William (Will) H. Lewis
President
Mr. Lewis helped to Co-Found Aegerion in 2005 and served as CFO and Executive Vice
President of Administration before being appointed President in 2009.
Prior to establishing Aegerion, Mr. Lewis served as a Managing Director of BayStar Capital,
a hedge fund focused on structured debt and equity investments.
From 2002-2004, Mr. Lewis held the position of Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets
Investment Banking at Wells Fargo Securities. His areas of responsibility included Life
Sciences, Technology, Energy and Mergers and Acquisitions. Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. Lewis
worked at Robertson Stephens, where he held the position of Principal, Head East Coast Capital
Markets. From 1995-2000 Mr. Lewis was Vice President at J.P. Morgan & Co. in both their New York
and London offices.
Will holds a BA Cum Laude from Oberlin College and an MBA/JD with Honors from Case Western
Reserve University. Prior to attending graduate school he worked in the Foreign Service for
the US Government. He currently serves as a Trustee of Oberlin College and sits on the
Visiting Committee of Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management.
William (Bill) J. Sasiela Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and
Chief Medical Officer
Bill Sasiela joins Aegerion with long-standing research experience in lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. Bill has been in the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 10 years with Parke-Davis/Pfizer. His initial role in the company was as a field Medical Liaison where he was involved in the launch of Lipitor and, in particular, was closely involved in the management of troglitazone (Rezulin). Bill then joined the Lipitor Medical team first as a clinical director and then later led all worldwide medical operations for Lipitor.
Finally, Bill was charged with building the Atherosclerosis Development team within Pfizer’s NY headquarters. Within this role, he led the commercial development program for torcetrapib/atorvastatin as well as sat on the development teams for earlier development products such as ETC-216 (from Esperion). Additionally, he was actively involved in licensing activities for Pfizer within the atherosclerosis and metabolic areas and was part of the overall therapeutic area strategy team for Pfizer.
Bill joined Aegerion in December 2005. Bill has a B.S. in biochemistry from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Bill also conducted post-doctoral research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Christine A. Pellizzari
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Christine Pellizzari was appointed Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in August 2007. Prior to joining Aegerion, Ms. Pellizzari served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Dendrite International, Inc., a provider of sales effectiveness, promotional and compliance solutions to the global pharmaceutical industry. Ms. Pellizzari joined Dendrite in 1998 and served as its General Counsel from 2000 to 2007. During her tenure, Ms. Pellizzari built and managed the company’s global legal organization and was responsible for legal, compliance and corporate secretarial functions worldwide. She was a member of the company's Executive Operations Management Committee and helped lead many critical initiatives, including the sale of the company to Cegedim S.A. in May, 2007.
Ms. Pellizzari joined Dendrite from the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer where she specialized in healthcare transactions. Before joining Wilentz, Ms. Pellizzari served as law clerk to the Honorable Reginald Stanton, Assignment Judge, Morris/Sussex Vicinage, Superior Court of New Jersey from 1994 to 1995. Ms. Pellizzari received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder, CO.
Ms. Pellizzari was honored as a member of NJ Biz's "Forty under 40" in 2004. Her professional memberships and affiliations include the Association of Corporate Counsel, Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.
