Icon , a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, has announced its chief executive, Ciaran Murray, has been elected 2014 chairman of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO). Icon legal counsel, Diarmaid Cunningham, also has been elected as secretary of ACRO for a second term. 

ACRO, founded in 2002, represents the CRO industry globally to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, regulators and legislators, peer associations, academic organizations, patient groups, the media and the public. 

“I am honored to lead ACRO at this time when clinical research organizations are increasingly being recognized for the innovation and expertise we bring to the drug development process,” said Murray. “I look forward to continuing the work that ACRO has done in promoting our industry as one that conducts safe, ethical and high-quality clinical research to deliver medicines that benefit patients worldwide.”