Covance, a Princeton, N.J.-based provider of drug development services, has promoted Bill Klitgaard to corporate senior vice president and chief information officer, and Alison Cornell to corporate vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 8 upon approval by the board of directors.

Klitgaard has served Covance for 15 years, 12 of which as CFO—his most recent position. Informatics, an area of innovation for Covance that currently reports to Klitgaard, will be folded into the newly-expanded role of CIO.  As an executive sponsor of Covance's IT steering committee, Klitgaard played a critical leadership role in the development and funding of the company's major IT investments. Under his leadership, Covance implemented a complex, enterprise-wide finance system on time and on budget.  

Cornell joined Covance in 2004 from AT&T, where she served as financial vice president, forecasting, performance and investment analysis, heading finance for a $30 billion division. She was a key member of Covance’s clinical development leadership team from 2004 through 2010, serving as its finance leader, and played a critical role in transforming that business into a major growth driver for the company. She has been a driving force in the evaluation and lowering of our company's cost structure, and successfully designed and executed programs which have significantly lowered Covance’s DSOs. Most recently, Cornell served Covance as vice president of global financial planning and analysis, where she oversaw approximately 75% of the company's finance staff.