Francis deSouza

Francis Aurelio deSouza (/ˈdʌsuːzɑː/; born December 2, 1970) is an American entrepreneur and business executive. He is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Illumina.[1][2]

Francis deSouza
deSouza at Illumina Cambridge, 2017
Born
Francis Aurelio deSouza

(1970-12-02) December 2, 1970
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B./S.M.)
OccupationEntrepreneur and business executive
Years active1991–present
EmployerIllumina
TitlePresident & CEO
Board member ofThe Walt Disney Company (February 2018 to present)

Illumina (2013 to present)

Citrix Systems (December 2014 to July 2016)
Spouse(s)Divorced
Children2

Before Illumina, deSouza was president of products and services at Symantec.[3][4] He joined Symantec in 2006 when Symantec acquired IMlogic, where deSouza was founder and CEO.[5] Prior to IMlogic, deSouza worked at Microsoft from 1998 to 2001 after Microsoft acquired Flash Communications, where deSouza was co-founder and CEO.[6]

Early life

He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Elpinki, an Ethiopian/Greek mother, and Domingos, an Indian father. He was the second of five children.[7] His mother was a homemaker and his father was a commercial representative for Japanese trading company Itochu. Before he was 5, his family moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[8]

In 1987, at age 16, he graduated from St. Mary's Catholic High School in Dubai and was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[9] He graduated Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu and Sigma Xi from MIT in 1992 with Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and a minor in economics.[10]

Career

Early in his career, he worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and then in management consulting.[11][12] DeSouza co-founded and served as CEO of Flash Communications, a provider of corporate instant messaging that was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.[13]

Microsoft

Following Microsoft's acquisition of Flash, deSouza joined Microsoft and became a product unit manager, where he led the team responsible for the development of the company's enterprise real-time collaboration offerings, including instant messaging, chat, Voice over IP and NetMeeting.[14]

IMlogic

DeSouza left Microsoft in 2001 and founded IMlogic, where he served as CEO[15] and grew the company into the market leading provider of instant messaging security.[16]

Symantec

DeSouza joined Symantec through the company's acquisition of IMlogic in February 2006.[17] DeSouza served as president of products and services at Symantec until November 11, 2013.[18][19] He led the research, product management, engineering, customer support and operations for Symantec's offerings, which generated $6.73 billion in revenue in FY11.[20]

Illumina

DeSouza became president and chief executive officer of Illumina on July 5, 2016, and has served on Illumina's board of directors since November 2013.[21][22] Prior to becoming president and CEO in July 2016,[23] he served as President of Illumina from November 2013[24] to July 2016. He was responsible for Illumina's business units and for developing, marketing, selling and supporting the company's products. DeSouza joined Illumina in November 2013.[25]

Board member

He served on the Board of Directors of Citrix Systems from December 2014 to June 2016.[26]

In February 2018 deSouza was elected to the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.[27]

Accolades and recognition

References
  1. San Diego Magazine "The Man Behind San Diego's $26 Billion Company"
  2. San Diego Tribune "Illumina CEO brings entrepreneurial spirit to genomics giant"
  3. Reuters Brief Biography "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  4. Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  5. Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  6. CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  7. The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  8. The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  9. Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
  10. Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
  11. Crunchbase, "Francis deSouza".
  12. RSA Conference, "Francis deSouza".
  13. CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  14. The Wall Street Transcript, "Francis deSouza – IMlogic Inc".
  15. Engineering Our World: MIT school of Engineering "Today's "real" engineers"
  16. MIT, "Francis deSouza, CEO of IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  17. Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  18. Reuters Brief Biography, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  19. Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  20. Symantec.com, "Symantec FY11 Earnings", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  21. "Jay Flatley to Assume Role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illumina; Francis deSouza Appointed President and CEO". www.illumina.com. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  22. "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  23. Illumina.com, "Jay Flatley to Assume Role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illumina; Francis deSouza Appointed President and CEO"
  24. "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  25. "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  26. Citrix.com "Citrix Appoints Francis deSouza to Board of Directors" Archived 2015-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
  27. LA Times Article, "Disney adds two board members from tech world"
  28. Fortune, “2018 Businessperson of the Year”.
  29. Silicon Valley Business Journal, "People to watch"


Business positions
Preceded by
Jay Flatley		 CEO of Illumina
2006–present		 Incumbent
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