James Foster Email Address

Principal Data Scientist

Charles River provides products and services to help expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe manufacture of novel drugs and therapeutics.

Charles River was founded in 1947, and I joined the Company in 1976. Since then, I have overseen significant fiscal changes at Charles River including a leveraged buy-out of the company in 1999 while a subsidiary of Bausch & Lomb. Then, nine months after taking the company private, I oversaw a public offering of the company; it now trades publicly on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CRL.As CEO, I have built Charles River from a niche research models and services business to a full service, early-stage drug development partner, growing the company’s revenues from approximately $160M to more than $1.3B. Since its IPO in June 2000, Charles River’s stock price has appreciated at a compound annual growth rate of more than 10%. Under my leadership, Charles River has solidified its position as an industry leader and trusted partner to the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. Today, the Company offers a unique portfolio of products and services required to take a novel drug therapy from discovery through preclinical development. In 2015, we worked on more than 55% of the drugs that were approved by the FDA.In October 2002, I was named 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by Forbes Magazine, noting my ability to dramatically increase profitability by moving the company in new directions through both acquisition and organic growth. I was also named one of the New England region’s 2007 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Ernst & Young LLP.