Executive Leadership Team

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.

Sam Eldessouky is responsible for overseeing all of the company’s finance functions, including controllership, tax, treasury and financial planning and analysis, as well as IT.

Prior to Bausch + Lomb, Mr. Eldessouky was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bausch Health from 2021 to 2022 and Controller and Chief Accounting Officer from 2016 to 2021.

Previously, Mr. Eldessouky served as Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer for Tyco International plc. During his tenure at Tyco, he played a significant role in the wholesale turnaround of Tyco's business. He also played a key role in executing the spinoffs of Covidien and Tyco Electronics in 2006 and ADT NA and Flow Control in 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Eldessouky spent 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he held several roles of increasing responsibility and served in PwC's National Office, providing technical accounting guidance on complex accounting matters.

Mr. Eldessouky has a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Ain Shams University and a Master's degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Liverpool. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Financial Executives Research Foundation and Financial Executives International. Additionally, he served as a member of the Global Preparers Forum, an external advisory body to the International Accounting Standards Board, from 2007 to 2013.

Bob Bailey has more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive and more than 15 years as a chief legal officer at private and publicly traded companies in the health care industry, including formerly serving as EVP, Law, Policy and Communications at Bausch + Lomb from 2007 to 2013. He rejoined Bausch + Lomb from Datavant, a private health information technology company, where he most recently served as Chief Legal Officer. Previously, he served as EVP, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Allergan plc and its predecessor companies, Forest Laboratories Inc. and Actavis plc. At Allergan, he led a legal team that closed more than 20 public and private M&A transactions, as well as several licensing arrangements. During his career, he also has led teams that defended and resolved a range of complex legal and regulatory matters, including investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice; internal investigations; and intellectual property, antitrust, commercial, product liability and tax matters. Mr. Bailey began his legal career as an attorney at Nixon Peabody LLP before moving to Bausch + Lomb in 1994.

Mr. Bailey has previously served as a director of TearClear, an innovator in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical field; as a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center; and as a member of the board of trustees of the Foundation for the Morristown (NJ) Medical Center. He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Luc Bonnefoy was appointed President, Surgical, in June 2023, after previously serving as Senior Vice President, Surgical, since November 2021. He has nearly 30 years of leadership experience in ophthalmology and has been with Bausch + Lomb for more than two decades, previously serving as Vice President, Surgical, International, from 2013 to 2021.

Mr. Bonnefoy served as Vice President, EMEA, for Technolas Perfect Vision, GmbH, a Bausch + Lomb company, from 2009 to 2013. From 2002 to 2008, he was responsible for surgical marketing and sales development for EMEA, and for the surgical business unit in France.

Mr. Bonnefoy holds a DESS degree in Microbiology/Genetic Engineering from Institut Pharmaceutique et Industrielle de Lyon (IPIL).

John Ferris was appointed Executive Vice President, Consumer, in June 2023, after serving as Senior Vice President, Consumer, since November 2021. With more than two decades of experience leading commercial functions for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, he joined Bausch + Lomb in August 2011. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Manager, U.S. Vision Care, and Vice President, Marketing, OTC Eye Vitamins.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ferris successfully led marketing teams with both a U.S. and global focus for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Becton Dickinson. He holds an MBA from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University.

Asli Gevgilili is responsible for leading all aspects of global human resources and talent strategy. She joined Bausch + Lomb in August 2023 from INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, where she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer since 2021. Ms. Gevgilili has more than 25 years of Human Resources experience and started her career at Merrill Lynch, where she assumed roles of increasing responsibility from 1997 to 2004, ultimately as Vice President, Human Resources.

Following Merrill Lynch, Ms. Gevgilili held executive human resources positions with Merck from 2004 to 2012, and Allergan from 2012 to 2020. She holds a master's degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University and has completed graduate work at Baruch College towards her Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She earned her BA in Psychology from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.

Yehia Hashad is an ophthalmologist and retinal specialist with more than 25 years of leadership experience in various ophthalmology global research and development roles, including his current role as the Executive Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer at Bausch + Lomb.

Most recently, Dr. Hashad was with Allergan/AbbVie where he served as Senior Vice President and Head of R&D for Allergan Aesthetics from 2020 through August 2021. There, he oversaw the development of more than 40 programs that spanned pharmaceutical products, fillers, reconstructive surgery, devices and consumer skin care. From 2010 until Allergan's acquisition by AbbVie in 2020, Dr. Hashad held a number of executive R&D positions at Allergan, including Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development; Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development, Ophthalmology, Dermatology and Medical Aesthetics; and Vice President and Global Head of the Ophthalmology and Retina therapeutic areas.

Prior to Allergan, Dr. Hashad spent five years with Novartis Pharma AG, where he served as a Global Medical Director for age-related macular degeneration-related treatments Visudyne^® and Lucentis^® and as a Medical Director, Ophthalmology, for the European region. From 1996 to 2005, he held positions of increasing responsibility at T3A Pharma Group.

Dr. Hashad obtained his Master of Science in Medical and Surgical Ophthalmology from Cairo University and a business degree from INSEAD in France. He previously served on the boards of The Glaucoma Research Foundation and the National Alliance of Eye and Vision Research and is currently a board adviser for the University of California Irvine Research Center.

Andrew Stewart has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined Bausch + Lomb from AbbVie, where he most recently served as general manager within the Eye Care franchise. At AbbVie and its predecessor company, Allergan plc, Mr. Stewart also previously had responsibility for the U.S. Retina business; led global marketing for the Eye Care franchise; and oversaw business development initiatives for the Eye Care franchise. Earlier in his career, Mr. Stewart served at Bristol Meyers Squibb for nearly 14 years in Global Clinical Operations and Pharmaceutical Development Operations of the R&D department, and at Merck & Co., Inc. for 7 years in the manufacturing division.

Mr. Stewart obtained an MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business, a master’s degree in Environmental Science from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Al Waterhouse joined Bausch + Lomb in August 2023, and is responsible for the company’s end-to-end supply chain, which includes Manufacturing, Planning, Engineering, Technology Operations, Procurement and Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability functions.

Before joining Bausch + Lomb, Mr. Waterhouse most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of AcuFocus, an ophthalmic medical device company. Prior to joining AcuFocus in 2015 as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, he held executive leadership positions for more than 26 years in the health care and medical device industries, including Abbott Medical Optics, Advanced Medical Optics and PCI Pharma Services.

Mr. Waterhouse obtained an MBA from Xavier University, and a bachelor’s degree from Otterbein University.

Yang Yang was appointed President, Vision Care, in June 2023, after previously serving as Senior Vice President, Global Vision Care, since November 2021. Ms. Yang joined Bausch + Lomb in February 2014, serving in positions of increasing responsibility. Previously, she served as Vice President, International Vision Care, from 2017 to 2021, and as Business Unit Director, Vision Care, China and Japan.

Before joining Bausch + Lomb, Ms. Yang led marketing and sales teams for Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal and Proctor & Gamble. She holds an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Peking University.