Parexel CEO Jamie Macdonald will retire from his post May 15, the clinical research organization announced March 18. He will be succeeded by Peyton Howell, who currently serves as chief operating and growth officer, and will remain on the board of directors through the rest of the year.
Macdonald took the top spot at the Boston CRO giant in 2018, one year after the company was taken private by Pamplona Capital. During his tenure at the company, the CRO was acquired by investment organization EQT and Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 2021.
Macdonald’s retirement caps three decades in the biopharma business. Before joining Parexel, Macdonald helmed INC Research, now Syneos Health, from 2013 to 2016. He was born in Scotland and started his pharma career at Syntex, which later became Roche Bioscience.
Macdonald’s successor Howell joined Parexel as chief commercial and strategy officer in 2018 after more than 10 years in high-ranking leadership roles at AmerisourceBergen, a pharmaceutical distribution company and CRO. She launched Parexel’s biotech business arm in 2019 and became chief operating and growth officer in 2022.