Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. announced that James C. (Jim) Foster, Chair, President plans to retire, effective on May 5, 2026 at the conclusion of the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Ms. Girshick has also been nominated by the Board to be a Director effective at the 2026 Annual Meeting. Mr. Foster will remain on Charles River?s Board as a non-executive Director, and Martin Mackay, Ph.D., current Lead Independent Director, will become Chair of the Board at the conclusion of the 2026 Annual Meeting.
These appointments are the result of a comprehensive, Board-led succession process designed to ensure long-term continuity, stability, and strategic alignment and reflect the Board?s confidence in Ms. Girshick as the right leader to guide Charles River through its next phase of growth. This succession plan will also separate the Chair and CEO roles of the Company to align with best practices for corporate governance and oversight, including a non-executive, independent Chairperson. Jim Foster has had a distinguished 50-year career at Charles River, including more than 30 years as CEO.
He began his career at Charles River in 1976 as the General Counsel, and has held a variety of senior-level positions, culminating with being named President in 1991, CEO in 1992, and Chair of the Board in 2000. Jim Foster led a leveraged buyout by the Charles River management team from Bausch & Lomb in 1999. A year later in 2000, he took the Company public in an initial public offering on the NYSE.
Under Jim?s leadership, Charles River has completed more than 50 acquisitions and transformed from a niche, research models business to the leading, global preclinical contract research organization with over 80% of its revenue generated from services. Through this transformation, Jim has steered Charles River to play an increasingly important role in the drug development process, which is evident by the fact that the Company worked on an average of more than 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 2017. Since its IPO in 2000, Charles River?s stock price has appreciated at a compound annual growth rate of over 10% and its annual revenue has increased from $307 million in 2000 to $4.0 billion in 2024.
Charles River became a respected member of the S&P 500 in 2021. Birgit Girshick joined Charles River in 1989, and as Chief Operating Officer since 2021, she has been responsible for leading the Company?s global business units, which includes guiding their strategic direction, driving operational excellence and growth, maintaining client and partnership relationships, leading the organization?s digital transformation, and integrating acquisitions. In May 2026, Ms. Girshick will become the next CEO of Charles River.
Ms. Girshick has had a long career at Charles River with an extensive breadth of operational leadership experiences. She has held positions of increasing responsibility beginning in the Research Models & Services and Avian Vaccine Services businesses when she joined the Company more than 35 years ago. In 2004, Ms. Girshick was promoted to General Manager of the Avian Vaccine Services business.
She was named Corporate Vice President, Global Biopharmaceutical Services (now Biologics Testing Solutions) in 2010, promoted to Corporate Senior Vice President, Research Models and Biologics Testing Solutions in 2023, assumed responsibility in 2016 for leading the integration of the WIL Research acquisition, and was later named head of the global Discovery Services business. In 2018, Ms. Girshick was promoted to Corporate Executive Vice President overseeing the Discovery, Safety Assessment, Biologics Testing Solutions, and Avian Vaccine Services businesses. In 2021, she also assumed responsibility for the company?s Cell and Gene Therapy CDMO business.
In October 2021, Ms. Girshick was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and assumed the additional oversight of the Research Models and Services business, the business in which she began her Charles River career, as well as the Microbial Solutions business. Ms. Girshick received a B.A. degree from Eastern Connecticut State University and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Rhode Island. She also received a certificate from the Advanced Management Program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology?s Sloan School of Management.
