Leadership

Vivek Devaraj serves as our President U.S. and Chairman. Vivek has over 28 years of international experience within the Novartis group across their Sandoz, Innovative Medicines and CIBA Vision business divisions, and most recently with the Alfasigma Group. Vivek has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States. He joined the Novartis group in 1995 and consolidated his experience in roles of increasing responsibility within the Commercial, Pharmaceutical Development and Finance functions, including country leadership roles in Italy, South Africa and South Asia for Sandoz. Vivek’s immediately preceding role was International Business Unit Director at Alfasigma Group. Vivek holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Loyola College University of Madras and also holds a postgraduate qualification of Chartered Accountant.

Victoria Carey serves as our Head of U.S. Strategic Marketing and has been with Intercept for over six years. During her tenure at Intercept, Vicki has led the U.S. Marketing team for PBC and NASH pre-launch, the U.S. Sales team and the U.S. Commercial Analytics, Operations and Training teams. Prior to joining Intercept, Vicki successfully developed teams and drove business results across commercial functions, geographies, therapeutic areas and lifecycle stages. While at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Vicki led several successful launches, including the U.S. launch of Yervoy, the first immunotherapy approved for stage four metastatic melanoma, and the global launch of Eliquis which today is the #1 novel anticoagulant in the world. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry, Vicki worked in consumer-packaged goods, at both the Clorox Company and Nabisco. At the latter company, Vicki was in charge of the Cookie portfolio, and was named a Top Marketer by Advertising Age for her work on Oreo Cookies. Vicki received her B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and received her master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Deryk David serves as our Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Sales. Deryk brings over 40 years of broad commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry. His experience spans most major commercial functions, with significant years of experience at Abbott Laboratories, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb. At Abbott Laboratories, Pharmaceutical Products Division he worked in marketing, sales and other leadership roles in market research and market access. Subsequent to that, Deryk joined Merck and Co. as Head of the Neuroscience Therapeutic Business Group and was intimately involved in the launch of the U.S. Oncology team and also successfully launched the breakthrough HPV vaccine, Gardasil, as head of sales. At Merck he also served as head of the U.S. Health Science - MSL function. He then joined Bristol Myers Squibb where he served as the Vice President of Sales for Oncology and Vice President of the Kidney Transplant unit. A long tenured member of the Intercept team, he brings his breadth of experience and team leadership to contribute beyond his primary role in sales. Deryk is a pharmacist by training and holds an MBA degree.

Veruska Di Sena, M.D. serves as our Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs. She has more than 20 years of experience in various therapeutic fields—including gastroenterology, oncology, rare metabolic diseases, and thrombosis/​coagulation. Besides her extensive expertise and leadership in Medical Affairs, she has a background in Pharmacovigilance/​Safety Monitoring, Clinical Trials, and Drug Development. Before joining Intercept, Veruska was the Executive Medical Director for US Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca, where she established and led the US Medical Affairs team responsible for acute care. She previously held progressively responsible roles at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, and PPD. Veruska earned her M.D. from Federal University of Rio Grande Do Norte in Brazil and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Gastroenterology Fellowship at Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Richard Johnson serves as our Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Human Resources and has been part of Intercept since 2017. He brings close to 25 years of experience in human resources roles within biotech, large pharmaceuticals, and consulting companies. Prior to joining Intercept, Richard spent 10 years at Sanofi, where he held roles of increasing responsibility within the human resources function, focused on driving change through a highly transformative time of growth via several M&A transactions. Before joining the pharmaceuticals industry, Richard worked at various HR consulting companies with clients across multiple sectors. Richard holds a bachelor’s degree from the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Sangeeta Sawhney, M.D. serves as our Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Research and Development and has been part of Intercept since 2021. Sangeeta brings 20+ years of combined clinical and drug development experience across metabolic, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal therapeutic areas. She served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility over the past two decades, including clinical development and pharmacovigilance. Prior to Intercept, Sangeeta led cross-functional development teams leading to approval of novel compounds for management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcerative colitis within biotech and large pharmaceutical companies. Sangeeta received her M.D. From the University of Miami. She completed her internal medicine residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Sangeeta continues to actively maintain her medical license and volunteers time at a local non-profit clinic in North Carolina which she co-founded and serves on the board.

Jose Truzman, J.D. serves as our General Counsel – U.S. and has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience working in a variety of legal roles. Prior to becoming General Counsel – U.S. in November 2023, Jose served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary and has been in roles of increasing responsibility since joining Intercept in 2014. Prior to joining Intercept, he served as Corporate Counsel-Commercial Brands at Daiichi Sankyo Inc. from 2010 to 2014 and as Associate General Counsel at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2005 to 2010. Jose started his legal career practicing corporate and transactional law at Dewey Ballantine LLP. Jose received a Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law and School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Stonybrook.

Rocco Venezia serves as our Chief Financial Officer and brings more than 20 years of relevant strategic, finance, and accounting experience to the role. Prior to becoming Chief Financial Officer in November of 2023, Rocco served as Intercept’s Chief Accounting Officer since March 2021, where he led several strategic initiatives, including the restructuring of the debt balance and divestiture of the international business. Rocco joined Intercept in 2016 as Corporate Controller where he led the expansion of the company’s finance and accounting department during its transition from development-stage to a fully integrated commercial organization. Before joining Intercept, Rocco was the Assistant Corporate Controller at IKARIA, Inc., now part of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, from 2013 to 2016, where he led the accounting and finance team through operational and system transformations. From 2000 to 2013, Rocco held roles of increasing responsibility at KPMG LLP and Arthur Andersen, where he led multinational audits, transactions, and due diligence engagements across several industries. Rocco also spent three years at KPMG LLP’s Department of Professional Practice where he supported engagement teams on complex technical accounting, compliance matters, and audit methodology. Rocco holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Kean University and is a certified public accountant in New Jersey and New York.