Our commitment to quality
A quality management system built on our 30-year heritage
Learn how our systemic approach to quality enables us to deliver on the simple commitment of “right first time” in a complex environment.
Quality by design
Building on our 30-year heritage
Fortrea’s quality management system is a living set of standards. Driven by our quality experts—40%+ of whom have 5+ years of Fortrea tenure—it helps us consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.
Incorporating industry best practices
Quality management is designed and operated to meet global regulations, industry best practice and our customers’ expectations. We integrate quality into all our business activities and through policies and procedures to help our employees support this responsibility.
Continuously improving our processes
Our facilities, equipment, systems and teams are designed and operated to ensure the ongoing quality, safety and efficacy of products and integrity of data. We have implemented performance indicators that measure our progress toward our quality objectives to continually improve our processes and services.
Seamlessly managing and tracking global quality
Fortrea implemented Veeva Quality Vault in 2019 for all audits, inspections, quality issue reporting and resolution followed by Veeva QualityDocs Vault in 2022 to maintain all controlled documents.
Quality by the numbers
Sandy Kennedy
Chief Quality, Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability Officer
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.
Our quality management system is founded on our belief that quality is everyone’s responsibility. Each one of us owns it, demonstrated as part of our Fortrea commitment to Uphold Integrity: I do the right things in the right way, with the safety of patients and research volunteers always coming first.
We never forget the importance of quality and the impact that our work has on our customers and, above all, on patients.
Recognition of our impact
