Avantor has appointed Todd Garner executive vice president and chief financial officer with immediate effect, the Radnor, Pennsylvania company announced on 21 September 2026. The appointment ends a three month period in which the life sciences supplier operated with an interim finance chief.
Garner succeeds Steve Eck, who had served as interim chief financial officer since 24 June 2026 and who returns to his substantive role as senior vice president and chief accounting officer. Avantor described the handover as an orderly transition, with Eck continuing to lead the accounting function.
Three decades in public company finance
Garner arrives from CONMED Corporation, the medical technology group, where he was executive vice president and chief financial officer from January 2018 until 2026. His eight year tenure there covered a period of portfolio expansion for the surgical devices business.
Before CONMED he held a series of leadership roles at C. R. Bard, including vice president of investor relations from 2011 to 2017 and a divisional chief financial officer position. Earlier in his career he was chief financial officer and controller at Echopass, later part of Genesys Corporation, and began in audit at Arthur Andersen.
He holds a bachelor of science in accounting from Brigham Young University and a master of business administration from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and he is a certified public accountant. Avantor credits him with more than thirty years of finance, operational and public company leadership experience.
A finance seat with a heavy agenda
At Avantor the role carries global responsibility for financial planning and analysis, accounting, treasury, tax, investor relations and internal audit. The company supplies materials, equipment and services to biopharma, healthcare, education and advanced technology customers, and it has spent recent periods working through softer demand in its laboratory solutions segment alongside a debt load taken on during an acquisitive phase.
That context makes the choice of candidate readable. Garner spent eight years running finance at a mid cap medical technology company with a similar customer base and a comparable reliance on distribution economics, and he spent six years before that in investor relations at C. R. Bard. An incoming chief financial officer who has personally handled the investor conversation is a useful asset for a company that needs to explain a turnaround.
The appointment was confirmed in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the same day, together with an employment letter, and a Form 3 was filed two days later. The filings place the appointment beyond doubt and date it precisely.
One detail worth noting for anyone tracking the company. Avantor announced a chief financial officer transition on 1 April 2026, then ran an interim arrangement from late June. A gap of that length between announcing a transition and naming a permanent successor is not unusual for a company of this size, but it does mean Garner inherits a finance organisation that has been in a holding pattern for the better part of two quarters. The immediate effect date, rather than a start date weeks out, suggests both sides wanted that period to end quickly.
