Executive Management Team

Tim joined the Board in May 2014. Tim has spent many years in the ophthalmic market and brings to Rayner extensive knowledge of medical devices, ophthalmic services and strategic investment.

Tim was a founder and European VP of Advanced Medical Optics which was spun out of Allergan Inc, listed on the NYSE and subsequently acquired by Abbott Inc. More recently he was CEO of Moonray Healthcare, a private equity fund within Fidelity Worldwide Investments in which Optegra was a landmark investment. Tim led a team which grew Optegra into a leading worldwide provider of eye surgery centres operating from 23 specialist eye hospitals across Europe and Asia.

Tim has a passion for swimming, cycling and running and regularly competes in triathlons.

Darren joined the Board in August 2014 with 8 years’ experience as a CFO in public and private companies. Following an MSc in Theoretical Physics, Darren worked in new product development for AEA Technology before joining Arthur Andersen (later Deloitte) to become a chartered accountant. Once qualified he worked for IP Group plc as part of a small team helping commercialise innovative university technologies. He then joined one of these spin-out companies, Summit Corporation, which specialises in developing drugs for muscular dystrophy and TB. The company was successfully floated in 2004 on the AIM market.

Darren’s most recent position was as CFO at Gama Aviation, an aviation and engineering company with operations around the world and revenues over $200m. In each of his recent roles, Darren has helped the companies grow through investment and acquisition.

Darren is a keen cyclist who can be found climbing the Sussex hills most weekends.

Cepta joined the Rayner Group Board in October 2002 as Company Secretary and was appointed a main Board director in April 2003.

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the College of Law (now The University of Law) Cepta first acted for Rayner at the London law firm with which she trained and of which Rayner was a long standing client. Following a number of years working in private practice in London, Cepta joined The BOC Group plc as one of its Legal Advisers, based at its corporate headquarters in Surrey. As a member of BOC’s global legal team, she advised and supported the industrial gases giant across a wide range of commercial and employment matters.

Admitted to the roll of solicitors in both England and Wales and Ireland Cepta advises daily on all of the many and varied legal issues arising across our business.

In her spare time Cepta enjoys opera, the theatre, food and travelling.

David joined Rayner in August 2017. David has spent over 30 years working in the Medical Device market and brings to Rayner extensive knowledge of Regulatory, Quality, Manufacturing, and Distributing medical devices.

David has had over 5 years’ experience on Stryker’ s European leadership team with responsibility for Operations, and RA/QA. During this time the European leadership team transformed the business, significantly improving sales and operational performance.

One significant achievement was the restructure of the operations team which through improved supply chain processes significantly improved service levels to customers, while reducing the inventory.

David is a very keen golfer and runner in his spare time.

Cary was appointed to the Board in 2005. He subsequently joined our intraocular lens business in 2007, initially as UK Commercial Director where he achieved year-on-year double-digit growth. Cary is currently VP International.

Prior to joining Rayner, Cary enjoyed a career in banking and his last role was as Sales Director for Barclays Premier banking.

Cary’s great grandfather was Jean-Baptiste Reiner, one of the two original founders of Rayner in 1910 and accordingly Cary has a very particular connection with the Rayner business.

Cary is married to Laura, has 3 children (including a set of twins) and a dog, Honey.

Nat has been with Rayner for almost 15 years. He joined the company as a Product/Process Engineer shortly after obtaining a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sussex, eventually progressing to lead the R&D department and finally to take on his current role as Director of Research & Development in 2013. During his time at Rayner Nat has led, and been involved in, many projects; from the development of new products and manufacturing processes to the creation of company-wide project management and innovation programs

His current activities are focussed on building Rayner’s reputation as a market leader in innovative premium intraocular lenses and delivery systems

Outside of work, Nat has recently become a Dad for the second time so his main extracurricular activities typically revolve around Lego, sandpits and learning to ride a scooter!

Robert joined Rayner as part of the Moorfields Pharmaceuticals acquisition in September 2016. After completing his PhD in Environmental Microbiology at the University of Portsmouth, Robert joined the pharmaceutical industry as a Clinical Research Associate. His formative years were spent at Janssen where he held a series of Sales and Marketing roles of increasing responsibility. With an MBA from Henley Business School, Robert has over 10 years ophthalmology industry experience, achieved mainly by serving as Bausch + Lomb’s Head of Pharmaceuticals UK, Ireland and Nordics.

Outside of work, Robert likes to play squash/racketball and spending time with his family.

James joined Rayner in 2008 from Pfizer where he specialised in pharmaceutical sales. Prior to this, James worked on the internationalisation of financial service provider Citibank.

In December 2019, James relocated back to the UK from New York where he spent two years overseeing the establishment of our direct US presence Rayner Surgical Inc. James is well versed in similar projects having led on Rayner’s direct entry into Spain, Italy and Portugal, establishing wholly-owned subsidiaries. James has several years’ life sciences experience, 12 of which have been at Rayner and now as VP – Direct Markets will support our commercial execution, launching our pipeline of products and in expanding our direct presence to new countries in Europe and North America.

He is an MBA candidate at the University of Warwick and holds a BA (Hons) degree from the University of Central Lancashire. As a senior member of Rayner’s commercial team, James can be relied on to deliver the objectives set for growth in the world’s largest IOL market, in accordance with Rayner’s values and its strategic plans.

James is a keen runner and enjoys spending his spare time exploring the many trails in Surrey.

Chris joined Rayner in February 2021 as Vice President of Marketing, responsible for the groups marketing and clinical departments globally.

Since graduating Chris has spent over 20 years working in the medical device industry, with the last 15 years in global ophthalmology. Chris’s marketing career started at 3M Health Care, spending 5 valuable years in their UK medical markets division, followed by 5 years with Bausch & Lomb surgical, where Chris was responsible for marketing across EMEA before being relocated to the Bausch Surgical’s global headquarters in Southern California to introduce the MICS Platform and head up global marketing. Since his time in the US, Chris has led the global commercialisation of new and innovative technology such as the KAMRA inlay and IC-8 IOL from AcuFocus, led a turnaround for Optos (Nikon Medical) in the UK and Nordics and launched the EyeMax Mono IOL on behalf of Syneos Health Commercial Solutions.

While not living medical devices, Chris enjoys spending time with his young family, being outdoors and both watching and playing sport as often as possible.

Claire joined Rayner in December 2020 with a strong and varied HR generalist and Organisation Development background gained in aerospace, manufacturing and medical device sectors. Claire brings to Rayner international experience of driving high performance work cultures and transformational change programmes, including mergers and acquisitions, with a strong focus on talent management.

Claire gained 7 years experience at CR Bard (now Becton Dickinson) where she held a number of regional HR Director roles across EMEA and EEMEA and joins us most recently from Acro Aircraft Seating who design, engineer and manufacture aircraft interiors where Claire held a key role on the executive leadership team and delivered business transformation initiatives leading to the successful relocation of the business to a new facility in Northampton.

Claire is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and in her spare time she enjoys yoga, horse riding and long walks in the countryside with her dog!