Thermo Fisher Scientific's Leaders Driving Sustainability

Global companies with extensive networks of partners, suppliers, distributors, and customers face the challenge of identifying, quantifying, and influencing emission reduction across the supply chain.

Leading the charge in supply chain sustainability at Thermo Fisher Scientific are Chris Shanahan, VP Global Sustainability Supply Chain, Alyssa Caddle, Director Procurement Sustainability, and Matthew Yamatin, Sustainability Program Director.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s mission is to enable its customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. Naturally, sustainability is integral to this mission.

As VP of Global Sustainability Supply Chain, Chris Shanahan leads sustainability efforts across the supply chain. With nearly two years in this role, and previous positions as Chief Procurement Officer at Thermo Fisher and Beckham Dickinson, Chris brings a wealth of experience.

"When I think about the evolution of supply chain and procurement, I think about the sustainable aspects of supply chain," Chris says. "Every challenge is an opportunity to improve."

Chris’s personal journey with sustainability is deeply rooted in health. "As an asthmatic, the environment has impacted me for the last 18 years. It's something I’m very transparent about, and I think it was what got me into sustainability originally."

Alyssa Caddle, as Director Procurement Sustainability, leads Thermo Fisher’s supplier responsibility programmes. "That includes working with our suppliers on our sustainability efforts, both environmental and human rights related," she explains. "I've been at the company for about two and a half years, and my background is in sustainability in the tech sector and the apparel supply chain."

Alyssa’s role is crucial in ensuring that Thermo Fisher’s sustainability standards are upheld throughout the supply chain. By collaborating closely with suppliers, she ensures that both environmental and human rights considerations are integrated into the procurement process.

Matthew Yamatin, the Sustainability Program Director, is responsible for leading the environmental sustainability strategy and engaging customers on sustainability. “It is imperative we partner with our customers to design sustainability solutions that are both impactful and achievable,” he says.

Matthew emphasises the importance of working upstream with suppliers to identify opportunities that can be leveraged to help customers meet their sustainability goals. "To develop solutions, we need to ensure that we're working upstream with our suppliers to understand what opportunities exist and how we can bring them forward to our customers."

The appropriate sustainability solution varies for each customer. For some, a key decarbonisation lever could be implementing renewable energy into clinical trials, while for others, it could be a product using biobased resin instead of fossil-based resin.

Thermo Fisher Scientific demonstrates how companies can collaborate with suppliers and partners to reduce Scope 3 emissions while driving commercial value in the supply chain. By integrating sustainability into every aspect of their operations, they are leading the way in creating a healthier, cleaner, and safer world.