointed by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the president of the United States, and generates more than 387,000 jobs and 4.5 percent of GDP in the National Capital Region.

In 2010, Merrick served as a member of Governor Bob McDonnell’s bipartisan Economic Development and Jobs Creation Commission. She worked with a diverse group of business, education, workforce development and government leaders from across Virginia. The Governor’s Jobs Commission was tasked with coming up with a common-sense, job growth agenda that will help businesses of all sizes create jobs, thrive and succeed in Virginia.

Merrick ran as the Republican candidate for state Senate in Virginia's 31st Senate District in the 2011 elections.She lost to Barbara Favola.

Caren Merrick is married to Phillip Merrick and has two sons. She currently lives in McLean, Virginia.