Richard Abelson

Founder, Chairman and CEO Statistics & Data Corporation (SDC)

Last Reviewed: September 29, 2026

Executive Summary

Richard Abelson is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Statistics & Data Corporation (SDC), a Tempe, Arizona contract research organisation specialising in biometrics: the biostatistics, data management, randomisation and safety reporting that sit underneath a clinical trial. SDC has worked with pharmaceutical, biologic and medical device sponsors since 2005 and says it has supported more than 500 studies and over 30 product approvals. Over the past few years Abelson has repositioned it from a services firm with a large ophthalmology practice into what it now calls a technology-enabled biometrics CRO, anchored by its own AI-native trial oversight platform.

Career Highlights

• Founded Statistics & Data Corporation, which has served drug, biologic and device developers since 2005; SDC now lists him as Chairman & CEO.
• Served as SDC’s President through its growth years, adding the CEO title by 2020, and in May 2025 promoted Faith Haines Kolb to President and Chief Operating Officer.
• In March 2024 moved SDC’s ophthalmic biometrics division to its long-standing partner Ora, Inc. to focus on technology-enabled biometrics.
• Partnered with Singular in January 2025 to embed secure AI into SDC’s platform, and in September 2025 launched SDC Insights with Sidekick, an AI-native clinical trial oversight platform.
• Built out SDC’s technology line, including SDC Capture for electronic patient-reported outcomes and a bring-your-own-device ePRO version launched in 2024.

Professional Journey

Abelson founded SDC in 2005 as a specialist biometrics partner for clinical research. From the start it worked in partnership and under common ownership with Ora, Inc., the ophthalmic clinical research firm, which gave SDC a deep practice in eye-care trials while it built expertise in other therapeutic areas. Through the early 2010s SDC’s own releases identify him as its President, as he added senior biostatistics and data management leadership and technology partnerships, including an electronic data capture partnership with MedNet Solutions in 2012 and a combined service offering with Stiris Research in 2013.

By 2020 he was President and CEO, and SDC was increasingly selling technology alongside its statistical services: electronic data capture and randomisation, eSource, data warehousing and visualisation through SDC Insights, and electronic patient-reported outcomes through SDC Capture. In March 2024 SDC transferred its ophthalmic biometrics division to Ora. “The transition of our ophthalmic biometric division signifies our unwavering dedication to excellence and innovation in clinical research services and technology solutions,” Abelson said, framing it as a way to concentrate on SDC’s core.

That concentration turned into an AI strategy. In January 2025 SDC partnered with Singular to build an embedded AI assistant, Sidekick, designed to keep sensitive trial data inside SDC’s environment rather than exposing it to external tools. In May 2025 he promoted Faith Haines Kolb to President and Chief Operating Officer, calling it “a testament to the strength and growing maturity of the broader SDC management team”. In September 2025 SDC launched SDC Insights with Sidekick, built as an AI-native platform for trial oversight, which Abelson described as giving study teams “the strength of a CDM, biostatistician, safety reviewer, and programmer right at their side”.

Education

SDC describes him as holding a Ph.D.; no first-party or primary source read names the institution or field, so no education entry is recorded.