Francis deSouza

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

(1970-12-02) December 2, 1970 (age 50)
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

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] and a member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.[3]

Before Illumina, deSouza was president of products and services at Symantec.[4][5] He joined Symantec in 2006 when Symantec acquired IMlogic, where deSouza was founder and CEO.[6] Prior to IMlogic, deSouza worked at Microsoft from 1998 to 2001 after Microsoft acquired Flash Communications, where deSouza was co-founder and CEO.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

In 1987, at age 16, he graduated from St. Mary's Catholic High School, Dubai, UAE[10] and was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[11] 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.[12]

Career[]

Early in his career, he worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and then in management consulting.[13][non-primary source needed] DeSouza co-founded and served as CEO of Flash Communications, a provider of corporate instant messaging that was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.[14]

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.[15]

IMlogic[]

DeSouza left Microsoft in 2001 and founded IMlogic, where he served as CEO[16] and grew the company into the market leading provider of instant messaging security.[17]

Symantec[]

DeSouza joined Symantec through the company's acquisition of IMlogic in February 2006.[18] DeSouza served as president of products and services at Symantec until November 11, 2013.[19][20] He led the research, product management, engineering, customer support and operations for Symantec's offerings, which generated $6.73 billion in revenue in FY11.[21]

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.[22][23] Prior to becoming president and CEO in July 2016,[24] he served as President of Illumina from November 2013[25] 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.[26]

Board member[]

He served on the Board of Directors of Citrix Systems from December 2014 to June 2016.[27]

In February 2018 deSouza was elected to the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.[28]

Accolades and recognition[]

References[]

  1. ^ Time Magazine "2021 Time100 Most Influential Companies: Illumina Decoding Covid19"
  2. ^ San Diego Tribune "Illumina CEO brings entrepreneurial spirit to genomics giant"
  3. ^ LA Times Article, "Disney adds two board members from tech world"
  4. ^ Reuters Brief Biography "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  5. ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  6. ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  7. ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  8. ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  9. ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  10. ^ Gulf News "Former Dubai-based Indian student at forefront of decoding COVID-19 genome in US"
  11. ^ Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
  12. ^ Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
  13. ^ RSA Conference, "Francis deSouza".
  14. ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  15. ^ The Wall Street Transcript, "Francis deSouza – IMlogic Inc".
  16. ^ Engineering Our World: MIT school of Engineering "Today's "real" engineers"
  17. ^ MIT, "Francis deSouza, CEO of IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  18. ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  19. ^ Reuters Brief Biography, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  20. ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  21. ^ Symantec.com, "Symantec FY11 Earnings", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  24. ^ Illumina.com, "Jay Flatley to Assume Role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illumina; Francis deSouza Appointed President and CEO"
  25. ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  26. ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  27. ^ Citrix.com "Citrix Appoints Francis deSouza to Board of Directors" Archived 2015-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ LA Times Article, "Disney adds two board members from tech world"
  29. ^ Glassdoor, [1].
  30. ^ Glassdoor, [2].
  31. ^ Fortune, “2018 Businessperson of the Year”.
  32. ^ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "People to watch"

External links[]

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