Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. 2026 Global Healthcare Conference

Thank you. Great to hear.

Great question. The transition has actually been quite smooth and as you said, I spent nearly my entire career at Charles River. With that, I certainly know where Charles River's strengths is, but I also know where we need to be faster and sharper. And, certainly that's going to be my focus area. What I did over the last few months is I spent a lot of times meeting with stakeholders. I spent quite a bit of time visiting over 40 of our sites and in about seven countries, so visiting our employees, listening to them, and also making sure that they are aligned and understand our strategy and what we want to execute on.

I also spent a considerable amount of time with shareholders, and with our board and with our clients, all to really make sure I understand and refresh myself of what they need from us, and what Charles River needs to execute on to become an even stronger company. What I found was a lot of feedback that gave me confidence that Charles River is quite well positioned for the future, but also that our strategy, that we call Pathway to Purpose, is aligned with what they think we should do and is aligned with what we are currently executing on. What I also found going to our sites is that we are already executing on many of the things that are part of Pathway to Purpose, which is modernizing the company, refining our portfolio, and growing through a client-centric approach.

You know about the divestitures, you know about some of the M&A we have already done. I saw tons of examples of how we are modernizing the company. What surprised me, maybe in a nutshell, is the excitement and the confidence in the company and in me personally, which is great to see. I have been enjoying it, and I am looking forward making a real difference, and also looking forward to our investor day next week and sharing more about it.