Leadership

Richard W. Pascoe  |  Tran B. Nguyen   |  Brian T. Dorsey
Matthew W. Onaitis

Richard W. Pascoe
President and Chief Executive Officer

Richard Pascoe joined Somaxon as our President and Chief Executive Officer in August 2008. Previously, Mr. Pascoe was the Chief Operating Officer at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, an emerging oncology company, where he led commercial operations, manufacturing, information services, program and alliance management and business development. Prior to that, he held a series of senior management roles at King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including Senior Vice President of neuroscience marketing and sales and Vice President positions in both international sales and marketing and hospital sales. He also held positions in the commercial groups at Medco Research, Inc. (which was acquired by King), COR Therapeutics, Inc. (where he helped lead the successful launch of eptifibatide (Integrilin^®)), B. Braun Interventional and the BOC Group. Mr. Pascoe served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army following his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a B.S. degree in Leadership.

Tran B. Nguyen
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Tran Nguyen has served as Somaxon’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since February 2011. Mr. Nguyen joined us as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in April 2010. Mr. Nguyen brings to the company more than 10 years of finance experience, primarily focused in the life science industry. Previously, he was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, until the company was sold to Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, Mr. Nguyen was a Vice President at Citi Global Markets, Inc., where he was responsible for senior and junior relationship management of small-to-large-cap biotechnology and specialty pharma companies on the West Coast. He also was with Lehman Brothers, Inc., last serving as a Vice President in the Healthcare Investment Banking group. Mr. Nguyen earned a B.A. degree in Economics and Psychology from Claremont McKenna College, and an M.B.A. degree from the Anderson School of Management at U.C.L.A.

Brian T. Dorsey
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations

Brian Dorsey joined Somaxon as Executive Director, Manufacturing and Program Management in 2005 and after a series of promotions, is now Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, a position he has held since April 2010. Previously, Mr. Dorsey served as Head of Project Management, Medical Writing and Library Services at Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Before that, he served as Director, Head of Biopharmaceutical Project Management at Baxter Bioscience, a division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Mr. Dorsey also was a Global Project Leader / Project Director at Pfizer Global Research and Development (Agouron). Mr. Dorsey earned his B.S. degree in chemistry and his M.A. degree in executive leadership, both from the University of San Diego.

Matthew W. Onaitis
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Matt Onaitis joined Somaxon as Vice President, Legal Affairs and Secretary in May 2006. He was promoted to Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in January 2007 and was named Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in April 2010. Previously, Mr. Onaitis served as Associate General Counsel at Biogen Idec Inc. and as Director, Legal Affairs at Elan Corporation plc, – both biopharmaceutical companies. Mr. Onaitis also practiced corporate and commercial law in private practice. Mr. Onaitis earned a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.