Management Team

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 bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, 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.

Dean Schorno was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in May 2018. Mr. Schorno joined Rigel from 23andMe, Inc., the leading consumer genetics and research company, where he had been CFO since 2015. Before joining 23andMe, Mr. Schorno was CFO of Adaptive Biotechnologies (Seattle, WA) and Genomic Health (Redwood City, CA). During this time, he led financial operations through periods of significant business and commercial growth which included significant financing and commercial transaction activity. Mr. Schorno began his career in finance at an international accounting firm in San Francisco, CA before starting his own consultancy in 1991. A certified public accountant, Mr. Schorno is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (BS, Business Administration) and Golden Gate University (MS, Taxation).

David A. Santos was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer in August 2020. Mr. Santos joined Rigel from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, where he held the role of hematology/oncology business unit head, responsible for leading US Commercialization of the oncology portfolio from January 2016 to July 2020. During his tenure at Jazz, he successfully grew the business unit through three launches to eventually have four promoted products in the leukemia, transplant and lung cancer markets. Prior to joining Jazz, from January 2014 to May 2015, Mr. Santos served as Vice President of sales and marketing for Medivation (now Pfizer), responsible for commercializing Xtandi for metastatic prostate cancer, and Vice President, kinase inhibitor franchise for Onyx (now Amgen), responsible for leading sales and marketing efforts with Nexavar and Stivarga. Before his work at Onyx, Mr. Santos served for nearly 9 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech, Inc., where he launched and held key commercial leadership roles on several successful brands, including Avastin, Herceptin and Tarceva. Mr. Santos also held marketing and sales roles at Lilly Oncology and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he started his pharmaceutical sales career. He received his BS in chemistry from St. Louis University.

Alison L. Hannah, M.D. was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in July 2026. She resigned from Rigel’s Board of Directors, which she had served on since May 2021, in connection with her appointment as CMO. Previously, Dr. Hannah has held the roles of Chief Medical Officer of CytomX Therapeutics, where she oversaw clinical development of conditionally activated protein therapeutics, and 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 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. Dr. Hannah began her career at Quintiles, a global contract research organization, where she specialized in overseeing early to registrational-stage oncology clinical trials. She served from 2015-2025 on the Board of Directors for Neogenomics, a cancer diagnostic firm, serving on their Clinical Advisory Board and as their Chair of the Compliance Committee. Dr. Hannah received her A.B. in biochemistry and immunology from Harvard University and her M.D. from the University of St Andrews.

Raymond J. Furey was appointed Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in December 2022. In his prior positions, Mr. Furey oversaw various companies’ legal affairs and managed their in-house legal teams. Mr. Furey joined Rigel from Turning Point Pharmaceutics, where he held the role of Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer from March 2021 to August 2022 and served as Interim General Counsel in 2022. Prior to joining Turning Point Pharmaceutics, Mr. Furey held various positions including Chief Operating Officer at Ara Pharmaceuticals from September 2020 to March 2021. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Portola Pharmaceuticals from August 2017 to September 2020. He has held other senior level positions at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Questor Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, Mr. Furey held the position of Corporate Compliance Officer at OSI Pharmaceuticals, and various other positions at Genentech. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, an MBA from San Francisco State University, and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Joseph Lasaga was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer in January 2024. He is responsible for leading the Company’s business development, alliance management, program management and portfolio strategy functions. Mr. Lasaga has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience with a strong background in R&D, corporate development and strategy. Since rejoining Rigel in 2016 as Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management, he has held roles of increasing responsibility, including Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. Prior to rejoining Rigel, Mr. Lasaga was Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management at Galena Biopharma, Inc., where he led corporate and business development strategy and execution. From 2010 until 2014, he was Director and later named Senior Director, Business Development at Nektar Therapeutics, where he led licensing activities, managed key alliances and structured research collaborations. Mr. Lasaga began his career at Rigel in 1998 as a molecular biologist in discovery research, before transitioning into business development in 2005. During his earlier tenure at Rigel, he served as Associate Director of Business Development, acting as alliance manager for all of Rigel’s partners, leading various out-licensing initiatives and supporting a broad range of strategic transactions. Mr. Lasaga holds a B.S. in Molecular Biology from San Jose State University and a M.B.A. in Marketing from San Francisco State University.

Julie Patel was appointed Senior Vice President, Human Resources in April 2022. She is a Human Resource leader with 30+ years of progressive experience in the life sciences industry, including biotech, medical device, drug delivery and pharmaceutical companies. Ms. Patel joined Rigel from IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc., where she held the role of Vice President, Human Resources, responsible for organizational planning, talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits, diversity, equality and inclusion. From 2013 until 2020, she was with Jazz Pharmaceuticals where she most recently held the role of Sr. Director, HR Business Partner: US Commercial/Legal/Compliance, responsible for integrating business and people objectives for a 450+ US Commercial, Sales/Marketing, Market Access and Operations teams. As a key member of the Commercial leadership team, she supported operational change efforts related to growth and transformation, supported engagement and culture initiatives, and directed workforce and compensation planning. Prior to joining Jazz, Ms. Patel was Senior Director, Strategic HR: Global Development at Elan and she previously held roles of increasing responsibility at both ALZA and Scios Incorporated, formerly Johnson & Johnson Companies. Ms. Patel graduated from California State University, Chico, with a B.A. in Information and Communication Studies.