Michael A. Coiro, Sr. founded Allentown over 55 years ago with a mission and commitment to improving human and animal lives. All of us at Allentown are imbued with his care, dedication, and compassion toward supporting the life science community, and our successes over the years have allowed us to evolve into the world-class organization we are today. It has earned us the trust and respect of the most prominent biomedical research facilities worldwide.
John M. Coiro, the son of our founder Michael A. Coiro, has successfully carried out his father’s mission while steering us to newer and greater heights as our CEO.
Now it is time for John to make a new impact on Allentown.
We are proud to announce that John M. Coiro will be transitioning from CEO of Allentown to CEO Emeritus and Board Member, positioning him to support the company on strategic initiatives including commercial strategy, product development, manufacturing, and M&A opportunities.
John’s 30+ years of understanding research community challenges, coupled with his long-time relationships with companies and professionals who serve science, give him the perfect perspective to provide senior-level advice to the company as well as help identify acquisition candidates which will help Allentown serve its customers better if added to the Allentown family.
Our New CEO
John was intimately involved in the new CEO search. He and the Board conducted an extensive search for professional candidates who exhibited important high-level proficiencies:
- A demonstrated and proven culture of care
- Dedication to science, discovery, and innovation
- Expertise in leading a successful scientific organization
- A track record of growth while maintaining the existing company culture
- Customer-first ethos, guaranteeing integrity and quality in all areas of business
We are honored and proud to announce that Charles Simmons has joined Allentown as our new CEO.
Charles Simmons, CEO of Allentown and former CEO of Thomas Scientific, is driven by his passion for excellence in everything he does. He was trained in the U.S. Army Special Forces and military intelligence, named “Toughest Commando” of the 101st Airborne Division, and the top finisher in the International Best Ranger Competition.
Captain Simmons had a distinguished military career serving in both the 101st Airborne Division as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Mortar Platoon Leader, Executive Office of Headquarter Company, and an Operational War Planner for the 82nd Airborne Division serving in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
He has earned innumerable awards, including the Armed Forces Expedition Medal, multiple Army Commendation Medals and Army Achievement Medals, Expert Infantry Badge, the Army Ranger Tab, the U.S. Army Parachute Badge, the Army Air Assault Badge, and a nomination for the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award.
Executive Management positions in the private sector followed. Ranging from sales, marketing, and operations roles for VWR International to CEO of Thomas Scientific.
At Thomas Scientific, Charles was involved in building out distribution facilities from one to over ten strategically located across the U.S., acquiring, and fully integrating seven different companies in three years, shifting the company focus from laboratory consumables to offering clinical diagnostic products and Critical Environment products to diversify the product offering and own various channels to customers.
We are enthusiastic to begin our new journey with Charles and enhance how we serve the global life science community with the same integrity and care that Allentown is known for, with more innovation and solutions.
