Francis deSouza

Francis deSouza
Born Francis Aurelio deSouza
(1970-12-02) December 2, 1970
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B./S.M.)
Occupation President & CEO, Illumina (company)
Board member of Illumina (company), Citrix Systems from December 2014 to July 2016

Francis Aurelio deSouza (English pronunciation: /dʒi ˈsowzɐˈ/;born December 2, 1970) is an American businessman of Indian-Greek heritage and is the current President and CEO of Illumina Corporation.

Early life and career

He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to an Indian father and a Greek mother and before he was 5, his family moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[1] In 1987, at age 16, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and moved to the United States. He graduated from MIT in 1992 with Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a minor in Economics.[2]

Early in his career, he worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and then in management consulting.[3] deSouza was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flash Communications, a provider of corporate instant messaging that was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.[4] Following the acquisition, 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.[5]

deSouza next founded IMlogic,[6] where he served as CEO and grew the company into the market leading provider of instant messaging security.[7] deSouza joined Symantec Corporation through the company’s acquisition of IMlogic in February 2006.[8]

Symantec

deSouza served as President of Products and Services at Symantec until November 11, 2013.[9] He led research, product management, engineering, customer support and operations for Symantec’s offerings, which generated $6.73 billion in revenue in FY11.[10] Before assuming this role, Francis was Group President, of Symantec's Enterprise Products and Services .[11]

Illumina, Inc

deSouza has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Illumina since July 5, 2016, and serves on the Illumina Board of Directors.[12]

From November 2013 to July 2016, deSouza was President of Illumina, Inc.,[13] and a member of Illumina's Board of Directors. He was responsible for Illumina's business units and the core functions responsible for developing, marketing, selling and supporting the company's products.

Other

deSouza served as a member of the Board of Directors of Citrix Systems from December 2014 to June 2016.[14]

deSouza holds a number of patents in computer security [15][16][17][18][19] and, as a recognized security expert, he has been widely quoted in the press including the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Fox Business.[20][21][22][23] deSouza was named to Fast Company's debut list of Fast 50 Champions of Innovation,[24] was a finalist for the 2003 Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award,[25] named to the Boston Business Journal's 5th annual 40 under 40 list,[26] and selected for Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list in 2007.[27]

References

  1. ↑ The Goan Voice, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  2. ↑ Sterling Hoffman Newsletter, "CEO Spotlight: Francis deSouza, IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  3. ↑ Symantec.com, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  4. ↑ CNet, "Microsoft merger gets message", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  5. ↑ Kodiak Venture Partners Press Release, "Kodiak Venture Partners Adds Two New Advisory Board Members", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  6. ↑ Symantec Partner Engage, "Speakers: Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  7. ↑ MIT, "Francis deSouza, CEO of IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  8. ↑ Information Age, "Symantec Buys IMlogic", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  9. ↑ Reuters Brief Biography "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  10. ↑ Symantec.com, "Symantec FY11 Earnings", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  11. ↑ Businessweek Executive Profile, "Francis deSouza", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  12. ↑ http://www.illumina.com, "Jay Flatley to Assume Role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Illumina; Francis deSouza Appointed President and CEO"
  13. ↑ http://www.marketwatch.com, "Illumina Names Francis deSouza as President"
  14. ↑ Citrix.com "Citrix Appoints Francis deSouza to Board of Directors"
  15. ↑ Freshpatents.com, "Patents List", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  16. ↑ USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database "Methods and systems for detecting and preventing the spread of malware on instant messaging (IM) networks by using Bayesian filtering", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  17. ↑ USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database "Methods and systems for detecting and preventing the spread of malware on instant messaging (IM) networks by analyzing message traffic patterns", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  18. ↑ USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database "Methods and systems for detecting and preventing the spread of malware on instant messaging (IM) networks by using automated IM users", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  19. ↑ USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database "Methods and systems for detecting and preventing the spread of malware on instant messaging (IM) networks by using fictitious buddies", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  20. ↑ Wall Street Journal Article "The Cutting Edge of Cyber Attacks", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  21. ↑ Businessweek Article "Most Finders of Lost Smartphones are Snoops", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  22. ↑ Fox Business "Protecting Your Company from Cyber Espionage", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  23. ↑ Engineering Our World: MIT school of Engineering "Today's "real" engineers"
  24. ↑ Fast Company ""Fast 50" List 2003", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  25. ↑ The Free Library "Ernst & Young Announces New England Entrepreneur Of The Year Award Finalists"
  26. ↑ Boston Business Journal, "Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 2002", Accessed on 2012-04-19.
  27. ↑ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "People to watch"

External links

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