Our leadership

Thomas Pike is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fortrea (Nasdaq: FTRE). He has served in this position since Fortrea’s launch as an independent company in July 2023. Tom joined the organization as President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2023 during Fortrea’s spinoff from its parent company, Labcorp (NYSE: LH).

Tom has more than 30 years of leadership experience in global services industries, most notably in the contract research organization (CRO) industry, working with pharmaceutical, biotech, hospitals and sites on a global basis. Prior to joining Labcorp, he co-founded, advised and served as a director for several healthcare and technology services companies. Previously, Tom served as CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Quintiles Transnational Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: Q), a leading fully integrated biopharmaceutical services company, from April 2012 until its merger with IMS Health in 2016 to create IQVIA (NYSE: IQV). He led Quintiles through its successful IPO, which was one of the year’s 10 largest U.S. offerings, and helped it grow into a Fortune 500 company. Under Tom’s stewardship, Quintiles was first recognized as a World’s Most Admired Company by Fortune in 2015 and was named a 2016 World’s Most Ethical Company. He retired in 2016 as Vice Chairman of the merged Quintiles and IMS.

Prior to Quintiles, Tom spent 22 years at Accenture (NYSE: ACN), a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations, until 2009. At Accenture, his roles included Chief Risk Officer and Managing Director of the North America Health and Products business areas. Previously, Tom was the global Chief Operating Officer for Accenture’s Resources operating group and had also served as Accenture’s Chief Strategy Officer. After leaving Accenture in 2009 and until joining Quintiles in 2012, he was involved with a number of start-ups in the technology and healthcare sectors. Early in his career, Tom was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Tom earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Delaware. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) having served since 2019.

Jill Gicking McConnell is the Chief Financial Officer of Fortrea (Nasdaq: FTRE). She has served in this position since Fortrea’s launch as an independent company in July 2023 following its spinoff from Labcorp (NYSE: LH). 

Jill has more than 25 years of financial leadership in healthcare, driving growth and margin expansion as well as delivering global change and transformation projects while working in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. Jill joined Labcorp as Chief Financial Officer of Labcorp Drug Development in 2018 until assuming the role at Fortrea. She most recently led the project that executed the spinoff of Fortrea from Labcorp. Previously, Jill held increasingly senior financial roles at GSK (LSE/NYSE: GSK), spanning the pharmaceutical lifecycle over almost 19 years. Her most recent position at GSK was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture between GSK, Pfizer and Shionogi. Prior to GSK, Jill qualified as a Certified Public Accountant, primarily with PwC. 

Jill has an MBA in Health and Medical Services Administration from Saint Joseph’s University and two bachelor’s degrees in Management and French from Gettysburg College. In addition to financial leadership, Jill is committed to employee engagement and has served as executive sponsor to several employee resource groups, both at Labcorp and GSK. In 2023, Jill was named as a Luminary by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.

Mark Morais has served as Fortrea’s Chief Operations Officer and President, Clinical Development since May 2023. In this role, he is responsible for the strategy and delivery of Fortrea’s clinical operations inclusive of its full-service CRO, functional service provider offerings and therapeutic expansion. 

Mark brings more than two decades of experience in the CRO industry, including a successful track record in operational optimization and commercial development. Working closely with clients, he has helped shape the design of strategic alliances and preferred-provider relationships. Mark held a number of leadership positions at Labcorp Drug Development, prior to Fortrea’s spinoff from Labcorp. He served as President of Clinical Operations and Commercial Services from 2020 to 2023. Previous roles included Senior Vice President of Strategic Deal Development and Alliance Management, and Vice President of Strategic Deal Development and Pricing. Prior to joining Labcorp Drug Development, Mark served at Quintiles/IQVIA from 2001 to 2016, where he held global leadership positions in both Commercial Development and Clinical Operations. 

Mark received his bachelor's degree in Economics from North Carolina State University and has served multiple terms in on the Poole College of Management advisory board.

Oren Cohen, MD, is President of Clinical Pharmacology and Chief Medical Officer, partnering with biopharmaceutical companies to optimize early clinical development through excellence in study design and execution. He has served in this position since Fortrea’s launch as an independent company in July 2023 following its spinoff from Labcorp.

Following a decade of translational research at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the mentorship of Anthony Fauci, MD, Oren has more than 20 years of experience in various medical and scientific executive leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Oren served as Chief Medical Officer and head of Clinical Pharmacology Services at Labcorp Drug Development since 2017. Prior to Labcorp, he was Chief Medical Officer at Viamet Pharmaceuticals, where he worked closely with clinical investigators and key opinion leaders to formulate and execute clinical development programs across a portfolio, developing and executing strategy and protocol designs. Previously, he held several senior medical and operational leadership positions at Quintiles, now part of IQVIA.

Oren received his MD from Duke University and served his internship and residency at The New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center in New York City. He completed his infectious diseases fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and stayed on to become an investigator in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. Oren is also Consulting Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, a member of the Board of Visitors for Duke University School of Medicine and a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. His research has been published in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Cassandra Strickland Kennedy has served as Chief Quality, Regulatory Affairs, and Sustainability Officer since May 2023 with oversight of Global Regulatory Compliance, Quality Assurance and Environmental, Social and Governance at Fortrea. 

Sandy brings more than three decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience, with a long track record of success in leadership positions within the pharmaceutical and CRO environments. She served as Senior Vice President of Global Regulatory Compliance & Quality Assurance at Labcorp Drug Development from 2018 to 2023, prior to Fortrea’s spinoff from Labcorp. Previously, Sandy was Senior Vice President, Global Compliance & Quality with Quintiles, now part of IQVIA, where she was employed for 20 years. In this position, she was a member of the Enterprise Compliance Office and the Compliance Management Committee of Quintiles. Sandy was a founding member of the Quintiles Data Privacy Board and served as Vice-Chairman of the Ethics Board. Before joining Quintiles in 1997, she was US Quality Assurance Manager at Parexel International. Sandy began her career at Solvay Pharmaceuticals in Research & Development from 1987 to 1994. 

Sandy earned her bachelor's degree in Clinical Psychology from Lipscomb University and is certified in Regulatory Affairs and Healthcare Compliance. She has served on a number of industry associations, including 2022 and 2023 Secretary of Association of Contract Research Organizations (ACRO) and as co-chair of the ACRO Forum with TransCelerate. In addition to her industry leadership role, she has demonstrated her passion for developing and advancing women. She was a founding member and board chair of the Quintiles Women Inspired Network and a member of the Advisory Team at Labcorp’s Women in Leadership. Sandy served on the RTP Board of Directors for the non-profit organization Dress for Success, which works to empower women to achieve economic independence and thrive in work and in life.

Drayton Virkler is President and Chief Commercial Officer at Fortrea, focused on improving the probability of success of biopharmaceutical companies across the globe as they bring life-saving and life-enhancing products to the market. Drayton joined the organization in May 2023 during Fortrea’s spinoff from its parent company, Labcorp. 

Drayton has a broad array of global and industrial experience including leadership of global go-to-market teams as well as leadership of global and regional business development teams in the U.S., Canada and Asia Pacific. He spent the last 20 years working in the life sciences sector across service providers and pharmaceutical sponsors. Before joining Fortrea, Drayton was the President of the Regulatory and Access division at Certara, a global leader in biosimulation, technology and tech-driven services to accelerate medicine development for biopharmaceutical companies. Previously, he served as Certara’s Chief Commercial Officer. Drayton held a variety of commercial leadership roles at Quintiles, now part of IQVIA, a human data science company. During his 10-year tenure, he led business development in the US and Canada and led its Asia Pacific business development team. Drayton served as head of Investor Relations for Talecris Biotherapeutics, building and managing the function after the company’s $1 billion IPO in 2009 and through its acquisition by Grifols in 2011. Prior to joining Talecris in 2008, Drayton was an executive with GSK from 2003 to 2008 where he held a variety of positions in marketing and sales. Earlier in his career, Drayton worked as a country manager and formulation chemist for his family's textile chemical company. He has lived and worked in Argentina, Mexico, Singapore and the U.S., and is fluent in English and Spanish. 

Drayton has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Washington and Lee University and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He serves on the International Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as well as the Board of Visitors for the Fuqua School of Business.

John Doyle, DrPH, joined Fortrea as President, Consulting in October 2023. He leads a global team of expert consultants across the product development lifecycle, helping customers navigate complex and fast-changing business and regulatory environments. The team's solutions include clinical development and regulatory strategy, real-world evidence, market access, health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), medical writing and publishing, as well as specialist services, such as pediatric plan development and orphan drug designation. 

John brings more than three decades of extensive industry knowledge and experience to Fortrea along with a track record of building and operating differentiated consulting organizations that drive innovation and growth. John joined Fortrea from Exponent (NASDAQ: EXPO), a scientific and engineering consulting firm based in the Silicon Valley, where he led the Health Sciences business. Previously, John led the Global Healthcare Innovation Center at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), focused on optimizing equitable and affordable access to Pfizer’s medicine and vaccines. While at Pfizer he spearheaded healthcare innovation programs incorporating digital health, data science and real-world evidence in customer collaborations. Earlier in his career, John served in senior advisory and leadership roles across the life-science industry, including IQVIA (NYSE: IQV), Analytica International, now owned by Certara (NASDAQ: CERT), and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). John is active in thought leadership in academia and industry. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and 100 conference abstracts. 

John earned Doctorate and Master of Public Health degrees in Epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Applied Economics with a concentration in the Life Sciences from Cornell University. He has served on the faculty at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health since 2005.

Alejandro Martinez-Galindo is Chief Information Officer, leading Fortrea’s information technology vision and strategy to enable life-changing research and solutions. Alejandro joined the organization in May 2023 during Fortrea’s spinoff from its parent company, Labcorp. 

Alejandro is a global technology leader with more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare, life sciences, retail, supply chain, manufacturing and automotive sectors. Most recently, he was the Chief Information Officer of Capri Holdings, a luxury fashion retailer. Previously, Alejandro served as the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) Chief Information Officer, where he led a comprehensive transformation of the company’s retail digital platform. Prior to WBA, he was Chief Information Officer at Quintiles, now part of IQVIA. Earlier in his career, he held multiple Chief Information Officer roles at General Motors, where he lived and worked in LATAM, EMEA and North America, including Chief Information Officer of Europe, based in London. Before joining General Motors, he was information technology and strategic planning director at PACCAR Mexico, responsible for IT operations of four business units in Mexico, including Kenworth Mexicana, PACCAR Capital Mexico, PacLease Mexicana and PACCAR Parts Mexico. 

Martinez received a bachelor's degree in Computer Sciences and earned a master's degree from La Salle University, Mexico City. He also has a manufacturing systems degree from ITESM, Mexico and a business degree from UIA, Mexico. Alejandro was part of the GM Senior Executive program and attended several executive programs at the MIT and University of Oxford, Saïd Business School.

David Cooper has served as Fortrea’s Chief Administrative Officer since May 2023, responsible for Human Resources, Procurement, Facilities and Corporate Communications. 

Dave has almost 30 years of leadership experience in the hospital and health care industry. Before transitioning to his Fortrea role, he served as the Vice President of Global People Experience at Labcorp, a global Fortune 500 healthcare services firm. Prior to Labcorp, Dave was the Chief Human Resources officer at Q2 Solutions, an independent provider of global drug development services following a spinoff from Quintiles. Previously, he served for more than a decade in a variety of leadership roles at Quintiles, a publicly traded healthcare services company. Earlier in his career, he worked in staffing-focused roles at Solectron, now part of Flextronics, and Govig & Associates. 

He earned his bachelor's degree in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

J. Stillman Hanson is General Counsel and has served in this position since Fortrea’s launch as an independent company in July 2023.

Stillman has more than two decades of legal experience in both private practice and in-house positions, serving as strategic business advisor and partner as well as counsel on legal, compliance and corporate governance matters. Prior to joining Labcorp, he served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary at G1 Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company from 2018 to 2023. Before that, Stillman was Associate General Counsel and Vice President at IQVIA, a publicly traded healthcare services company from 2016 to 2018. Stillman served as Associate General Counsel at Quintiles from 2010 to 2016, where he participated in Quintiles’ initial public offering in 2013 and contributed to Quintiles merger with IMS Health to create QuintilesIMS in 2016. Prior to joining Quintiles, he practiced corporate and securities law at Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP, a Raleigh, North Carolina law firm. 

Stillman earned his JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a bachelor's degree in Economics and History from Wake Forest University. He is admitted to the North Carolina State Bar.

Georgina Strickland is Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy at Fortrea, leading the development of corporate strategy. She has served in this position since Fortrea’s launch as an independent company in July 2023. 

Georgina’s career in global drug development spans three decades. Prior to joining Labcorp, she served as Senior Vice President of Business Operations at Lightship, a clinical research organization, from 2020 to 2023. Previously, Georgina established and ran a program management office to mobilize enterprise-wide operational excellence at Parexel from 2017 to 2020. She held a variety of leadership roles at Quintiles, now part of IQVIA, over the course of 25 years. During her tenure she was Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Strategy, supporting the Quintiles and IMS merger, following roles in Corporate Development, Business Development and Operations. 

Georgina earned her bachelor's degree in Biology at the University of Bristol in the U.K.