Leadership team
ICON is led by an experienced leadership team with deep expertise across the life sciences industry.
Mr. Barry Balfe
Mr. Barry Balfe is Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Balfe previously served as Chief Operating Officer, and prior to that, as President of ICON Pharma Development Solutions. Mr. Balfe has been with ICON for over 20 years and has held a number of leadership roles across both full service and functional solutions at ICON where he has successfully grown business and has developed and led a number of new strategic partnerships with some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Earlier roles have included EVP, Global Business Development. As part of the FSP leadership team, Mr. Balfe served as Senior Vice-President, Global Program Management where he oversaw operational design, planning & delivery within the resourcing & FSP businesses. He initially joined ICON’s Business Development team in 2003, before taking on the leadership of ICON's US FSP business in early 2007 and subsequently overseeing European FSP operations. Mr. Balfe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, having studied at Dublin City University and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Toulouse. He subsequently studied pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of London.
Mr. Nigel Clerkin
Mr. Nigel Clerkin joined ICON as Chief Financial Officer in October 2024. Throughout his career, Mr. Clerkin has held numerous financial leadership positions, including Group CFO of Elan Corporation, CFO of ConvaTec, a global medical and technologies company, and CFO of UDG Healthcare. Immediately prior to joining ICON, he was CFO of LetsGetChecked, a global provider of at-home healthcare services. He commenced his career with KPMG.
In addition to his extensive experience in the life sciences and healthcare services industries, Mr. Clerkin’s areas of expertise include M&A, financial processes and systems enhancement.
Mr. Clerkin holds a Bachelor of Science (Accounting) degree and a Master of Accounting degree from Queen’s University Belfast. He is also a qualified chartered accountant and a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Dr. Ute Berger
Dr. Ute Berger is Chief Medical Officer and President ICON Development Solutions covering Early Clinical & Bioanalytical Solutions, Central and Specialty Biomarker laboratories, Medical Imaging and Cardiac Safety Solutions as well as Regulatory Consulting Services.
She has 20+ years of clinical experience in academia and extensive experience in clinical research and drug development across all therapeutic areas, with a particular focus on malignant haematology and oncology.
Before joining ICON Dr. Berger held numerous professional positions at academia focusing on clinical research in haematology as well as setting up innovative multinational networks for leukemia research. During her time at ICON she has led the Consulting, Medical as well as the Pharmacovigilance and Patient Safety team and leveraged her deep expertise in drug development to support client projects and strategic decisions.
She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Haematology, and Medical Oncology and received her medical degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She is certified by the European Society of Medical Oncology and has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals and presented at numerous scientific conferences.
Dr. Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris is the President of Pharma Solutions. Jonathan has 25 years of experience in the industry in various roles of increasing responsibility including full-service Project Management (across various therapeutic areas) and FSP Program Management including model transformation and Blended Solutions.
Dr. Harris has been with ICON for over 20 years and has held several leadership roles, most recently as Executive Vice President, Large Pharma Project Management, for the last two years, prior to moving into his current role.
Dr. Harris holds a PhD in Cell Biology and a BSc in Biochemistry, both from Newcastle University in the north of England.
Mr. Tony Southers
Mr. Tony Southers joined ICON in 2019 and serves as President of Strategic Solutions, accountable for all Strategic Solutions account operations and P&L. In this role he is also responsible for the strategic development of the client partnerships and overseeing the day-to-day activities of the accounts and the account leaderships teams.
Mr. Southers has more than 35 years of industry experience. Prior to joining ICON, he initially had seven years within Pharmaceutical Research and Development at GSK, working within respiratory drug development. He has spent over thirty years within Clinical Research Organisation’s having held executive P&L, operational, business development and commercial roles. Mr Southers has a biochemistry BSc degree and is based in the UK.
Ms. Deepali Suri
Ms. Deepali Suri is President of ICON Biotech and has over two decades of experience in the industry. Ms. Suri is responsible for driving biotech strategy, delivering tailored solutions to emerging and mid-sized biotech clients, and accelerating the development of novel therapies.
With a specialty in haematology and oncology, and a deep digital innovation background, Ms. Suri has held leadership roles across biotechnology companies, CROs and large pharma including prominent organisations such as Summit Therapeutics, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacyclics and Pfizer.
Ms. Suri holds both a Master’s degree in Pharmacology and a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Delhi, India.
Ms. Rose Kidd
Ms. Rose Kidd is President of Global Operations Delivery, covering Site & Patient Solutions, Clinical Data Science, Feasibility and Study Start-up, Pharmacovigilance, Biostatistics and Programming, IRT and Clinical Supplies Management, and Medical Writing and Publishing. Ms. Kidd has 32 years of experience in the industry. She started her career with GlaxoSmithKline in the area of pre-clinical and drug formulation. Ms. Kidd joined ICON in 1994 and has successfully grown her career from CRA, to project management and has held several senior roles in the organisation from Operations Delivery, FSP Delivery, Clinical Monitoring and Head of Quality & Compliance. Ms. Kidd has a Diploma in Food Science, a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology and a Diploma in Strategy, Innovation and Change Management from University College Dublin Smurfit School.
Mr. Diarmaid Cunningham
Mr. Diarmaid Cunningham is Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Company Secretary.
Mr. Cunningham joined the Company as General Counsel in November 2009. From 2009 until 2013, Mr. Cunningham was based in the Company’s global headquarters in Dublin. In 2013, Mr. Cunningham was seconded to the Company’s US headquarters in Pennsylvania and that secondment ended in 2018 when Mr. Cunningham returned to Dublin.
In July 2016, Mr. Cunningham’s role expanded to include Chief Administrative Officer in addition to General Counsel which added responsibility for the Company’s Quality Assurance, Client Contracts Services, Facilities and Procurement groups in addition to his responsibility for the Company’s Legal group. In 2023, Symphony Health (ICON’s data business) moved to report to Mr. Cunningham and was also added to his group.
Mr. Cunningham graduated with a Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies from University College Dublin in 1997, qualified as a lawyer in 2001 and completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University in California in 2015. Mr. Cunningham served as Secretary to the Board of the Association of Clinical Research Organisations (ACRO) in 2013, 2014, 2020 and 2021. ACRO represents the CRO industry globally to key stakeholders including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, regulators, legislators and patient groups.
Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Cunningham spent 10 years with A&L Goodbody, one of Ireland's premier corporate law firms.
In January 2021, Mr. Cunningham was appointed as a non-executive director of the Irish charity The Jack & Jill Foundation.
Mr. Steve Empoliti
Mr. Steve Empoliti is Chief Commercial Officer at ICON. Mr. Empoliti has over 20 years’ experience in the life sciences industry having previously held leadership positions at Precision Medicine, PPD, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Merck.
Mr. Empoliti spent the first 10 years of his career working in management consultancy – at first for Accenture, and later at McKinsey.
Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Empoliti held the position of Chief Commercial Officer of Precision Medicine, having previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at PPD which he joined in 2014.
He has a strong track record of leading and growing commercial teams and developing new partnerships across Pharma and Biotech customers.
Mr. Empoliti holds a Bachelor of Science (Business Administration) from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Tom O'Leary
Mr. O'Leary is ICON's Chief Information Officer, driving ICON's technology capabilities and digital innovation, including AI. Prior to this he held the position of President of Central Laboratories. Mr. O'Leary joined the company in Feb-2001 as Manager of Data management in Dublin, Mr. O'Leary subsequently went on to set-up ICON's process improvement initiative "IMPROVE" and returned to Data Management to become EU VP of Data Management before becoming Global Head of Data Management in 2006. From 1994-2001 Mr. O'Leary worked for SmithKline Beecham and later GlaxoSmithKline and held positions in Data Management, Project Management and Resource Management. Mr. O'Leary is a graduate of Kingston University in Surrey and a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Mr. O'Leary holds a Degree in Medicinal Chemistry and a Masters in Data Management.
Mr. Joe Cronin
Mr. Joe Cronin is Chief Human Resources Officer, responsible for designing and implementing people practices and building organisational leadership and culture that enable ICON to execute its strategy. Mr. Cronin joined ICON in 2014. Mr. Cronin has almost 20 years of HR experience in a variety of global industries, including ten years at the Kellogg company in a number of regional and global HR leadership roles. Mr. Cronin also spent time early in his career with the General Motors (GM) Corporation and the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Mr. Cronin has a Bachelor of Business degree with a major in Human Resources, from the University of Limerick.
Mr. Simon Holmes
Mr. Simon Holmes leads ICON’s Corporate Investment and Partnerships group which has responsibility for capital allocation into M&A, equity investments and innovation partnerships. During his time at ICON Simon has led the acquisition of over 27 companies including the $12bn acquisition of PRA Health Sciences. A member of ICON’s leadership team since 2009 he is also involved in strategy development and business planning. Mr. Holmes joined ICON in 2005 originally as VP of Marketing and Market Development and took responsibility for Corporate Development in 2006. Between 2013 and 2017 he also had responsibility for ICON’s Investor Relations functions. Prior to joining ICON, Mr. Holmes held a number of senior roles within “Blue Chip” organisations in the IT Services and Telecommunications sectors, including Cable and Wireless, Logica and Microsoft. Mr. Holmes has an MBA from Smurfit Business school and is a graduate of Cambridge University and the University of East Anglia.
Mr. Gareth Milborrow