Deborah Keller will succeed Joseph Herring as chief executive officer of Covance Drug Development. Herring will retire July 31 after more than a decade as chief executive officer.

Keller joined Covance in 1987 and has held senior leadership roles in global operations, quality assurance and marketing. Most recently, she was executive vice president, Covance and group president, R&D Laboratories, where she led the combined central laboratory and early development laboratory organizations of more than 6,000 employees at 18 facilities across the globe.

As chief executive officer of Covance, Keller also will be a member of the Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) executive committee and will report to David P. King, chairman and chief executive officer of LabCorp.