Article
Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced the promotion of William Lee, PhD to Executive Vice President, Research, and Brett Pletcher to Executive Vice President.
PRESS RELEASE
FOSTER CITY, Calif.
--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 27, 2015--
Gilead Sciences, Inc.
(Nasdaq:GILD) today announced the promotion of
William Lee
, PhD to Executive Vice President, Research, and
Brett Pletcher
to Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Dr. Lee and Mr. Pletcher will both join Gilead’s senior leadership committee.
Dr. Lee joined Gilead in 1991 and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Research in 2000. He has led the expansion of the company’s research activities across a range of therapeutic areas, including HIV, liver diseases, hematology/oncology, inflammation and respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions. He reports to
Norbert Bischofberger
, PhD, Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining Gilead, Dr. Lee worked at
California Biotechnology, Inc.
and Syntex. He received his BS in Chemistry from the
University of Massachusetts
, PhD in Chemistry from the
University of California at San Diego
and did postdoctoral work at the Ecole Polytech Federal Lausanne and the
University of California at Santa Barbara
.
“Over the past nearly 25 years, Bill has helped Gilead bring multiple product candidates from early stage research into development. His contributions to the discovery and advancement of internal drug candidates and evaluation of external candidates for potential partnership have allowed Gilead to bring important new medicines to patients around the world,” commented Dr. Bischofberger.
Mr. Pletcher joined Gilead in 2005 and most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. With this promotion, Mr. Pletcher also becomes corporate Secretary for the company. He reports to
Gregg Alton
, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Gilead, Mr. Pletcher was a partner in the law firm of
Gunderson Dettmer, LLP
, where he focused on providing corporate and securities services to emerging growth public and private companies and venture capital investors. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the
University of California, Riverside
and his law degree from the
University of California
, Berkeley’s
Boalt Hall School of Law
. He is a member of the California State Bar and the
Nasdaq Listing and Hearing Review Council
.
“Brett’s leadership has been instrumental in helping Gilead manage a period of significant growth and complexity, particularly as we introduce medicines in new geographies. His expertise has helped Gilead protect its intellectual property around the world and ensure compliance across countries with vastly different legal systems,” commented Mr. Alton.