Corporate Governance

Kamil Ali-Jackson, Esq. joined us as a director in December 2021. In January 2022, Ms. Ali-Jackson retired from her position as chief legal officer, chief compliance officer, and corporate secretary at Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, which she cofounded in 2012 and led the team which took the company public in 2015. In addition, Ms. Ali-Jackson co-founded and successfully transitioned several specialty pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies through multimillion-dollar acquisitions by global life sciences companies. In 2011, Ms. Ali-Jackson also co-founded NeXeption, Inc. a biopharmaceutical assets management company and was legal counsel for the company and its affiliated companies until 2020. She has served as legal counsel and as a licensing business executive for a number of pharmaceutical companies, including Merck & Co. Inc., Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ms. Ali-Jackson currently serves on the board of directors, audit committee, compensation committee, and is the chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee of PDS Biotechnology Corporation, a publicly traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, and she is also an independent director of Moda Operandi, a privately traded online luxury retail company. She has also served on several nonprofit boards and is the chair of the East Bradford Township Zoning Hearing Board, her local township zoning board. In July 2023, she was elected to the board of trustees for Princeton University. Ms. Ali-Jackson received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and Bachelor of Arts in politics from Princeton University. She was a 2011 Philadelphia Business Journal Woman of Distinction winner and a 2015 Pepper Hamilton, LLP remarkable alumna.

Alison L. Hannah, M. D. joined us as a director in May 2021. Dr. Hannah has served as a consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry since 2000, directing the development of investigational cancer therapies. In this capacity, Dr. Hannah has successfully filed over 40 regulatory applications for First-in-Human clinical testing and has played significant roles in the broad marketing approval of multiple anticancer therapeutics. Earlier in her career, Dr. Hannah held the role of Chief Medical Officer for CytomX Therapeutics, overseeing clinical development of conditionally activated protein therapeutics. She also served as Senior Medical Director at SUGEN, Inc. (acquired by Pharmacia & Upjohn, now Pfizer) where she had oversight of clinical development, clinical operations, and pharmacovigilance, specializing in the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including sunitinib (SUTENT) approved for the treatment of kidney cancer and imatinib-refractory gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Dr. Hannah began her career at Quintiles, a global contract research organization, where she specialized in overseeing early to registrational-stage oncology clinical trials. Dr. Hannah serves on the board of directors for Neogenomics, a cancer diagnostic firm. Dr. Hannah received her B.A. in biochemistry and immunology from Harvard University and her M.D. from the University of Saint Andrews.

Gregg A. Lapointe, CPA, MBA, joined us as a director in November 2017. Since 2012, Mr. Lapointe has been the chief executive officer and co-founder of Cerium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with rare diseases. Mr. Lapointe offers Rigel’s Board nearly three decades of commercial and financial experience bringing products to market in the areas of medical devices and rare diseases. He previously served in varying roles for Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Leadiant Biosciences, Inc.), a private biopharmaceutical company, starting in 2001, including Chief Financial Officer from 2001 to 2002, Chief Operating Officer from 2003 to 2007, and Chief Executive Officer from 2008 to 2012. Mr. Lapointe led the effort to transform Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals from a small specialty dialysis company into a global leader in the development and commercialization of medicines for Rare Diseases. Mr. Lapointe also serves on the board of directors of Soligenix, Inc. and Astria Therapeutics, Inc. He previously sat on the board of SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Inc., Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Cambrooke Therapeutics, Inc., among others. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Lapointe was a member of the board of directors, and chair of the Rare Disease Committee, of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in Washington, DC. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University (Montreal), a Graduate Diploma in Public Accountancy from McGill University (Montreal), an MBA from Duke University, and is a CPA (Illinois).

Walter H. Moos, Ph.D. joined us as a director in March 1997. Since October 2018 Dr. Moos has been Managing Director of Pandect Bioventures, a venture capital firm investing in therapeutics and biotechnologies. Dr. Moos also serves on the board of directors of Valitor, Inc. and Circle Pharma, Inc. From February 2017 to June 2020, Dr. Moos was Chief Executive Officer of ShangPharma Innovation, Inc., a global pharmaceutical incubator investing in therapeutics and biotechnologies, where he served as Chairman Emeritus from December 2020 to January 2023. He retired from his position as President of SRI Biosciences in 2016 after more than a decade at the independent nonprofit SRI International (Stanford Research Institute). From 1997 to 2004, Dr. Moos served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MitoKor, Inc., which became the biopharmaceutical company MIGENIX, Inc., where he was a member of the board of directors from 2004 to 2008. Prior to that, he served as a Vice President of Chiron Corp. (now Novartis), and as a Vice President at the Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of the Warner-Lambert Co. (now Pfizer). He has been an adjunct Professor at the University of California San Francisco since 1992. He has also served on the boards of numerous private companies and several non-profit organizations, including Keystone Symposia (from 2002-2011 and again since 2014), and has been an advisor to a wide range of organizations in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Moos holds an A.B. from Harvard University in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California Berkeley.

Raul R. Rodriguez was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in November 2014. Until then, he had served as our President and Chief Operating Officer since May 2010. He joined us as Vice President, Business Development in April 2000, became our Senior Vice President, Business Development and Commercial Operations in December 2002 and became our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2004. From 1997 to March 2000, he served as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Operations for Ontogeny, Inc. (now Curis), a biotechnology company. From 1994 to 1997, he served as the Executive Director, Business Development and Market Planning for Scios, Inc. (now J&J), a pharmaceutical company. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Rodriguez held various positions at G.D. Searle & Company (now Pfizer), a pharmaceutical company. In these companies, Mr. Rodriguez held positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of business development and planning. After earning his A.B. from Harvard University, Mr. Rodriguez went on to earn his Master of Public Health at the University of Illinois and subsequently received his M.B.A. at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Jane Wasman J.D. joined us as a director in March 2019. Ms. Wasman is a strategic leader with approximately 25 years of experience in the biopharma industry working with both large, multinational corporations and privately held start-ups. Ms. Wasman is founder and president of JWasman Advisors since 2020. She previously served from 2004-2019 at Acorda Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing and commercializing neurology therapies for Parkinson’s disease, migraine and multiple sclerosis, most recently as President, International & General Counsel. At Acorda, she led global strategic development, including long range planning and development, as well as international expansion, and built and led the Legal and Quality departments. Prior to joining Acorda, Ms. Wasman held various leadership positions at Schering-Plough, including Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel. Previously, Ms. Wasman was an attorney at two global law firms and Associate Counsel for the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Ms. Wasman is chair of the board of Sellas Life Sciences, a public oncology focused biotech company, as well as chair of its Nominations & Governance Committee. She was a member of the board of directors of Athersys since November 2020, as well as chair of its Audit Committee. She has also served as a member of the board of directors for Cytovia Therapeutics. From February 2007, she has also served on the non-profit board of directors of NewYorkBIO, including its Executive Committee, and currently serves on its Senior Advisory Committee. Ms. Wasman graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School.