Roger S. Newton, PhD, FAHA

President & CEO

Roger Newton has worked for more than 27 years in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. He is currently founder, President & CEO, and a director of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to his current role, he was Senior Vice President, Pfizer Global R&D and Director, Esperion Therapeutics, a Pfizer, Inc. company. He was co-founder, President & CEO of the original Esperion founded in July 1998. Under Roger's leadership and the team's effort, Esperion raised more than $200 million in funding, building a portfolio of biopharmaceuticals and small molecule product candidates, and was acquired by Pfizer for $1.3 billion in February 2004. Pfizer then divested Esperion in May 2008 and Roger restarted the company as an independent enterprise with $23 million in venture capital funding.

Prior to founding the original Esperion, Roger was with Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis (now Pfizer) from 1981-1998. As a Distinguished Scientist and Chairman of the Atherosclerosis Drug Discovery Team, he co-discovered and was the product champion of what is now the most prescribed cholesterol-reducing drug in the world, atorvastatin (Lipitor®).

Roger's research interests for the past thirty years have focused on the nutritional and pharmacological regulation of cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism as they relate to atherosclerosis and vascular diseases. Roger is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He has co-authored nearly one hundred peer-reviewed articles and chapters during his research career. Roger has a Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of California, Davis, a Master of Science degree in nutritional biochemistry from the University of Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Lafayette College.

Roger is a member of the Board of Directors of AcelleRx Corporation, Rubicon Genomics, Resverlogix, Inc., and Ann Arbor Spark. He is a member of the National Advisory Boards of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center and University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute. He is also a member of the Technology Advisory Boards of Arboretum Ventures and Metagenics, Inc.

Rai Ajit K Srivastava, Ph.D, MBA, FAHA

Executive Director of Pharmacology & Biology

Ajit Srivastava has been engaged in research and development for the past 30 years. He is currently directing the efforts of Pharmacology and Biology at Esperion Therapeutics. Ajit's prior industry experience includes working in a startup biotech (original Esperion) as Director of Pharmacology, a mid-size biotech (Tularik Pharmaceutical Co) as head of preclinical discovery, and a large pharmaceutical company (Bristol-Myers Squibb) as head of preclinical discovery in the Atherosclerosis Department. Prior to joining Esperion, Ajit directed the efforts of discovery and development in metabolic disorders, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, and inflammation as Executive Vice President & Head of Pharmacology and Biology at Piramal Life Sciences Ltd, India. He brings with him a rare combination of extensive knowledge and experience that bridges basic academic science to the applied innovation, discovery and development needed by corporations. His experience spans basic molecular science at the level of the gene, to biochemistry, and to the physiology of the cell and the body in the complex field of lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. As a leader directing the discovery efforts in industries, Ajit has been involved in several investigational new drug submissions in metabolic disorders and atherosclerosis and taken new chemical entities to the clinic.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Ajit served for 10 years on the faculty of the Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis. His research efforts there focused on nutrient-gene interaction, hormonal regulation of lipoprotein metabolism, and regulation of apoB. Some of Ajit's notable contributions in the field of lipoprotein metabolism include elucidation of saturated fat mediated posttranscriptional regulation of apoAI, solving the puzzle of how cholate in the high fat diet lowers HDL, translational upregulation of the apoE gene by estrogen, differential regulation of the LDL receptor in rats and mice by estrogen, and introduction of a nonsense mutation in the apoB gene of HepG2 cells by homologous recombination to study the mechanism of low apoB levels in hypobetalipoproteinemic subjects. Ajit has a Ph.D in Biochemistry, a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry, a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in chemistry, and a diploma in Master of Business Administration, all from India.

Ajit has authored 74 research papers, 3 review articles, and 3 book chapters. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Palermo, Italy , Adjunct Professor at Wayne State University, and a reviewer of research papers for several scientific journals.

Troy Ignelzi

Executive Director of Finance & Business Development

Troy has worked for more than 15 years in business development with start-up and established companies to raise capital, leverage resources, identify partnership and funding opportunities and enhance sales, marketing and communications.

In early 2007, Troy joined serial entrepreneur and financier, Dr. John Kapoor, as a member of the executive team of Insys Therapeutics. As the Vice President - Business Development and Strategic Planning, Troy led all licensing, business development, strategic planning and drug development contract activities. Troy's licensing efforts led to the successful negotiation and acquisition of four product candidates - three pre-clinical and one in phase 3 – as well as two proprietary drug delivery devices. Troy co-led the team responsible for submitting an S-1 registration and securing SEC approval for Insys.

Troy gained valuable life science industry experience as a sales and marketing professional in the neuroscience division with Eli Lilly and Company. In this role as Specialty Senior Sales Representative, Troy was a commercial product champion in the successful launch of the first drug approved for diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain. This leadership role included in-depth competitive analysis, sales modeling, target product profiling, key opinion leader development and all aspects of marketing message development.

Troy previously held senior leadership positions in development and finance supporting entrepreneurs and small business. This included Executive Director for both city and county grant and loan funds and Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer with regional banking systems. Troy's loan portfolio consisted of small and medium operations with a focus on entrepreneurial service to start-up companies through SBA and Community Development Corporation (CDC) financing.

Clay Cramer

Director of Biology

Clay Cramer leads Esperion biology efforts. Prior to Esperion, Clay worked in World Wide Drug Safety at The Upjohn Company from 1985 -1998. In 1990, he joined the Investigative Toxicology group within Upjohn where he led the in vitro hepatic modeling project. In this role, Clay investigated the mechanism of untoward effects of compounds from discovery to clinical development with a particular emphasis on compounds that affected lipid metabolism. In 1998, he was recruited to join the original Esperion where he led the in vitro biology effort. At Esperion he applied his in vitro experience to support research and development efforts on all Esperion projects. Clay graduated from Western Michigan University in 1993 with a Master of Science degree in biomedical sciences.

Tim Hurley

Director of Analytical Chemistry

Tim Hurley directs analytical chemistry for Esperion. Tim spent 27 years in the pharmaceutical industry with Pfizer, Inc, and its legacy companies. He joined the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical research division of Warner-Lambert as a discovery chemist in the natural products cancer research group in 1980. During this time, Tim co-discovered the esperamycin family of compounds and was an inventor of the anti-cancer drug fostriecin. From there, he joined the Chemical Development division working as an analytical chemist, managing the preparative chromatography efforts for Parke-Davis Discovery. In this role, he co-produced the first lot of atovastatin calcium, the active ingredient in Lipitor®, the most prescribed drug in pharmaceutical history. As a Senior Scientist, Tim was responsible for the development and validation of analytical methodology for compounds in development. Tim also served as Group Leader in Pfizer's structural elucidation group and in the Research Analytical Division, responsible for completing the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) section of regulatory documents.

In 2001, Tim was the recipient of the Pfizer Global Research & Development Annual Achievement Award. Based on his published work, Tim was Pfizer's global technical expert on marketed Lipitor®. He is an inventor on 10 patents and author on 19 scientific journal articles. Tim graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1979.

Diane MacDougall

Director of Clinical Development

Diane MacDougall leads Esperion clinical development. Diane has more than 12 years experience creating clinical development plans and executing Phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials for cardiovascular drugs. At the original Esperion, she led the cross-functional drug development team for ETC-588 and later ETC-642. She also served as an Esperion representative on the Pfizer ETC-216 drug development team after Pfizer's acquisition of Esperion in 2004. During that time she led an effort to thoroughly investigate the utility of carotid ultrasound, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and carotid magnetic resonance imaging to establish clinical proof-of-concept and identify the optimum dose/regimen in this type of compound. In 2002, Diane was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the International Congress of Pharmacotherapy for her work on testing proof of concept for a novel lipid-regulating compound. Diane has a Master of Science degree in nutrition from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition from St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia, Canada.

April Seiler

Director of Project Management

April Seiler directs project management for Esperion. She first joined Esperion in 2003 as a project coordinator. After the Pfizer acquisition of Esperion, April continued as a Manager in Project Management at Pfizer. She has managed multiple teams and has worked on numerous discovery, research, and development stage projects. Prior to Esperion, she was a Team Leader in Electronic Regulatory Submissions for Pfizer. Her experience includes Investigational New Drug (IND) and New Drug Application (NDA) submission work, and she started her career as an international correspondence specialist within Regulatory Affairs for Parke-Davis.

April earned a Master of Science degree in quality Assurance/regulatory affairs from Temple University and a Bachelor of Science degree in general biology from Eastern Michigan University. She earned a Clinical Trial Management certificate from Temple University in 2004. She has been a PMI (Project Management Institute) certified project manager since March 2007.

David Thibault

Director of IT and Data Management

David Thibault is responsible for all IT-related functions at the new Esperion. David is an information technology leader experienced in both start-up companies and large organizations. David joined the original Esperion in April 1999 and was responsible for developing the company's IT infrastructure. As the company grew, he went on to manage Esperion's IT department and was the Director of Information Systems at the time of the Pfizer acquisition in February 2004. As part of Pfizer, David held leadership roles in Research Informatics and later in Knowledge Management/Online Collaboration.

Katie Smirnov

Office Manager

Katie Smirnov joined the Esperion team in August 2008 as Office Manager and Executive Assistant to Roger Newton. Katie is responsible for human resources, payroll, office management, and other administrative tasks to ensure Esperion operations run smoothly and efficiently. Prior to her role at Esperion, Katie worked in the financial services industry in New York City. She was a Client Services Associate at Baron Capital, Inc. and part of the International Institutional Equity Sales team at Sanford C. Bernstein. Katie obtained a Bachelor's degree in finance and international business from Arizona State University.