About Vesper Health
We are a newly incorporated blank check company whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to focus on the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors with an emphasis on companies in the medical aesthetics, eye care, longevity and wellness categories. Our founders possess a unique combination of executive, strategic, operational, financial and transactional experience in these sectors, and have demonstrated a strong track record of creating significant shareholder value at leading pharmaceutical, healthcare, biotechnology and aesthetics companies. We believe that the experience and expertise of our founders will make us an attractive partner to potential target businesses, enhance our ability to complete a successful business combination and bring value to the business following our initial business combination.
Our Founders
Brent Saunders
Chief Executive Officer &
Chairman of our Board of Directors
Mr. Saunders, our Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of our Board of Directors, has over 25 years of experience in various aspects of healthcare and has been in leadership roles at several prominent global pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. Until May 2020, when it was acquired by AbbVie Inc.in a transaction valued at approximately $63 billion, Mr. Saunders served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergan plc. His role as President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergan began in July 2014 and his added role of Chairman began in October 2016. Mr. Saunders first role as an executive officer in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors began in 2003, as a member of the executive management team at Schering-Plough Corporation, where he held several key roles, including President of the company’s Global Consumer Health Care division. While at Schering-Plough, Mr. Saunders led the integrations of the company’s $14 billion acquisition of Organon Biosciences N.V in 2007 as well as the merger between Schering-Plough and Merck & Co., Inc. in 2009. From March 2010 until August 2013, Mr. Saunders served as Chief Executive Officer of Bausch + Lomb Incorporated, a leading global eye health company, until its acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2013. He then became the Chief Executive Officer of Forest Laboratories Inc., a role he held until the company’s merger with Actavis plc in 2014. Following the merger with Actavis, Mr. Saunders was named Chief Executive Officer of the combined business. In 2015, he led Actavis’ acquisition of Allergan, renaming the combined company Allergan Plc.
Before joining Schering-Plough in 2003, Mr. Saunders was a Partner and Head of Compliance Business Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Prior to that, he was Chief Risk Officer at Coventry Health Care, Inc. and Senior Vice President, Compliance, Legal and Regulatory at Home Care Corporation of America. Mr. Saunders began his career as Chief Compliance Officer for the Thomas Jefferson University Health System.
Mr. Saunders currently serves as a director of Cisco Systems, Inc. , a global telecommunications company and BridgeBio Pharma Inc., a bio pharmaceutical company. He is also a member of The Business Council.
Dr. Manisha Narasimhan
Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Narasimhan, our Chief Financial Officer and a director nominee has over fifteen years of experience working with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and brings extensive scientific and capital markets expertise to our company. Dr. Narasimhan joined Allergan in December 2018 and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Portfolio Innovation and Investor Relations, where she was ranked #1 by Institutional Investor for Best Investor Relations Professional, Best IR Team, and Best IR Program in the pharmaceuticals sector.
Prior to joining Allergan, Dr. Narasimhan worked at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals where she led the investor relations group. Prior to joining Regeneron, Dr. Narasimhan was an equity research analyst covering biotechnology at Canaccord Genuity and at Piper Jaffray. Dr. Narasimhan began her career as a strategy consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at Campbell Alliance Group Inc. Dr. Narasimhan received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from New York University. Additionally, Dr. Narasimhan has served on the Board of Directors for Cytonus Therapeutics Inc, a privately held biotechnology company since March 2020.
Board of Directors
Barry S. Sternlicht
Chairman & CEO
Starwood Capital Group
Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & CEO of Starwood Capital Group, the private alternative investment firm he formed in 1991 focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure. Mr. Sternlicht also serves as Chairman of Starwood Property Trust, a leading diversified finance company; as well as a Senior Advisor of Invitation Homes, one of the largest publicly traded investors, owners and operators of single-family homes in the U.S.
For the past 28 years, Mr. Sternlicht has structured investments with an asset value of over $100 billion. Starwood Capital currently manages in excess of $60 billion of assets on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners.
From 1995 through early 2005, Mr. Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, a company he founded in 1995. During his tenure, he built Starwood Hotels into one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world. Mr. Sternlicht created W Hotels, perhaps the world’s most successful “boutique” brand, and built the St. Regis Hotels brand from a single hotel to a global brand.
In 2008, Mr. Sternlicht founded SH Hotels & Resorts, his new hotel management company. SH Hotels & Resorts is the owner and manager of the 1 Hotels brand and the manager of Baccarat Hotels & Resorts.
Mr. Sternlicht serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies and the Real Estate Roundtable. Additionally, he formally served as Chairman of the Board and is currently a Board member of The Robin Hood Foundation, and also serves on the Boards of the Dreamland Film & Performing Arts Center, and the Executive Advisory Board of Americans for the Arts. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation Trustee Council, the World Presidents Organization and the Urban Land Institute.
Barry Sternlicht received his BA, magna cum laude, with honors from Brown University. He later earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Julius Few, MD.
Board of Directors
Dr. Few is the architect of the Continuum of Beauty™, a life-long aesthetic approach to achieving natural-looking results by strategically blending cutting-edge surgical and nonsurgical treatments. A proponent of preserving individuality and enhancing nature through surgery and treatments, he believes that outcomes should be patient-driven and result in natural-looking enhancements.
Dr. Few can be seen across leading media channels including CBS News, ABC News, 20 20, Good Morning America, CNN, NBC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s Business, Health Magazine, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, WEB MD, Washingtonian Magazine, weighing in on topics ranging from injectables and less invasive cosmetic procedures to scarring and ethnic skin. Dr. Few has also been sourced to advise on possible plastic surgery used to change the appearances of notable figures such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
Dr. Few received his medical degree from the University Of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine and completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center, followed by plastic surgery training at Northwestern University. In addition, Dr. Few received special facial and eye cosmetic training in Honolulu, New York and Atlanta.
Dr. Few serves as a Clinical Professor for the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Chicago and Director of the Cosmetic Rotation. He is on staff at Northwestern University, where he is a Health Systems Clinician. In addition, he is a past president of the Illinois Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Mike Capellas
Board of Directors
Michael is the founder and CEO of Capellas Partners, a strategic technology advisory firm.
He currently serves on the Board of Flex (Chair), Cisco (Lead Independent Director), and Blue Yonder (Chair). He is a Senior Advisor to Blackstone.
A four-time corporate CEO, Michael’s career as a global technology leader has spanned from innovative technology start-ups to large corporate turnarounds.
He spent the first decade of his career at Schlumberger, followed by positions at software leaders, Oracle and SAP. In 1999, Michael was named CEO of Compaq Computer Corporation and a year later, added the title of chairman. During his tenure, the company was recognized as the global leader in computer servers. He was named President of Hewlett Packard following the merger between Compaq and HP.
In 2002, Michael was recruited as Chairman and CEO of Worldcom post- bankruptcy and transformed the company from a long distance provider into the world’s largest carrier of internet traffic. After the restructuring, WorldCom relisted on the NASDAQ as the new MCI. After Verizon acquired MCI, Michael was named Chairman and CEO of First Data Corporation, a global leader in payments and electronic commerce.
From 2009 through 2012, Michael became Founding Chairman and CEO of VCE, the Virtual Computing Company, a joint venture between Cisco, EMC and VMware which developed and commercialized an innovative platform for cloud computing. During his tenure at VCE, Michael co-chaired the Federal Commission on Deployment of the Cloud (Cloud2), comprised of 71 leading U.S. companies and universities, who finalized a set of recommendations for driving U.S. cloud adoption, spurring U.S. job growth and enhancing overall U.S. competitiveness in the world.
He graduated from Kent State University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisory Board
Desiree Gruber
Advisory Board
Peabody Award-winner Desiree Gruber founded Full Picture, a brand accelerator, content production, communications, and consulting services company now in its 21st year, with a passion to help her clients more effectively tell their stories and launch new ideas into the world. Gruber continues to evolve her mission of shaping zeitgeist-defining moments and reimagining how brands delight and engage global audiences in her work as an entrepreneur, business strategist, and venture capitalist.
Through Diagonal Ventures (DGNL), Gruber has embraced a preeminent role in developing and supporting female founders and C-suite executives. With a goal of creating real opportunities for women to achieve measurable success, DGNL invests in and architects transformational deals across the consumer, technology, and media spectrum in order to establish a legacy of female empowerment.
Among Gruber’s many accomplishments to date is co-founding the Project Runway television series. In addition to her Peabody Award, as executive producer of the groundbreaking show for 16 seasons she has received a GLAAD Media Award and earned 14 Emmy nominations.
A lifelong advocate for a more equitable and inclusive world, she proudly serves on the boards of UNICEF USA, Tech:NYC, and God's Love We Deliver, and was the recipient of UNICEF’s 2018 Spirit of Compassion Award. She is also an advisor to leading organizations such as Anthos Capital, Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water, and Chegg.
Gruber lives with her husband, Kyle MacLachlan, and their son, and splits her time between NYC and LA.
Robert Perry
Advisory Board
Robert Perry has over thirty years experience in the medical device industry and from 2013 to 2020 served as the Sr. Vice President of Device R&D at Allergan with responsibility for Aesthetic and Eyecare products. While at Allergan, Mr. Perry played a leadership role in the assessments and integrations of numerous acquisitions. Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Perry held leadership positions with Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Perry has a graduate degree from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree from Purdue University.
Dr. Sachin Shridharani
Advisory Board
Dr. Sachin Shridharani is a Harvard educated, Johns Hopkins trained, renowned, Manhattan-based plastic surgeon, board certified by The American Academy of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Sridharani is the founder of LUXURGERY—which is the confluence of luxury and aesthetic surgery.
Dr. Shridharani has co-authored over 200 peer- reviewed articles, textbook chapters, and abstracts on the topics of cosmetic and reconstructive surgery in some of the most well-respected medical journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Shridharani’s innovative research has granted him the privilege of presenting his work at esteemed conferences both nationally and internationally. Dr. Shridharani is recognized as an innovator in the field of plastic surgery for championing drainless abdominoplasty, TubelessTuckSM and developing his signature body and facial contouring technique, Surgery in a SyringeSM.
Recognized as an international authority on aesthetic plastic surgery treatments and technique, Dr. Shridharani serves as an international Global Thought Leader/Key Opinion Leader and has lectured to colleagues on nearly every continent. Dr. Shridharani is frequently featured in national media outlets including The New York Times, New York Post, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, NBC, FOX, and ABC. Dr. Shridharani serves as the cosmetic surgery expert and is a recurrent contributor on the topic of plastic surgery and beauty for Haute Living Magazine.
