Clinical laboratories are a highly regulated environment with an important and critical customer – the patient. My experience as an executive, clinical laboratory director, advisor, and leader of more than 100 project teams in clinical laboratory improvement, laboratory start-ups, quality, validations, and compliance have demonstrated my ability to guide labs to success. As a board-certified clinical laboratory director in molecular diagnostics, I have been leading clinical laboratories in the effort to bring quality, rapid, and cost-efficient molecular genetics and molecular infectious disease testing to market to best serve patients and physicians. Biotechnology companies that want to offer novel tests have been an interest of mine. Great clinical research is being done, but the minefield of bringing a new test to market is difficult to navigate. Being a leading expert in your field does not always translate to knowledge on how to offer your test clinically. But threaded through my experience is my dedication to the laboratory profession and the next generation of clinical laboratory scientists. I have served in volunteer roles with the Association for Molecular Pathology, the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, and the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute. I have also been honored to be a Past-President of the North Carolina Academy of Science and an advocate for the advancement of science. As laboratory professionals, we have an obligation to provide the best testing we can for patients in a sustainable model that will continue to grow and advance in the years ahead.