Board of Directors
Mr. Staple has served as a director of Assertio since November 2003. Since March 2008, Mr. Staple has served as chief executive officer (CEO) and director of Corium International, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company. From 2002 to March 2008 he served as director, and from 2002 to November 2007 as chief executive officer of BioSeek, Inc., a privately held drug discovery company. From 1994 to 2002, Mr. Staple was a member of the senior executive team at ALZA Corporation, where he was most recently executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel. Prior to joining ALZA, Mr. Staple held the position of vice president, associate general counsel for biopharmaceutical company Chiron Corporation. Mr. Staple previously served as vice president, associate general counsel for Cetus Corporation, a biotechnology company. Mr. Staple received a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School and a B.A. degree from Stanford University.
Mr. McKee has served as director of Assertio since March 2017. He served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer (CFO) at EKR Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company from 2010 until EKR was sold to Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. in 2012. Until March 2010, Mr. McKee served as the executive vice president and CFO of Barr Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a generic pharmaceutical company, and the successor entity to Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Teva. Mr. McKee was also executive vice president and CFO of Barr prior to its acquisition by Teva, after having served in positions of increasing responsibility at Barr until its acquisition. Prior to joining Barr, Mr. McKee served as director of International Operations and vice president of finance at Absolute Entertainment, Inc., a private developer and marketer of entertainment software. Mr. McKee previously worked at Gramkow & Carnevale, CPAs and Deloitte & Touche. Mr. McKee serves on the boards of Agile Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly held specialty biopharmaceutical company, Cerulean, Inc., a publicly held clinical-stage, oncology-focused company and Synthetic Genomics Inc., a privately held synthetic biology company. Mr. McKee received a B.A. in business from the University of Notre Dame.
Mr. Tyree has served as a director of Assertio since October 2016. Mr. Tyree is the co-founder and managing partner of Tyree & D’Angelo Partners, a private equity investment firm. Prior to founding Tyree & D’Angelo Partners in 2010, Mr. Tyree was president, Abbott Biotech Ventures, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories focused on investments in early-stage pharmaceuticals and biologics. Before that Mr. Tyree held numerous executive positions at Abbott including corporate vice president pharmaceutical and nutritional products group business development, senior vice president global nutrition and executive vice president global pharmaceuticals. Prior to rejoining Abbott in 1997, Mr. Tyree was the president of SUGEN, Inc. and held management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Abbott. Mr. Tyree serves as a director of Innoviva, Inc. and Chemocentryx. Mr. Tyree received B.S. degrees in psychology and forensic studies and a M.B.A. from Indiana University.
Ms. Mason has served as a director of Assertio since February 2019. Ms. Mason is a former senior executive of Abbott Laboratories, having recently retired as executive vice president (EVP) of Abbott Nutrition. Ms. Mason also served as EVP, global commercial Operations at Abbott and senior vice president of Abbott Diabetes Care. Ms. Mason joined Abbott in 1990 and held positions in Abbott’s U.S. pharmaceutical business, including oversight of Abbott’s specialty pharmaceuticals, its diabetes/metabolics and oncology franchises, and managed health care. Ms. Mason also served as vice president (VP), international marketing, and VP, Latin American operations, in Abbott’s international pharmaceutical business. Prior to joining Abbott, Ms. Mason worked for Quaker Oats, FMC Corporation, and Commonwealth Edison. Ms. Mason holds a B.S.E. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Mr. Peisert has served as president, chief executive officer, and director of Assertio since January 2021. Mr. Peisert joined Assertio as vice president, business development in September 2017 and previously held the roles of senior vice president, business development and chief financial officer for the company. Most recently he served in the position of vice president of Concordia International Corp.’s US Legacy Pharmaceuticals business where he had full P&L responsibility for the business unit. Prior to this, he was vice president, business development for Concordia and was responsible for executing on the strategic M&A plan. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Peisert was director of finance and business development for Marathon Pharmaceuticals, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, he was a healthcare equity analyst and portfolio manager for Magnetar Capital and UBS O’Connor and began his career as an auditor for Price Waterhouse Coopers. Mr. Peisert holds a bachelor’s of science in business with an emphasis on accounting from the University of Minnesota.