Innoviva is built around life sciences leaders who believe in the value of innovative medicines and have experience in both pharmaceutical operations and financial management. Our core leadership team plays a fundamental role in strengthening partnerships and executing on tactical insights.
Armed with this strong healthcare background, Innoviva works closely with its collaborators to optimize the development and commercialization of its partnered medicines.
Michael W. Aguiar was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Innoviva, Inc. and became a member of our Board of Directors in August 2014. He is currently a member of the Stock Option Committee of the Board of Directors. He joined Innoviva as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in March 2005. Prior to joining Innoviva, Mr. Aguiar served as Vice President of Finance at Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since 2002. Prior to Gilead Sciences, Inc., Mr. Aguiar served as Vice President of Finance at Immunex Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2001 to 2002. From 1995 to 2001, he was with Honeywell International in a variety of positions, including, most recently, CFO and Vice President Finance for Honeywell Electronic Materials SBU. Mr. Aguiar earned an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Irvine.
Eric d’Esparbes joined Innoviva as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in October 2014. From 2010 to 2014, Mr. d’Esparbes served as the Chief Financial Officer of Joule Unlimited, a biotechnology company, where he was responsible for overseeing all of the company’s financial, tax, treasury, and accounting activities. Prior to Joule Unlimited, he was the Vice President, Finance, of AEI, a global emerging markets energy company, where he was responsible for optimizing the capital structure of AEI’s international portfolio of energy assets, and from 2007 to 2010 served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at AEI Asia. Mr. d’Esparbes has also served as Chief Financial Officer and other senior financial roles at Meiya Power Company Limited from 1999 to 2007, and senior financial roles at Hydro-Quebec International from 1993 to 1999. Mr. d’Esparbes earned a BAA in International Finance from the University of Montreal’s Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Montreal, Canada.
Michael E. Faerm joined Innoviva as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer in July 2015. Prior to joining Innoviva, Mr. Faerm spent nine years as a pharmaceuticals analyst, most recently as the Senior Pharmaceuticals Equity Research Analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, and previously as a Senior Specialty Pharmaceuticals Analyst at Credit Suisse. Mr. Faerm has also worked within the biopharmaceutical industry, holding positions in business development and strategic financial planning at Forest Laboratories and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he spent four years in investment banking as a member of Merrill Lynch’s global healthcare team, where he focused primarily on mergers and acquisitions and financings of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals companies. He earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, an MS in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, and a BS in Civil Engineering from Columbia University.
George B. Abercrombie joined Innoviva in June 2014. Prior to joining Innoviva, Mr. Abercrombie served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. from 2001 to 2009, where he was responsible for the US and Canadian business divisions. From 1993 to 2001, Mr. Abercrombie worked at Glaxo and its successor companies, including as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. He is the Chairman of the Board of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and also serves as a board member of numerous other healthcare-related organizations, including Project Hope and the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation. Mr. Abercrombie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Pharmacy.
Theodore J. Witek, Jr., DrPH joined Innoviva in July 2014. Prior to joining Innoviva, Dr. Witek served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Boehringer Ingelheim in Canada and in Portugal. Joining Boehringer in 1992, Dr. Witek held a number of positions of increasing responsibility, including leading the global clinical development and launch of several respiratory products, most notably Spiriva®. He also led the Respiratory and Immunology clinical research groups in the US in 2001, he moved to Germany to lead the operating team for Spiriva® and also served as the Boehringer Co-chair of the Joint Operating Committee with Pfizer in their global alliance. During his tenure in Canada, Dr. Witek served on the Board of Directors at Rx&D, Canada’s National Association for Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, chairing its Heath Technology Assessment and Public Affairs Committees. He also served over ten years on the Drug/Device Discovery and Development Committee of the American Thoracic Society, serving as Chairman from 2010 to 2012. He is currently appointed to the Ontario Heath Innovation Council. Dr. Witek holds a DrPH degree from Columbia University, an MPH from Yale University, and an MBA from Henley Management College.
William H. Waltrip has served as a member of our Board of Directors since April 2000 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since October 2014. He is currently a member of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee. From 1993 to 2003 Mr. Waltrip served as Chairman of the board of directors of Technology Solutions Company, a systems integration company and from 1993 until 1995 he was also Chief Executive Officer of that company. Mr. Waltrip served as Chairman of Bausch & Lomb Inc. from 1995 to 1998, and during 1996 and 2002 was the company’s Chief Executive Officer. From 1991 to 1993, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Biggers Brothers, Inc., a food service distribution company, and was a consultant to private industry from 1988 to 1991. From 1985 to 1988, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of IU International Corporation, a transportation, environmental, and distribution company. Earlier, he had been President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Purolator Courier Corporation. He was previously a member of the boards of directors of Charles River Laboratories Corporation and Thomas & Betts Corporation.
James L. Tyree has served a member of our Board of Directors since June 2014. He is the current Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Chair of the Compensation Committee and also a member of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tyree and D’Angelo Partners. Since 2000, Mr. Tyree has held numerous executive positions at Abbott, including: Divisional Vice President and General Manager, Japan, Corporate Vice President, Pharmaceutical and Nutritional Products Group Business Development; Senior Vice President, Global Nutrition; and Executive Vice President, Global Pharmaceuticals. He retired as Executive Vice President of Abbott Biotechnology Ventures in March 2012. Prior to joining Abbott, Mr. Tyree was the President of Sugen Inc. Earlier in his career Mr. Tyree held management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Abbott. Mr. Tyree is a member of the Advisory Board of the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business (Booth). He is past chairman of the board of directors of the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization. Mr. Tyree is an Independent Director for SonarMed, a privately held developer and manufacturer of critical care respiratory monitoring technologies. Mr. Tyree also serves on the boards of directors of ChemoCentryx and Depomed. Mr. Tyree holds a B.A., a B.S., and an M.B.A. from Indiana University.
Michael W. Aguiar was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Innoviva, Inc. and became a member of our Board of Directors in August 2014. He is currently a member of the Stock Option Committee of the Board of Directors. He joined Innoviva as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in March 2005. Prior to joining Innoviva, Mr. Aguiar served as Vice President of Finance at Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since 2002. Prior to Gilead Sciences, Inc., Mr. Aguiar served as Vice President of Finance at Immunex Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2001 to 2002. From 1995 to 2001, he was with Honeywell International in a variety of positions, including, most recently, CFO and Vice President Finance for Honeywell Electronic Materials SBU. Mr. Aguiar earned an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Irvine.
Barbara Duncan has served as a member of our Board of Directors since November 2016 and is currently a member of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. From 2009 to 2016, she was the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She previously served in a series of positions with increasing responsibilities at DOV Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including as Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer. Before that, she served as Vice President of Corporate Finance—Global Healthcare at Lehman Brothers Inc. and Director of Corporate Finance at SBC Warburg Dillon Read Inc. She currently serves on the boards of directors of publicly traded companies Aevi Genomic Medicine, Inc., Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. and ObsEva SA. Ms. Duncan holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Louisiana State University.
Catherine J. Friedman has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2014 and is currently a member of both the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. Ms. Friedman has served as an independent consultant serving public and private growth companies since 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Friedman held the position of Managing Director at Morgan Stanley from 1997 to 2006 and Head of West Coast Healthcare and Co-Head of the Biotechnology Practice at Morgan Stanley from 1993 to 2006. Ms. Friedman has served on the board of directors of GSV Capital Corp. since 2013 and the board of directors of Radius Health since 2015. Ms. Friedman also joined the board of directors of Yahoo! Inc. in 2016. Ms. Friedman is a member of the Board of Trustees for Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, California and she serves as a Trustee for the Darden School Foundation at the University of Virginia. She has a B.A. from Harvard University and received an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business.
Patrick G. LePore has served as a member of our Board of Directors since October 2016. He is currently Chair of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors and a member of the Compensation Committee. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. LePore served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Par Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Par Pharmaceuticals, Mr. LePore was President of Cardinal Health, Inc.’s healthcare marketing group following Cardinal Health’s acquisition of Boron LePore and Associates, a medical communications company founded by Mr. LePore. Throughout his career, Mr. LePore has served on nonprofit and corporate boards. He currently serves on the board of directors of PharMerica Corporation. Mr. LePore earned a B.A. degree from Villanova University, where he is also a trustee, and earned his M.B.A. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Paul A. Pepe has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2014. He is currently Chair of the Audit Committee and previously served as a member and the Chair of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee until March 2017. He has been a Managing Director in Corporate Finance Advisory at Wells Fargo Securities since 2011. From 2009 to 2011, Mr. Pepe was a Managing Director at Citadel LLC, where he was responsible for Equity Capital Markets. Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Pepe spent nearly 22 years with Bank of America Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co., most recently as Head of the Americas Corporate Finance Group from 2003 to 2009. During his tenure at Merrill Lynch & Co., he also co-headed the Equity Linked Capital Markets Group (which comprises convertible bond origination and corporate equity derivative coverage) and headed the corporate equity derivative effort at the firm. He began his career at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company (now part of J.P. Morgan). Mr. Pepe holds a B.S. from Adelphi University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.