Raymond Sanchez
About Raymond Sanchez
Raymond Sanchez, M.D., age 64, is an independent Class II director of Rapport Therapeutics (RAPP) who joined the board in November 2024. He is a Senior Advisor at Bain Capital Life Sciences and previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Cerevel Therapeutics (2019–Aug 2024), with earlier senior roles at Otsuka and Avanir; he trained in psychiatry at Yale and holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.D. from Northwestern University. He is not a board chair and is independent under Nasdaq and SEC rules; the board chair role is separate from the CEO. During 2024, the board held five meetings and each incumbent director attended at least 75% of board and committee meetings for which they served.
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Committees/Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cerevel Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CERE) | Chief Medical Officer | Jan 2019 – Aug 2024 | Led clinical development; overlapped with RAPP CEO’s prior service at Cerevel (network tie) |
| Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization | Various roles; SVP, Global Clinical Development | Nov 2007 – Jan 2019 (SVP from Nov 2013) | Senior clinical leadership |
| Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Otsuka affiliate) | Chief Medical Officer (concurrent) | Jun 2018 – Jan 2019 | CNS drug development leadership |
| Yale School of Medicine | Psychiatry training; Chief Resident; fellow; instructor | (prior to industry) | Academic and clinical credentials |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bain Capital Life Sciences | Senior Advisor | Current | Investment advisory role |
| International Society for CNS Drug Development | Executive Co-Chair | Nov 2017 – Jan 2022 | Industry collaboration leadership |
| Connecticut Mental Health Center Foundation; Yale School of Medicine | Contributor/Supporter | Not specified | Academic/charitable contributions |
Board Governance
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Board class; service start | Class II; director since Nov 2024 |
| Independence | Independent (board determined all except CEO Ceesay and Dr. Huber are independent) |
| Leadership structure | Chair separate from CEO; board favors separation currently |
| Committees | Compensation Committee (Member); Science & Technology Committee (Member) |
| Committee chairs | None (chairs: Comp—Healy; S&T—Young) |
| 2024 meetings/attendance | Board met 5x; each incumbent director attended ≥75% of board/committee meetings served |
| Committee meeting cadence (2024) | Audit 2x; Compensation 6x; Nominating & Gov 3x; Science & Technology 5x |
| Executive sessions | Non-employee directors met in executive session at each regular board meeting in 2024 |
Fixed Compensation
| Component | 2024 Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cash fees (retainer + committee fees, prorated) | $7,323 | Actual cash paid in FY2024 for board/committee service (partial year) |
| Policy: Annual board retainer (non-employee) | $40,000 | Payable quarterly; prorated for partial years |
| Policy: Committee member fees | Comp member $5,000; S&T member $4,000 | Annual; chairs receive higher retainers |
Mix (2024): Cash ≈ 1.2% vs equity ≈ 98.8% of total $592,921 (derived from disclosed amounts) .
Performance Compensation
| Component | 2024 Grant | Vesting/Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Stock options (initial director grant) | Grant-date fair value: $585,598; shares outstanding as of 12/31/2024: 29,756 | Initial grant size is 29,756 options; vests over 3 years (1/3 at first anniversary, then monthly over 24 months); full acceleration upon sale of the company |
Note: Non-employee director equity awards are time-based options; no performance metrics or TSR conditions are disclosed for director compensation.
Other Directorships & Interlocks
| Company | Role | Timeframe | Interlock/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| None disclosed | — | — | No other current public company directorships disclosed for Dr. Sanchez |
Network note: Both Dr. Sanchez (CMO) and RAPP’s CEO (President) previously served at Cerevel Therapeutics, indicating professional overlap.
Expertise & Qualifications
- Physician-executive with psychiatry training (Yale) and deep CNS clinical development leadership at Cerevel and Otsuka.
- Academic grounding (Northwestern B.A. Psychology; M.D.) with leadership in CNS drug development societies.
Equity Ownership
| Metric | Amount | As-of / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (common shares) | 0 shares; <1% | As of April 21, 2025; no options exercisable within 60 days (shows “—”) |
| Director stock options outstanding | 29,756 shares | As of Dec 31, 2024 (unexercised) |
| Hedging/pledging | Prohibited for directors by policy | Short sales, derivatives, hedging, and pledging are expressly prohibited |
| Ownership guidelines | Not disclosed | No director stock ownership guidelines disclosed in proxy |
Related-Party Exposure and Conflicts
- Related-party transactions disclosed involve ARCH, JJDC/Janssen, Third Rock, Sofinnova, Cormorant, Fidelity, and others; no transactions involving Dr. Sanchez are identified.
- Compensation consultant (Aon) engaged by the Compensation Committee deemed independent after conflict assessment.
Compensation Committee Analysis
- Members: Healy (Chair), Maraganore, Perez, Sanchez (all non-employee directors).
- Scope includes executive and director pay, equity plans, severance/change-in-control protections, and succession planning.
- Independent consultant Aon retained; committee determined no conflicts of interest.
Governance Assessment
- Strengths: Independent director; relevant CNS clinical expertise; active on Compensation and Science & Technology committees; board structure separates Chair and CEO; formal clawback policy adopted; prohibitions on hedging/pledging enhance alignment; regular executive sessions.
- Alignment considerations: No beneficial ownership reported as of Apr 21, 2025 (early tenure); equity awards are time-based (no disclosed performance conditions) though they provide upside with shareholders.
- Potential interlocks: Professional overlap with RAPP CEO from Cerevel; not a disclosed related-party transaction but relevant network tie for information flow.
- Change-in-control terms: Director option awards accelerate in full upon a sale of the company (could be viewed as a governance consideration for transaction incentives).