M. Fitzgerald De Smet is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of general management, commercial, digital and strategy experience, 19 of which were spent in the Greater China region.

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Fitz is currently a Vice President at Cepheid, the leading molecular diagnostics operating company of Danaher. In this role, he leads worldwide digital commerce, inside sales, and customer experience. Prior to Cepheid, Fitz was a Vice President at ThermoFisher Scientific, where he held P&L and functional leadership roles covering strategy, marketing, eBusiness, digital science, corporate accounts, and business development/M&A. While based in Shanghai, China, Fitz also led ThermoFisher’s China Government Affairs organization, where he initiated the first China-U.S. Precision Medicine Summit and represented the company at national, regional, and local government events.

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Earlier in his career, Fitz worked in general management and consulting roles in a variety of Fortune 500, private equity-backed portfolio companies, and start-ups in the life sciences, high tech, consumer products, and supply chain/logistics industries. 

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Fitz’s career in Asia began in 1992, when he joined the China External Trade Development Council, a non-government trade association based in Taipei. He moved to Mainland China in 1995 with Tait Asia Limited, where he was responsible for market development in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou and establishing the company’s first regional office in Chengdu.

   

Fitz holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Colgate University.  He is a native English speaker and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.