Board of Directors

Mr. Carroll served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation and of Boehringer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2003 until 2011 and as a director of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation from 2003 until December 2012. He joined the organization in 2002 as President of Boehringer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Carroll worked at Merck & Co., Inc. from 1976 to 2001. From 1972 to 1976, Mr. Carroll served in the United States Air Force where he attained the rank of Captain. He has served as a director of Catalent Pharma Solutions since July 2015, and in October 2021, was elected as Lead Director. Mr. Carroll served as a director of Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corporation from March 2016 until January 2018, including serving as Chairman of Inotek from June 2016 until January 2018. In addition, Mr. Carroll has served on a number of Board of Directors beginning with Accredo Health in 2004.

Sheldon is an accomplished leader in the cardiovascular space and brings over 25 years of experience to Esperion. Most recently, he was chief commercial officer at Portola Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Portola, Sheldon was senior vice president and head of the cardiovascular franchise for Sanofi, where he led U.S. business operations and product launches in more than 20 countries. Previously, he served as vice president and global brand leader for the cardiovascular division of Merck where he took on roles of increasing responsibility within the cardiovascular and thrombosis franchises for more than 25 years, and led marketing for the launch of ezetimibe.

Sheldon holds a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University, and a Bachelor of Applied Science from Drexel University. He also completed the leadership program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Seth Fischer joined the Esperion Board of Directors in November 2021. With more than 38 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, he brings deep operational and commercial expertise, with a successful track record of developing and executing strategies to drive product growth.

Seth currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Agile Therapeutics, Inc., and an advisor to MedHab, LLC. Previously, he served as the chief executive officer and as a director of Vivus, Inc., a company commercializing and developing innovative, next-generation therapies to address unmet needs. Prior to Vivus, Seth served over 29 years in various positions of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently he was company group chairman, Johnson & Johnson and worldwide franchise chairman of Cordis Corporation. Before that, he served as company group chairman, North America Pharmaceuticals, which included responsibilities for Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Janssen and Scios.

Seth earned his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Ohio University and served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Alan Fuhrman has been a member of the Esperion Board of Directors since March 2020. Alan is also a member of the boards of directors for SpringWorks Therapeutics and Checkmate Pharmaceuticals.

Previously, Alan served on the board of directors and as Chair of the Audit Committee for Loxo Oncology until its sale to Eli Lilly in 2019. He previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2017 to 2020. Prior to joining Amplyx, he was CFO of Mirna Therapeutics, a publicly traded, clinical-stage microRNA company that merged with Synlogic in 2017. Alan previously served as CFO of Ambit Biosciences, where he helped lead the company through its initial public offering and oversaw financial, investor, and administrative operations until its sale to Daiichi Sankyo in 2014. Earlier in his career, Alan practiced as a certified public accountant with Coopers & Lybrand.

Alan received a Bachelor of Science in both Business Administration and Agricultural Economics from Montana State University.

Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., has been a member of Esperion’s Board of Directors since 2014. Dr. Gotto is Dean Emeritus at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Provost for Medical Affairs Emeritus for Cornell University.

Antonio currently serves as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the current president of the National Lipid Association. From 1997 to 2011, he served as the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University. Previously, Antonio served as J.S. Abercrombie Chair of Atherosclerosis and Lipoprotein Research and Chairman and Professor of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital. He is also a past president of the International Atherosclerosis Society and a past president of the American Heart Association. Antonio was a member of the board of directors of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until 2016, when it merged to form Novelion Therapeutics, Inc.

Antonio holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry from Oxford University in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and an Doctor of Medicine from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Antonio completed his residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the Chair of Medicine for 20 years at Baylor University Medical Center and Houston Methodist Hospital.

Mr. Rocamboli is currently Chief Executive Officer of Perla Therapeutics, Inc., a company located in the greater Boston area, developing first-in-class antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.  Previously, Mr. Rocamboli served as Chief Business Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Candel Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company based in Needham, Massachusetts, between April 2015 and May 2020 (CNDL). Between 2010 and April 2015, Mr. Rocamboli served as general partner of Integrin Partners, LLC, a consulting firm providing corporate development, strategic transaction advisory and general counsel services to life science companies, investors and entrepreneurs. Between 2010 and 2012, Mr. Rocamboli also served as partner of Beijing International Group, an international affiliate of Integrin Partners. Between 2014 and 2015, Mr. Rocamboli also served as Special Counsel to Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton, LLP, focusing on life sciences transactions. Between 2008 and 2018, Mr. Rocamboli was a co-founder and served as President of Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals, until its sale to Daré Bioscience, Inc. (DARE).  Prior to joining Pear Tree, Mr. Rocamboli spent nearly a decade as a senior executive of a New York, NY based private FINRA/SEC member investment bank, venture capital firm, and affiliated hedge funds, focused exclusively on biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals. Mr. Rocamboli held positions of increasing responsibility, with the last five years as Senior Managing Director and General Counsel of all business units. 

Mr. Rocamboli has served as a member of the board of directors of several public and private life sciences companies, including Foresight Biotherapeutics (sold to Shire Pharmaceuticals in 2015) and currently serves as a member of TFF Pharmaceuticals, Austin, TX (TFFP). 

Mr. Rocamboli received his B.A. degree from The State University of New York at Albany and his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.
 

Jay Shepard has been a member of Esperion’s Board of Directors since 2018. Jay has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Aravive (formerly Versartis) since 2015, as well as Executive Chairman of the Board since early 2014.

Jay has more than 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and drug delivery arenas and has participated in or led over 16 product launches by preparing markets and establishing sales and marketing operations. He previously served as Executive Partner at Sofinnova Ventures, President and CEO of NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), President and CEO of Ilypsa (acquired by Amgen), interim President and CEO of Relypsa (Ilypsa’s spin-out company, which was acquired by Galencia), and Vice President of Commercial Operations at Telik and Alza Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). He is a board member of Versartis, Inc., the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and the Santa Clara University Entrepreneurial School.

Jay holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Arizona.

Nicole Vitullo has served as a member of Esperion’s Board of Directors since 2008. Nicole has been a Partner of Domain Associates, LLC, since 2004. She joined Domain in 1999. In addition to investment responsibilities, Nicole is involved with the liquidation and distribution strategies for the public companies in Domain’s venture capital portfolios. For more than a decade, Nicole was responsible for Domain Public Equity Partners L.P., a fund focused on private investments in public companies.

With extensive experience in both public and private investing, Nicole’s current board memberships include Antios Therapeutics, Exalys Therapeutics, and Marinus Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, she was a former board observer at Iterum Therapeutics. Past board memberships include Achillion Pharmaceuticals (sold to Alexion), Calixa Therapeutics (sold to Cubist Pharmaceuticals), Celator Pharmaceuticals (sold to Jazz Pharmaceuticals), Cerexa (sold to Forest Laboratories), Durata Therapeutics (sold to Actavis), Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and VentiRx Pharmaceuticals (sold to Celgene). Prior to Domain, Nicole was Senior Vice President at Rothschild Asset Management, Inc., where she was responsible for the U.S. public market investments of International Biotechnology Trust plc and Biotechnology Investments Limited. Before her tenure at Rothschild, Nicole served as the Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at Cephalon, a publicly traded biotechnology company. Prior to Cephalon, Nicole spent 12 years at Eastman Kodak, where she held a number of positions including corporate development, where she was involved in the development and management of Kodak’s venture capital activities.

Nicole received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and her Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Rochester.

Tracy M. Woody has served as a member of our Board since May 2019. Ms. Woody currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTGX) since April 2020.

Ms. Woody previously served as Chief Commercial Officer of Versartis, Inc. from 2017 to 2018 and KemPharm, Inc. from 2015 to 2016. Prior to KemPharm, Ms. Woody was Vice President of Sales and Marketing of NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), and Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Greer Laboratories. Ms. Woody currently serves as a board member of Shorla Pharma. Ms. Woody has over 25 years of commercial experience in pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices, across a wide range of therapeutic areas in diverse markets. Ms. Woody also has experience with multi-billion dollar revenue brands as well as products in the rare disease space.

Ms. Woody holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Applied Physiology from East Carolina University.