Diversity and inclusion
Diversity is in our DNA
Our journey to value diverse voices
The formation of Fortrea started with listening, gathering perspectives and asking for feedback. Now, with team members across more than 90 countries, we continue to seek out each distinct voice across our organization. Join us on our journey as we encourage engagement, build trust, and strive to create a more inclusive workplace.
Thomas Pike
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
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.
Diversity and inclusion are part of our DNA. At Fortrea, you can embrace your uniqueness, be valued and create extraordinary outcomes as part of our inclusive organization.
Fortrea’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is the foundation of our work to build a global team that delivers a lasting impact on healthcare.
Cassandra 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.
Diversity, inclusion and equity represents a constant journey as we work to embrace the uniqueness of every employee and give them a voice.
By listening to each other, we believe we can feel truly heard, involved and included—and harness the strength of our collective vision for diversity.
Bring your authentic self
At Fortrea, you are empowered to be yourself, share your ideas and help make our workplace more equitable.
Be a part of the conversation
We’re collaborating across our organization to drive best practices and support open dialogue as we continually improve diversity, equity and inclusion.
Reach your fullest potential
By fostering an ecosystem of respect and caring, we are promoting knowledge sharing and increasing representation of diverse voices across all levels of our business.
Actively drive change
As we incorporate unconscious bias training and mentoring programs, we’re driving actionable change and demonstrating our commitment an inclusive and safe environment.
Find your community and make new connections
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), led by employee volunteers, are designed to build connections, encourage belonging, support career development and champion employee voices. Our eight ERGs include:
ASCEND: Young Professional Employee Resource Group
ASCEND (Achieving Success Through Communication, Engagement, Networking and Development) helps connect and support young professionals at Fortrea to bolster an intergenerational community.
ASPIRE: Asian and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group
ASPIRE helps foster inclusiveness and connects our Asian and Pacific Islander (API) employees and allies by cultivating a sense of community and empowering personal and professional development through mentoring, networking and collaboration.
EnABLE: Individuals with Disabilities Employee Resource Group
EnABLE (Empowering Abilities Beyond Labels for Everyone) was formed to make Fortrea an easier place to work.
HUMANOS: Hispanic and Latin Employee Resource Group
HUMANOS (Hispanic/Latin employees United with Meaning and purpose Advocating for, and Networking with, Our Surrounding communities) was formed to advocate for the recognition of Latin and Hispanic diversity, presence, value and leadership.
PRIDE: LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group
PRIDE is working increase the visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Ally (LGBTQIA+) employees, inspire them to bring their whole selves to work every day, and demonstrate our organization’s relentless commitment to inclusion and diversity.
PULSE: Black Employee Resource Group
PULSE (Promoting Unity Legacy Support and the Empowerment of Black Employees) provides information and education to Black employees to empower them to take charge of their careers, well-being, and professional and personal development while highlighting the life, dedication and impact that Black employees have at every level in their communities and organizations.
VERG: Veteran Employee Resource Group
VERG is increasing the recognition and understanding of the additional value military members and veterans bring to our organization.
WEN: Women’s Empowerment Network Employee Resource Group
WEN is promoting personal and professional acceleration through career development, leadership, mentorship, collaboration while elevating the power of women’s voices.
Diversity connects our people, communities and business
“Our diverse workforce at Fortrea is central to our ability to be innovative and agile. We strive for an employee population that is reflective of our consumers, sponsors, patients and global communities we serve around the world.”
Vice President, HR Operations, GTM/L&D, D&I and India
To advance our D&I efforts at Fortrea, our diversity pillars are centered on:
- People: We’re actively advancing our diverse hiring practices to ensure our employee population better reflects the local and global communities we serve.
- Community: We’re supporting diversity in clinical trials, and supporting other health equity initiatives to improve global health outcomes.
- Business: We’re increasing long-term supplier diversity to promote our ability to be nimble, spark innovation and offer greater value to our customers, and ultimately patients.
Active US military and veterans
Fortrea welcomes and values the subject matter expertise and advanced skills that military veterans provide. We understand that your high level of integrity, leadership and ethics — along with your ability to bring people together — strengthens our team and raises our workforce to the next level. We have a place for you. We offer a variety of job options, education, career guidance and confidential resources to help you make a smooth transition to a civilian career.
Together, let’s create extraordinary outcomes.
At Fortrea, you can make your voice heard and be an integral part of our diversity journey. You’ll drive change for yourself, for your team and for the lives we impact every day.
If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete your job application, pre-employment testing, job interview or to participate in the hiring process, please contact: taaccommodationsrequest@fortrea.com. Please note that this e-mail address is only for job seekers requesting accommodation. Please do not use this e-mail to check the status of your application.