Finalist: Reena R. Desai

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
Mirati
California Western School of Law

Reena R. Desai is chief legal officer for Mirati. She has built a successful legal organization from the ground up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and manages the company’s overall legal matters and enterprise risk in addition to the building compliance program. Under her oversight, the company successfully completed three financings in the last two years, raising over $1.75 billion in public stock offerings and $500 million ATM. She also manages business development activities from the transactions side, closing a China commercial collaboration with Zai Labs.

Desai brings over 20 years of legal experience to Mirati, having held legal positions across the pharmaceutical industry. Uniquely, she has a B.S. degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology/Genetics from UC Davis, and completed her graduate coursework in Molecular and Cellular Biology at San Francisco State before embarking on her legal career.