Leadership
Team
Gadi Saarony, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Gadi Saarony, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Gadi Saarony, Chief Executive Officer at Advarra, has over 25 years of leadership experience, including strategic, commercial, and operational clinical research roles. Prior to joining Advarra, Saarony served as Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Research Services Officer at Parexel and was a member the company’s executive leadership team. Saarony was responsible for the operational delivery of Parexel’s global clinical research services, including site strategy and selection, patient recruitment, data management, biostatistics and programming, clinical operations, project management, resourcing, clinical trial supplies and logistics, and Phase I units. Prior to that, Saarony held several other senior-level positions at Parexel and was instrumental in achieving rapid growth in Parexel’s regulatory consulting and medical communications businesses. Saarony initially joined Parexel in 2003 in the area of strategy development.
Saarony also previously served as Director of Consulting Services for Habama, Inc., and as Associate Director, Strategy, with Ernst & Young, LLP, Inc. He graduated from Rider University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and holds a master’s degree in international business from The American Graduate School of International Business (now Thunderbird School of Global Management).
Scott Uebele, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Scott Uebele, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Scott Uebele is responsible for strategy and day-to-day operations across all business functions. With a focus on performance and delivery excellence, he oversees Review Services, including institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), data monitoring, and endpoint adjudication, Global Services and Product Delivery, Consulting Services, Product Management, and Technology as well as the related customer success and customer relationships teams.
Uebele has more than 25 years of global experience in strategic operations and financial leadership with 17 years in the pharma-services industry. Prior to his current role, he was President and Chief Research Services Officer at Advarra, overseeing Review Services and Consulting. Previously, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer at Advarra where he directed the financial, legal, analytics, and contracts activities. Previously, Uebele was Chief Financial Officer at Chesapeake IRB, which merged with Schulman IRB in 2017 to form Advarra.
Earlier in his career, Uebele held multiple financial and operational positions, including Global Vice President of Finance for Research Pharmaceutical Services (RPS), a global clinical research organization now part of ICON.
Uebele earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bucknell University and his MBA in finance from Seton Hall University where he was awarded the Robert Troccoli Business Policy Award. Uebele serves on the Bucknell University Board of Trustees.
Dwight Van Inwegen
Chief Financial Officer
Dwight Van Inwegen
Chief Financial Officer
Dwight Van Inwegen, Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for strategic oversight, management, and optimization of the finance and information technology functions at Advarra. He brings more than 30 years of global executive leadership in finance, accounting, and operations with expertise in scaling finance organizations and partnering with the business to successfully drive growth.
Prior to Advarra, Van Inwegen was VP-Finance for the Pharmaceutical Services Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he was instrumental in nearly doubling the size of the business, focusing on both organic and inorganic growth initiatives. Previously, he held multiple executive-level positions in finance, including CFO of the Construction Products business at W.R. Grace and CFO-EMEA at International Paper in Brussels, Belgium.
Van Inwegen holds a BS in Accounting with honors from the University of Tennessee and is a CPA (inactive) in the state of Tennessee.
Marco Capasso, JD
Chief Legal and Risk Officer, Secretary to the Board
Marco Capasso, JD
Chief Legal and Risk Officer, Secretary to the Board
Marco Capasso is responsible for overseeing the company’s legal, risk management, and corporate governance matters. He provides counsel on a wide range of matters including commercial contracting, dispute resolution, compliance, data privacy, information security, and enterprise risk management.
Capasso has more than 25 years of legal and clinical research experience, serving in leadership positions at both publicly traded and privately held life sciences companies and as a clinical researcher at several renowned institutions. Prior to joining Advarra, Capasso was General Counsel at WCG Clinical. Previously, he held multiple senior-level legal positions with industry-leading corporations including Parexel and Lilly, among others.
Capasso earned his BA from Columbia University and JD from Rutgers School of Law.
Lauri Carlile, MS
Chief Research Services Officer
Lauri Carlile, MS
Chief Research Services Officer
Lauri Carlile is Chief Research Services Officer where she leads the strategic direction and operational excellence across institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), data monitoring, and endpoint adjudication services, and Consulting. With a proven track record of regulatory compliance and operational expertise, she oversees this comprehensive suite of services to ensure quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
With over 25 years in the research industry, including 20 years in the IRB space, her leadership is marked by a focus on leveraging technology, optimizing processes, and fostering a culture of compliance and continuous improvement. This has resulted in enhanced delivery, increased client satisfaction, and significant business growth.
Earlier in her career, Carlile was a pre-clinical research associate for Biomeasure (parent company Ipsen Bioscience) and subsequently served in various quality, regulatory, and compliance roles supporting the Human Research Protection Programs at (now Advarra) and Harvard/Partners HealthCare System.
Carlile earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a Master of Science in clinical investigation from MGH Institute of Health Professions where she was the first program recipient of the MGH Award for Academic Excellence.
Elisa Cascade, MBA
Chief Product Officer
Elisa Cascade, MBA
Chief Product Officer
Elisa Cascade, Chief Product Officer, is responsible for driving Advarra’s technology product vision and management. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the clinical research industry with a focus on using technology to transform clinical research for all stakeholders.
Prior to joining Advarra, Cascade held the position of Chief Product Officer for Science 37 where she was responsible for setting the company’s product vision and roadmap and leading product management, business analysis, design, and strategic customer support. Previously, she held several key leadership positions including Executive Vice President and Product Line Executive for eCOA at Clario, Chief Product Officer at DrugDev, an IQVIA Company, and Vice President of the Digital Patient Unit at Quintiles (now IQVIA).
Cascade currently serves as the Chair for the Association for Clinical Research Professionals Board of Trustees.
Cascade earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Scott Hoffman
Chief Commercial Officer
Scott Hoffman
Chief Commercial Officer
Scott Hoffman is Chief Commercial Officer of Advarra. In this role, he is responsible for managing the commercial organization and related functions and driving a unified, client-centric commercial strategy.
Hoffman has more than 20 years of experience in life sciences and sales. Prior to joining Advarra, he held multiple leadership positions at Medidata. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Sales where he was responsible for Medidata’s Global Mid-Market and Strategic Accounts business.
Previously, Hoffman held various global sales and operational leadership roles at C3i Solutions (now HCL Technologies). Earlier in his career, he held technology positions at several companies including Schering Plough and Aventis. Hoffman attended East Carolina University.
Jeff Sidell, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Sidell, PhD
Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Sidell is Chief Technology Officer at Advarra. He is responsible for progressing and executing Advarra’s overall technology vision, strategy, and roadmap.
Sidell has over 25 years of technology experience in enterprise software development, data science, product and technical management. Prior to joining Advarra, he was CTO at RDC (now part of Moody’s Analytics) where he was responsible for product management, software engineering, data science, and technical operations. Previously, he was Vice President Data Analytics at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he led the data science consultancy. Sidell also has extensive technology startup experience including Strevus as founder and CTO and Siperian as Chief Scientist.
Sidell holds an undergraduate degree in computer science from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Bryan Spielman, MBA
Chief Growth Officer
Bryan Spielman, MBA
Chief Growth Officer
Bryan Spielman is Chief Growth Officer at Advarra and is responsible for driving Advarra’s corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and corporate communications. Spielman brings over 25 years of business development and corporate strategy experience from leading technology companies including those with a focus on life sciences.
Prior to Advarra, Spielman served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy for Internet Brands’ Health Division, which includes WebMD and Henry Schein One. He also previously served as executive vice president of strategy and corporate development at Medidata, where he was responsible for defining and evolving the company’s corporate strategy and building impactful relationships with customers, partners, and key industry stakeholders. Spielman also helped catalyze important new areas of growth, including Medidata’s focus on deep data and analytics. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles in investment banking at Centerview Partners, UBS Investment Bank, and Bear Stearns.
Spielman is a member of Datavant’s Advisory Board, the Board of the Galien Foundation, and the Partnership Fund for NYC’s Healthcare Advisory Board. He also actively mentors technology start-ups through NYU’s Entrepreneurial Center.
Spielman holds an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Vicki Vezina, MA
Chief Human Resources Officer
Vicki Vezina, MA
Chief Human Resources Officer
Vicki Vezina, Chief Human Resources Officer, oversees all aspects of Advarra’s human resources function, including employee relations, talent management, and operations. With 30 years of experience in HR strategy and partnerships, Vezina has a proven track record of driving HR initiatives that support business growth, collaboration, engagement, and cultural alignment. Her expertise extends to talent management and optimizing HR processes and systems.
Most recently Vezina was CHRO at Rapid Micro Biosystems where she was instrumental in scaling the HR function, processes, and systems to meet the business need, developing the company culture, leading the talent strategy, and boosting employee engagement. Previously she held senior-level human resources roles at SimpliSafe, Boston Consulting Group, and Skyworks Solutions. Earlier in her career, Vezina spent several years at Thermo Fisher Scientific in HR leadership roles.
Vezina earned a BA degree in government from Clark University and an MA in organizational psychology from William James College.