Quest Diagnostics reorganizes leadership team

Dawn Furnas//October 13, 2022

Preparing for growth in a post-pandemic environment, Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics announced Oct. 13 it reorganized its leadership team “to continue to innovate.”

CEO-elect Jim Davis, who will officially take the reins Nov. 1 following the retirement of Steve Rusckowski, made several organizational changes “to better support the company’s two-point business strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence.”

The executive moves are:

Mark Gardner has been appointed to a new position, senior vice president, molecular genomics and oncology.
Karthik Kuppusamy was named senior vice president, clinical solutions.
Kristin Wallace is now senior vice president, compliance. She succeeds Tim Sharpe, who retired in August.

Gardner and Wallace will be based in Quest’s Secaucus headquarters, a company representative told NJBIZ.

“These latest appointments continue to strengthen Quest’s leadership team and position us well to continue to innovate in a post-pandemic health care environment,” Davis said in a statement. “Both Karthik and Kristin are proven Quest leaders and are ready to assume additional responsibilities within our team. Mark comes to Quest with deep knowledge in molecular genomics, genetic sequencing and oncology, combined with commercial and technology expertise which are critical as we drive growth in these areas.”

Rusckowski backed Davis’ appointments, saying, “We have made substantial progress in our transition to new leadership, as evidenced by the strong team Jim Davis has built.”

Meet the new SVPs

Mark Gardner

Gardner is responsible for driving growth in Quest’s advanced diagnostics offerings by providing genetic sequencing services and cancer diagnostics and working closely with the company’s clinical franchises.

He comes to Quest from Corza Medical, where he served in leadership roles for its European commercial operations and biosurgery products. He also worked for companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Life Technologies, Invitrogen and Omniseq and McKinsey.

A retired lieutenant commander of the U.S. Navy, Gardner earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s in national security studies from Georgetown University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Karthik Kuppusamy

Kuppusamy is responsible for bringing products to market through Quest’s clinical franchises as well as pharma services, genomic services and global markets, working with the company’s medical and R&D teams. Previously, he was general manager for the North region as well as head of the neurology franchise.

He earned a bachelor’s in electronics and communications engineering from Anna University, a master’s in biomedical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, an MBA in finance and operations from Marquette University and a Ph.D. in electrical and biomedical engineering from Washington University.

Kristin Wallace

Wallace, who joined Quest in 2009 as senior corporate counsel, is now responsible for maintaining and building on Quest’s ethics, integrity, compliance and privacy standards. She has provided legal support for the company’s operations, franchises, pricing, regulatory, privacy, compliance, billing and Quest for Health Equity. Most recently, she worked to oversee U.S. Food & Drug Adnimistration review of Quest’s new COVID-19 tests.

Wallace earned a bachelor’s degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from Villanova Law School.