Illumina Management Team

Prior to Illumina, Jacob was senior vice president of Agilent and president of Agilent's Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group (LSAG) which consists of Agilent's market leading analytical instrument portfolio, informatics and cell analysis franchise. From 2014 to 2018, Thaysen served as the president of Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics Group (DGG).

Prior to joining Agilent, Thaysen was corporate vice president of R&D at Dako, a Danish cancer diagnostic company. Before joining Dako, he served as management consultant at Copenhagen Consultancy Company (now Bain & Co). Early in his career, he was founder and chief technology officer of Cantion, a research and defense application development company based in Denmark.

Thaysen holds an MSc and PhD in physics from the Technical University of Denmark.

As General Counsel, Charles (Chuck) Dadswell has worldwide responsibility for all legal and intellectual property matters and is also Illumina's code of ethics compliance officer.

Before joining Illumina, Dadswell was Vice President, General Counsel for North and Latin America and Corporate Director of Global Intellectual Property at bioMerieux. He was previously General Counsel of BioDelivery Sciences International, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and oversaw US intellectual property in a variety of positions with Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome and GlaxoSmithKline.

Dadswell received an LL.M. in patent law and trade regulation from The George Washington University Law School, a J.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and a BS in Pharmacy from Ferris State University.

Steve Barnard, PhD, is Illumina’s Chief Technology Officer. He is responsible for leading Illumina’s research and product development teams in engineering, consumables, applications, user design, software, informatics, artificial intelligence, scientific affairs, and global advanced science. These teams are Illumina’s innovation engine and deliver product excellence in next-generation sequencing platforms and applications to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and translation of genomics to the clinic.

Dr. Barnard joined Illumina in 1998 as the company’s first scientist and fourth employee, holding a variety of leadership positions within Illumina’s R&D organization throughout his distinguished 25-year tenure. Through critical roles in research and technology development, Barnard contributed significantly to maturing Illumina’s foundational science technologies including synthetic chemistry, protein engineering, surface science, assay research and nanofabrication. He holds more than 100 patents globally and has been published in diverse, industry-leading scientific journals, such as Analytical Chemistry, Nature, Science, and Genome Research, to name a few.

Dr. Barnard has played an integral role in advancing Illumina’s industry-leading products, including the launch of the revolutionary NovaSeq X series. His profound understanding of Illumina’s core technologies is accelerating R&D productivity and efficiency, as well as driving shareholder value.

Nicole Berry is the Head of Region for the Americas, inclusive of the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. In this role, she is responsible for leading the customer-facing functions including Direct and Channel Partner Sales, Service and Support, and Regional Commercial Operations teams in the Americas region.

Berry has been with Illumina since 2009 and has held several commercial leadership positions within the company. During the three years prior to her current role, she served as the Vice President of Sales for the Americas. Prior to this, Berry served in a number of sales management roles covering the U.S. and Canada.

Prior to joining Illumina, Berry worked at Applied Biosystems on the U.S. sales management team. Other highlights of her professional career include 15 years at Eastman Kodak Company, where she held a variety of global marketing and business management roles. Her professional career started at the Sloan Kettering Institute in the Tumor Immunogenetics laboratory of Dr. Lloyd Old.

Berry graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. in Biology, with a concentration in Neuroscience.

Joydeep Goswami was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2023 and is responsible for Illumina’s financial planning and analysis, accounting, investor relations, internal audit, tax, and treasury functions. He also leads the company’s Corporate Development and Strategic Planning function.

Mr. Goswami initially joined the company in 2019 as Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, in which he was responsible for driving planning, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions, and worked closely with the Finance organization on strategic initiatives involving capital allocation, financial planning, and deal execution. In July 2022, Mr. Goswami took on the added interim responsibility of leading Illumina’s Finance team, bringing a unique combination of strategic thinking, deep operational and P&L expertise, and extensive global business experience to position Illumina for long-term success.

Prior to joining Illumina, Mr. Goswami served as the President of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Clinical Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Oncology business unit, where he oversaw efforts that drove the adoption of NGS in clinical oncology, research and reproductive health. Mr. Goswami has held senior leadership roles across the pharma/biotech, diagnostics and research tool continuum, previously serving at companies such as Life Technologies and Invitrogen, in addition to Thermo Fisher Scientific. He has led teams across various functions, including sales, marketing, R&D and other support functions. Mr. Goswami served as President, Asia Pacific and Japan, while at Thermo Fisher Scientific and created the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Business Unit at Invitrogen. Additionally, he spent five years at McKinsey, where he specialized in strategy for pharmaceutical, medical technology and technology companies.

Mr. Goswami holds his MS, PhD in Chemical Engineering, an MBA from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Pat Leckman is Chief People Officer at Illumina, where she is responsible for all aspects of the company’s HR strategies. Leckman has a successful track record for leading workforce transformation, driving business growth, and creating high-impact teams.

Previously, she worked in dynamic organizations such as Watson Wyatt, NVIDIA, Cisco, and Perot Systems. Her tenure as part of the Illumina Human Resources leadership where she has transformed the Compensation, Benefits and People Technology functions. She has led international teams that design, contract, and implement agreements and joint ventures. Throughout her career, she has helped clients with business process redesign, vendor assessment, outsourcing, and transition management.

Leckman earned a masters in business administration from London Business School and a bachelors in communication from Stanford University.

Kevin Pegels is Chief of Global Operations for Illumina where he is responsible for the company’s global operations. His organization includes Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Life Cycle Management, Information Technology and Global Facilities and Real Estate teams who are committed to ensure high product quality and customer satisfaction.

Prior to joining Illumina, Kevin spent over 20 years in senior leadership roles leading supply chain and operations organizations for Bayer Healthcare, The Clorox Company, and Levi Strauss. In addition, his experience includes Deloitte Consulting advising companies on supply chain, operations strategy, and process improvement.

Kevin currently serves on the advisory committee for Bio Supply Management Alliance (BSMA) and will join the board of the San Diego Regional EDC. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University as well as a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Carissa Rollins is Chief Information Officer at Illumina, where she is responsible for leading all Global Information Systems strategy, operations, risk and compliance, infrastructure, enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, employee and business-facing applications.

Before joining Illumina, Rollins was CIO at UnitedHealthcare. There she was responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and technology investments in support of the commercial, Medicare and retirement, and government programs technology business portfolios at UnitedHealthcare. Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Rollins held the positions of executive and senior roles at Gander Mountain at Kohl’s Corporation, Manpower Global, and Miller-Coors.

Rollins has served on the Board of Directors for the YWCA, Minneapolis, and is currently the Board Chair. She also serves on the Grand Canyon Conservancy board and the Owens & Minor Board.

Rollins holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems and an MBA from Marquette University.

Salli Schwartz is the Vice President of Investor Relations, leading all investor strategies and activities including quarterly earnings releases and conference calls, investor presentations, and day-to-day interactions.

Schwartz brings deep expertise, joining Illumina from MSCI Inc., where she served as Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. In her role at MSCI, she oversaw relationships with equity and debt investors, sell-side analysts, rating agencies and partner banks, and executed company financing, cash management and capital allocation activities. Schwartz also served as a member of MSCI’s Corporate Responsibility Committee, Enterprise Risk Oversight Committee and Investment Committee.

Prior to MSCI, Schwartz spent more than 12 years with Moody’s Corporation, most recently as Global Head of Strategic Capital Management and Treasurer. She previously served as Treasurer and as Global Head of Investor Relations and Communications, as well as on Moody’s Corporate Development team.

Schwartz also held positions in corporate strategy, corporate treasury and FP&A with Citigroup Inc., and investment banking and merchant banking positions with Legg Mason. She previously served as a Board Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of the National Academy Foundation (NAF), a non-profit national network of education, business and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career and future ready.

Schwartz holds an MBA from Cornell University and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, both with distinction.

Bas Verhoef is Illumina’s Head of Region for Europe, where he is responsible for leading the transformation of the business, building on strong growth, and driving the genomics agenda across the region. He also serves as the company’s interim Chief Commercial Officer, effective January 6, 2024.

Verhoef, a Dutch national based in The Netherlands, joined Illumina in January 2023 from Royal Philips, where he gained 25+ years of broad and diverse general management experience in leadership roles across multiple healthcare sectors and geographies.

Verhoef holds two Masters degrees (in Nuclear Physics and Business Marketing) from the Eindhoven University of Technology and a PhD from the University of Maastricht in Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Gretchen Weightman is the Head of Region for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa at Illumina. In her role, Weightman is responsible for leading and developing the commercial organization within the region that includes Japan, Oceana, South Korea, South East Asia, Dubai, South Africa and CIS countries.

Weightman has held several leadership positions within Illumina prior to her current role. She was the Director of Sales for Asia Pacific, where she was responsible for sales of the Asia Pacific region, overseeing five geographical districts for orders, shipments and revenue. Prior to this, Weightman was the Senior Marketing Manager for South Asia Pacific, responsible for the overall marketing strategy and implementation in South East Asia, India, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.

Prior to joining Illumina, Weightman worked at Applied Biosystems in a variety of commercial positions including Sales, Marketing, and Product Management. Her professional career started at Genesis Research & Development where she set up the high-throughput sequencing facility.

Weightman graduated from Auckland University with a BSc in Molecular Genetics and a Diploma of Commerce.

Jenny Zheng is Head of Region at Illumina Greater China, where she is responsible for driving company’s strategy and evolution in Greater China, fostering continued breakthroughs in this pivotal market and contributing to the company’s long-term mission of improving human health.

Ms. Zheng has more than 25 years of international experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to joining Illumina, she served as Chairman and President of Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. In her multiple leadership tenure, she has led teams across countries and regional markets to achieve double-digit growth, managed multiple strategic projects’ successful operation and cultivated a high-performing, inclusive and purpose-driven management team.

Ms. Zheng has been named to Forbes China Top 100 Businesswomen of 2022, and Fortune China's Most Powerful Women of 2022. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.