Our leadership includes noted experts from academia and industry who share a singular goal: to re-imagine skin science and deliver important new treatments to the millions of patients living with chronic skin conditions.
Tom co-founded Dermira in 2010 and is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our board of directors. He has over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceuticals. Prior to founding Dermira, Tom served as Chairman of the board of directors and Chief Executive Officer of Peplin, Inc. until Peplin’s acquisition by LEO Pharma A/S in 2009. Previously, he served as Chairman of the board of directors and Chief Executive Officer of Connetics Corporation until Connetics was acquired by Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. in 2006. Prior to Connetics, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of CytoTherapeutics Inc. and in various management positions at Ares-Serono S.A., including President of its U.S. pharmaceutical operations and Managing Director of its U.K. pharmaceutical operations. Tom began his career with Eli Lilly and Company.
Tom has served on the boards of various industry organizations, educational institutions and private and public companies, including service on the boards of directors of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its acquisition by Amgen.
In addition, Tom is a member of the board of directors of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the world’s largest biotechnology trade association, and a member of the board of trustees of the University of Kansas Endowment Association. He holds a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of Kansas and an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
Bill joined Dermira in 2016 as Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Dermira, Bill was Vice President for Medical Affairs at Neurocrine Biosciences and has held senior scientific and medical affairs roles with Merck Research Laboratories, where he served as Vice President, Global Center for Scientific Affairs, and Amgen, where he served as Vice President, Global Scientific Affairs. Bill also held positions of increasing responsibility with Novartis in the Global Business Development and Licensing group and with Bristol-Myers Squibb in the Medical Affairs group.
Bill earned his Pharm.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and his B.S. in pharmacy from the University of Texas, Austin. Bill is Board Certified in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice (BCPP).
Gene is a co-founder of Dermira, our Chief Medical Officer and a member of our board of directors. Prior to founding Dermira, he served as a member of Peplin’s board of directors, and as its President and Chief Medical Officer, until its acquisition by LEO Pharma. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Neosil Inc., and a co-founder and member of the board of directors at Connetics. Before initiating his career in the industry, he served as the Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine and as Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a Lucy Becker Professor, Emeritus, in the School of Medicine at Stanford University, a position he has held since 2002.
Gene has served on the boards of directors of a number of public and private companies. He is currently a member of the boards of directors of Aevi Genomic Medicine, Inc. (formerly Medgenics, Inc.), First Wave Technologies, Inc. and Kadmon Corporation. He previously served as a member of the boards of directors of Cerecor, Inc., Dr. Tattoff, Inc., Protalex, Inc., Vyteris, Inc., Peplin, PetDRx, Inc., Arbor Vita Corp., Patient Safety Technologies, Inc., MediSync Bioservices and Modigene Inc. (renamed PROLOR Biotech, Inc.).
Gene was a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded investigator for 25 years and has served on review groups for the NIH. He has been elected to several societies, including the National Academy of Medicine of the United States, and currently serves as a director of the American Dermatological Association, Inc. Gene received a B.S. in medicine and an M.D. from Northwestern University.
Becky Chaitesipaseut currently serves as Vice President, Human Resources. Becky joined Dermira in 2018 as Senior Director, Human Resources Business Partner to the Commercial organization where she led all HR-related activities and was instrumental in the establishment of the sales force in preparation for the company’s first commercial launch. Prior to Dermira, Becky served in Human Resources leadership roles at Affymetrix, Thermo-Fisher Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and e-Bay. She also served as an independent Human Resources Consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Becky received an M.S. in Human Resources from Loyola University in Chicago and a B.S. in Psychology and English from Western Michigan University.
Chris is a co-founder of Dermira and serves as our Chief Business & Strategy Officer. He has more than 15 years of experience in corporate development, strategy and investment management. Prior to joining Dermira, he held corporate development, strategy and investment management roles at Gilead Sciences, Genentech and Bay City Capital.
Chris holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in biological sciences from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Andrew joined Dermira in 2014 and has more than 25 years of experience in finance and corporate development. Andrew currently serves as Chief Financial Officer where he oversees the Corporate Communications, Corporate Development, Facilities, Finance, Information Technology, Investor Relations and Legal functions at Dermira. Prior to joining Dermira, Andrew was the Chief Financial Officer for CardioDx, Inc., a molecular diagnostics life sciences company. He has also served as Chief Financial Officer for Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its acquisition by Gilead, Inc., Facet Biotech Corporation until its acquisition in 2010 by Abbott Laboratories, PDL BioPharma, Inc., and Neoforma, Inc. Andrew began his career in financial services at Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wells Fargo & Company. Andrew currently serves on the board of directors of Metacrine, Inc.
Andrew holds a B.A. in international politics and economics from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Chris joined Dermira in 2018 as Chief Technical Operations Officer and is responsible for the Pharmaceutical Sciences, Procurement, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Quality functions. Prior to Dermira, Chris spent nearly 14 years at Genentech (a member of the Roche Group) in roles of increasing responsibility within its Operational Excellence, Procurement, Supply Chain and Technical Operations functions. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Product and Supply Chain Management where he led a 480-person team supplying all of Roche biopharma products worldwide. Prior to Genentech, he worked for Merck & Company in global roles across Engineering, Manufacturing and Operational Excellence. Chris earned a B.E. in engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
Lori joined Dermira in 2016 as our Chief Commercial Officer and is responsible for developing and implementing the commercial strategy for Dermira’s lead product candidates. In this role, Lori oversees the Market Access, Marketing, Sales, Lifecycle Management and Professional Relations functions at Dermira. Lori brings nearly 20 years of commercial experience to Dermira. Prior to joining Dermira, Lori spent 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility within the sales and marketing organization at Allergan Inc., most recently as Vice President, Sales & Marketing for the Urology business. She also served as a member of the Allergan Commercial Leadership Team and the Operational Leadership Team. In previous roles within Allergan, she served as Marketing Director for Allergan’s medical dermatology brands and also held senior-level positions on the ACZONE® and BOTOX® commercial teams. Lori began her career at Johnson & Johnson, Inc. as a pharmaceutical sales representative.
Lori holds a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies from Virginia Tech and an M.B.A. from the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota.
Luis is a co-founder of Dermira and serves as our Chief Development Officer. In this role, Luis oversees Regulatory and Research and Development. He has nearly 30 years of product development and portfolio management experience. Prior to joining Dermira, Luis served as Vice President, Head of Global Prescription Development at Stiefel, a GSK company, and was Senior Vice President Portfolio Planning and Management at Stiefel Laboratories prior to its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. He also held leadership roles in portfolio management and product development at Connetics and Theravance, Inc. as well as various positions in manufacturing and research and development at Genentech, Inc.
Luis holds a B.S. in biochemistry from San Francisco State University.
