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

(1970-12-02) December 2, 1970 (age 53)
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( S.B./ S.M.)
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur and business executive
Years active1991–present
Employer(s)none, formerly Illumina
Spouse
Erica deSouza
( m. 2001; div. 2017)
Children2

Francis Aurelio deSouza ( /ˈdʌszɑː/; born December 2, 1970) is an American entrepreneur and business executive. He is the former 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 a mother of Ethiopian and Greek descent, Elpinki, and an Indian father, Domingos. 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]

Personal life

Following the 2017 divorce of deSouza and his wife Erica, the division of their cryptocurrency assets became a subject of dispute, drawing attention to how cryptocurrency assets are treated in divorce. [13] [14]

Career

Early in his career, he worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and then in management consulting. [15][ 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. [16]

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. [17]

IMlogic

DeSouza left Microsoft in 2001 and founded IMlogic, where he served as CEO [18] and grew the company into the market leading provider of instant messaging security. [19]

Symantec

DeSouza joined Symantec through the company's acquisition of IMlogic in February 2006. [20] DeSouza served as president of products and services at Symantec until November 11, 2013. [21] [22] He led the research, product management, engineering, customer support and operations for Symantec's offerings, which generated $6.73 billion in revenue in FY11. [23]

Illumina

DeSouza was appointed president of Illumina, Inc. in November 2013, leading the company in envisioning, developing, and producing products. [24] In 2016, he was also appointed CEO. [25] On June 11, 2023, DeSouza announced his resignation effectively immediately following an aggressive board reorganization and ousting attempt from Carl Icahn. [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. [3]

Accolades and recognition

References

  1. ^ Park, Alice (April 26, 2021). "2021 Time100 Most Influential Companies: Illumina Decoding Covid19". Time.
  2. ^ Fikes, Bradley J. (February 23, 2017). "Illumina CEO brings entrepreneurial spirit to genomics giant". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  3. ^ a b "Disney adds two board members from tech world". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ Reuters Brief Biography "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  5. ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza"[ dead link], Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  6. ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  7. ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  8. ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  9. ^ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  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. ^ Yaffe-Bellany, David (February 14, 2022). "Divorcing Couples Fight Over the Kids, the House and Now the Crypto". The New York Times. pp. Section B, Page 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  14. ^ DeSouza v. DeSouza, A156311  (City & County of San Francisco Super. 54 Cal. App.5th 25, 30 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020), August 10, 2020). Accessed 19 April 2023.
  15. ^ RSA Conference, "Francis deSouza".
  16. ^ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  17. ^ The Wall Street Transcript, "Francis deSouza – IMlogic Inc".
  18. ^ Engineering Our World: MIT school of Engineering "Today's "real" engineers"
  19. ^ MIT, "Francis deSouza, CEO of IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  20. ^ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  21. ^ Reuters Brief Biography, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  22. ^ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza"[ dead link], Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  23. ^ Symantec.com, "Symantec FY11 Earnings", Accessed on April 19, 2012.
  24. ^ "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President". MarketWatch. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  25. ^ "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 September 5, 2023.
  26. ^ "Illumina CEO Francis deSouza resigns following proxy battle with Carl Icahn". www.fiercebiotech.com. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  27. ^ Citrix.com "Citrix Appoints Francis deSouza to Board of Directors" Archived May 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ Glassdoor, [1].
  29. ^ Glassdoor, [2].
  30. ^ Fortune, "2018 Businessperson of the Year".
  31. ^ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "People to watch"

External links