Francis deSouza
Francis deSouza | |
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![]() deSouza at Illumina Cambridge, 2017 | |
Born | Francis Aurelio deSouza December 2, 1970 |
Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B./S.M.) |
Occupation | Entrepreneur and business executive |
Years active | 1991–present |
Employer | Illumina |
Title | President & CEO |
Board member of |
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Spouse(s) | Divorced |
Children | 2 |
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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.[3]
Accolades and recognition[edit]
- Top CEOs 2019 on Glassdoor[28]
- Top CEOs 2018 on Glassdoor[29]
- Top Businesspersons of the Year #10 on Fortune's global list of (2018)[30]
- 40 under 40 - Silicon Valley Business Journal (2007)[31]
References[edit]
- ^ Park, Alice (April 26, 2021). "2021 Time100 Most Influential Companies: Illumina Decoding Covid19". Time.
- ^ Fikes, Bradley J. (February 23, 2017). "Illumina CEO brings entrepreneurial spirit to genomics giant". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ a b "Disney adds two board members from tech world". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Reuters Brief Biography "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Gulf News "Former Dubai-based Indian student at forefront of decoding COVID-19 genome in US"
- ^ Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
- ^ Fortune, "Francis deSouza".
- ^ RSA Conference, "Francis deSouza".
- ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ The Wall Street Transcript, "Francis deSouza – IMlogic Inc".
- ^ Engineering Our World: MIT school of Engineering "Today's "real" engineers"
- ^ MIT, "Francis deSouza, CEO of IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Reuters Brief Biography, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ Symantec.com, "Symantec FY11 Earnings", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
- ^ "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 February 18, 2020.
- ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ^ Illumina.com, "Jay Flatley to Assume Role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illumina; Francis deSouza Appointed President and CEO"
- ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ^ Citrix.com "Citrix Appoints Francis deSouza to Board of Directors" Archived May 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Glassdoor, [1].
- ^ Glassdoor, [2].
- ^ Fortune, "2018 Businessperson of the Year".
- ^ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "People to watch"
External links[edit]
- 1970 births
- Living people
- American technology company founders
- American technology chief executives
- Directors of The Walt Disney Company
- American business executives
- American chief executives of manufacturing companies
- American computer businesspeople
- American management consultants
- MIT School of Engineering alumni
- American people of Greek descent
- American businesspeople of Indian descent
- American health activists
- American corporate directors
- Businesspeople in information technology
- Businesspeople in software
- NortonLifeLock people
- Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area