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Row of black office chairs in meeting room
Row of black office chairs in meeting room

Board of Directors

Brent Saunders, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

Brent Saunders

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

Brent Saunders is a proven leader with more than 25 years of experience across the health care sector. He has served in senior executive roles at several global pharmaceutical and health care companies, where he has successfully overseen numerous value-enhancing initiatives, transactions and integrations.

He rejoined Bausch + Lomb as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors in March 2023. Mr. Saunders initially served as CEO from 2010 until 2013, when the company was acquired by Bausch Health Companies Inc. (then known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.).

Mr. Saunders previously co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Vesper Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. Prior to that, he was Chairman, President and CEO of Allergan plc. until the company’s $63 billion acquisition by AbbVie Inc in 2020. Before that, he was President and CEO and a director of Forest Laboratories Inc., until that company’s $25 billion merger with Actavis plc. in 2014, when he was named CEO of the combined business. He then successfully led Actavis’ $66 billion acquisition of Allergan.

Mr. Saunders’ first role as an executive officer in the pharmaceuticals and health care space was as a member of the executive management team at Schering-Plough Corporation. While there, he led the integration of Organon Biosciences N.V., after Organon was acquired by Schering-Plough, as well as the merger between Schering-Plough and Merck & Co., Inc.

Earlier in his career, 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., Senior Vice President of Compliance, Legal and Regulatory at Home Care Corporation of America, and Chief Compliance Officer for the Thomas Jefferson University Health System.

Mr. Saunders currently serves as Chairman of the Board of The Beauty Health Company (Nasdaq: SKIN) and as a director of ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRY). He is Chairman of the Board of Roam, a director of Cambrian BioPharma and Arena AI, and a Nextech board advisor. His prior board experience includes BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBIO), Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Glo Pharma, OcuTerra Therapeutics and Osmind. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of Mt. Sinai Medical Center.

Mr. Saunders holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, a J.D. from the Temple University School of Law, and an M.B.A. from the Temple University School of Business.

Thomas W. Ross, Sr., Lead Independent Director

Thomas W. Ross, Sr.

Lead Independent Director

Mr. Ross has served as Lead Independent Director of the Board since March 2023. He served as Chairman of the Board from July 2022 to March 2023 and served as Lead Independent Director of the Company from May 2022 to July 2022, having served as a director since April 2022. Mr. Ross has also served on the board of directors of Bausch Health Companies since March 2016 and was appointed Lead Independent Director in June 2016.

He served as the President of Volcker Alliance from July 2016 until December 2021. He now serves as a director to the Volcker Alliance. He is President Emeritus of the University of North Carolina (UNC), having served as President from January 2011 to January 2016. Mr. Ross was named the Sanford Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy in 2016. Prior to becoming President of the UNC system, Mr. Ross served as President of Davidson College, Executive Director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, a Superior Court judge, chief of staff to U.S. Congressman Robin Britt, a member of the Greensboro, N.C. law firm Smith, Patterson, Follin, Curtis, James & Harkavy, and as an Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Government. Mr. Ross holds a B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College and a J.D. from University of North Carolina School of Law.

Nathalie Bernier, Independent Director

Nathalie Bernier

Independent Director

From August 2015 to September 2019, Ms. Bernier served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Strategic and Business Planning of Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a large Canadian pension investment manager. Prior to this role, Ms. Bernier spent nearly 30 years as an Audit and Advisory Partner at Arthur Andersen LLP and KPMG from 1986 to 2015, including serving as Regional Managing Partner (Quebec) and as a member of KPMG’s Canadian Leadership team. Ms. Bernier is currently a director of RF Capital Group Inc., a publicly traded company, where she serves as Chairperson of the risk committee and member of the audit committee. Ms. Bernier also currently serves as a director of the board of Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, a Canadian Crown Corporation, where she serves as Chairperson of the audit committee. Ms. Bernier is also Chairperson of the board of United Way of Greater Montreal Foundation, a charitable organization. Ms. Bernier holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants in Canada.

Gary Hu, Portfolio Manager, Icahn Capital LP

Gary Hu

Independent Director

Mr. Hu joined the Bausch + Lomb board in June 2022 and has been a portfolio manager for Icahn Capital LP since October 2020. Prior to joining Icahn Capital LP, Mr. Hu held a variety of investment management roles from 2012 to 2020 at Silver Point Capital LP, a credit-focused investment firm, and from 2010 to 2012 at Stockbridge Investors, the public securities affiliate of Berkshire Partners LLC. Mr. Hu has served on the board of Dana Incorporated since January 2022. He was previously on the boards of Occidental Petroleum Corporation from 2021 to March 2022 and Cloudera Inc. from January to October 2021. Mr. Hu graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. Econ in Finance and Accounting from The Wharton School and a B.A.S. in Computer Science from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Brett Icahn, Portfolio Manager, Icahn Capital LP

Brett Icahn

Independent Director

Mr. Icahn joined the Bausch + Lomb board in June 2022. He has been a portfolio manager for Icahn Capital LP since October 2020. Icahn Capital LP is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P., a diversified holding company engaged in a variety of businesses, including investment, automotive, energy, food packaging, metals, real estate and home fashion. Mr. Icahn has held a variety of investment advisory roles at Icahn Enterprises L.P. since 2002, including as an investment strategy consultant from 2017 to 2020, and as portfolio manager of the Sargon Portfolio from 2010 to 2017. He has served on the board of Bausch Health since 2021 and on the board of Icahn Enterprises L.P., a private entity since 2020. He has also been a director Dana Inc., a supplier of automotive products and services, since January 2022. Mr. Icahn was previously a director of Newell Brands Inc., a publicly traded global marketer of consumer and commercial products, from 2018 to March 2023, and of Nuance Communications, Inc., a provider of voice and language solutions, from 2013 to 2016. He also previously served on the boards of American Railcar Industries, Inc., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. and Voltari Corporation. Mr. Icahn received a B.A. from Princeton University.

Sarah B. Kavanagh, Independent Director

Sarah B. Kavanagh

Independent Director

From 2011 through May 2016, Ms. Kavanagh served as a Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission, where she also served as Chairperson of the audit committee starting in 2014. Between 1999 and 2010, Ms. Kavanagh served in various senior investment banking roles at Scotia Capital Inc., including Vice-Chair and Co-Head of Diversified Industries Group, Head of Equity Capital Markets, and Head of Investment Banking. Prior to Scotia Capital, she held several senior financial positions with operating companies. She started her career as an Investment Banker with a bulge bracket firm in New York. Ms. Kavanagh graduated from Harvard Business School with a Master of Business Administration and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Williams College.

Since 2013, Ms. Kavanagh has been a Director of Hudbay Minerals Inc., a publicly traded Canadian mining corporation, and a member of the board of trustees of WPT Industrial REIT, a publicly traded open-ended real estate investment trust. In addition to her public company directorships, she is a Director of AST and AST Trust Company (Canada) (formerly Canadian Stock Transfer Company) and serves as a Director of Sustainable Development Technology Canada and Cymax Group Technologies. She completed the Directors Education Program at the Institute of Corporate Directors in 2011. Ms. Kavanagh has also served on the board of Bausch Health Companies since July 2016.

Karen L. Ling, Independent Director

Karen L. Ling

Independent Director

Ms. Ling joined the Bausch + Lomb board in February 2024. She is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at American International Group, Inc. and, prior to that, at Allergan. She previously held senior human resources roles at Merck and Wyeth. Ms. Ling is currently a director – and chair of the Compensation and Human Capital Management Committee – of iRythym Technologies and has served on the Boards of Mallinckrodt Plc and TherapeuticsMD Inc. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Committee of Galderma. Additionally, Ms. Ling is a member of the board of two nonprofits: ExpandEd Schools and the JED Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from the Boston University School of Law.

John A. Paulson, Independent Director

John A. Paulson

Independent Director

Mr. Paulson is the President and Portfolio Manager of Paulson & Co. Inc., an SEC-registered investment management company specializing in global mergers, event arbitrage and credit strategies, which he founded in 1994. Prior to forming Paulson & Co. Inc., Mr. Paulson was a Partner of Gruss Partners and a Managing Director in mergers and acquisitions at Bear Stearns. Mr. Paulson received his undergraduate degree from New York University in 1978 and his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1980. Mr. Paulson has been a Director of BrightSphere Investment Group Inc., a publicly traded asset management holding company, since November 2018, and has served as Chairman since April 2020. He also currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Harvard Business School. He previously served as a Director of American International Group Inc. from May 2016 to June 2017. In June 2022, Mr. Paulson was appointed Chairman of the Board for Bausch Health.

Russel C. Robertson, Independent Director

Russel C. Robertson

Independent Director

From 2013 through August 2016, Mr. Robertson served as Executive Vice President and Head, Anti-Money Laundering, at BMO Financial Group, a diversified financial services organization. Prior to that role, he served as BMO’s Executive Vice President, Business Integration, and as Vice Chair. He joined BMO as interim Chief Financial Officer in 2008 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2009. Before joining BMO, Mr. Robertson spent more than 35 years as a Chartered Public Accountant. In this capacity, he held various senior positions with a number of major accounting firms, including Vice Chair, Deloitte & Touche LLP in Toronto, Canada, from 2002 to 2008, and Canadian Managing Partner, Arthur Andersen LLP, from 1994 to 2002. Mr. Robertson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Robertson has served on the board of Hydro One Limited, a publicly traded electricity transmission and distribution utility serving Ontario, since August 2018, and since 2012 has served on the board of Turquoise Hill Resources, a publicly traded Canadian mineral exploration and development company. He has also been serving on the board of Bausch Health Companies since June 2016. Mr. Robertson previously served on the board of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. from 2013 to August 2016.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. , Independent Director

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.

Independent Director

Dr. von Eschenbach, M.D. has been President of Samaritan Health Initiatives, Inc., a health care policy consultancy, and an Adjunct Professor at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, since 2010. From 2005 to 2009, Dr. von Eschenbach served as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and before that served four years as Director of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. As a researcher, clinician and administrator, Dr. von Eschenbach served for twenty-six years at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as Chairman of Urology, Director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program and Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. He earned a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University and a medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He completed his residency in surgery and urology at Pennsylvania Hospital and University of Pennsylvania, respectively, and his urologic oncology fellowship at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. von Eschenbach served as a director of Radius Health, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company from January 2021 to August 2022. He has also served as a director of Celularity, Inc., a private biotechnology company, and as a director of Wren Therapeutics, Ltd, a private biopharmaceutical company, since February 2018 and November 2019, respectively. He has been a member of the board of the Regan Udall Foundation of the FDA, a non-profit organization formed to advance regulatory science, since December 2018.