CEO of the Week: Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Marc N. Casper

Under CEO Marc N. Casper, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is on the front lines helping to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based diagnostics maker is working with government agencies and researchers to ensure priority access to instruments, consumables, safety supplies and other products to address the outbreak — particularly in analysis of the virus, diagnosis and personal protection, the company states on its website.

Thermo Fisher continues to expand its support in the coronavirus response effort, last month announcing a contract from the U.S. government to provide highly specialized viral transport media for Covid-19 sample collection. The VTM is used during collection of patient samples for proper transport to laboratories that can test for the presence of the virus.

Given the significant demand for Covid-19 testing and associated sample collection, the company said it was expanding capacity within its Lenexa, Kansas operations with a new $40 million facility dedicated to VTM production and quality control. The added capacity and increased efficiencies will allow Thermo Fisher to scale production to more than eight million VTM-filled tubes per week. The company plans to complete the new Lenexa facility in the third quarter and expects that it will create approximately 300 new full-time jobs.

“We’re proud of our role in helping customers to battle the pandemic Casper said. “With our leading scale and depth of capabilities, Thermo Fisher can support virtually every aspect of the Covid-19 response, which demonstrates what it means to be the world leader in serving science.”

With revenues of more than $24 billion and approximately 70,000 employees globally, Thermo Fisher operates through five brands – Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services.

In March, the company announced it was expanding further with the acquisition of Qiagen for $11.5 billion. The Dutch-based diagnostic maker’s sample preparation technologies are used to extract, isolate and purify DNA, RNA and proteins from a wide range of biological samples. The company’s assay technologies are then used to amplify and enrich these biomolecules to make them readily accessible for analysis. Qiagen’s sample preparation, assay and bioinformatics technologies are complementary to Thermo Fisher’s genetic analysis and biosciences capabilities.

“This acquisition provides us with the opportunity to leverage our industry-leading capabilities and R&D expertise to accelerate innovation and address emerging healthcare needs,” Casper said.

Casper has been president and CEO since October 2009, and was also elected chairman of the company’s board in February 2020. He joined the company in 2001 as president of the life sciences sector of Thermo Electron. Casper was named senior vice president in 2003, and in 2005 assumed responsibility for all of the company’s operating divisions. After the merger creating Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2006, he was named executive vice president and president, analytical technologies, and in 2008 he became the company’s chief operating officer.

Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Casper served as president, CEO and a director of Kendro Laboratory Products. Previously, he worked for clinical diagnostics provider Dade Behring Inc., where he served as president – Americas. Casper began his career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company and later joined Bain Capital.

Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts

Age: 52

Education: Bachelor’s degree, economics, Wesleyan University; MBA, Harvard Business School

First joined company: 2001

Prior to joining Thermo Fisher: CEO, Kendro Laboratory Products

Named CEO: 2009

He’s No. 126 on Chief Executive and RHR International’s CEO1000 Tracker, a ranking of the top 1,000 public/private companies