Illumina‘s board on Tuesday announced that an executive from another California life sciences company will become its CEO, three months after Francis deSouza stepped down following a proxy fight with billionaire Carl Icahn.
Jacob Thaysen, who has managed the largest division of Santa Clara-based Agilent Technologies since 2018, will assume leadership of the San Diego genetic sequencing pioneer on Sept. 25.
“After conducting a robust search process, we are thrilled to have found someone of Jacob’s caliber to become chief executive of Illumina and help shape and lead the company into its next phase of growth,” said Board Chair Stephen P. MacMillan.
Thaysen, 48, holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Technical University of Denmark. He has a long history in clinical oncology diagnostics, as well as experience in life sciences manufacturing, sales, research and development.
“Illumina’s technology is at the forefront of sequencing and has set the pace for the industry. I am honored, privileged, and excited to lead such a great organization,” said Thaysen. “I’m planning to hit the ground running and looking forward to working with the incredibly talented teams at Illumina.”
Illumina had repurchased cancer diagnostic test maker Grail in 2021 despite opposition from the U.S. and European antitrust regulators — a decision that prompted Icahn to pursue a proxy fight, arguing the unit should be divested as it had cost investors billions of dollars.
The proxy battle ended with a May vote in which Icahn won enough shareholder support to oust the then board chair, John Thompson, and appoint his nominee, Andrew Teno, on the board.
Illumina’s former head deSouza stepped down in June, marking another victory for the activist investor, even though deSouza had secured more than twice the number of shareholder votes than his challenger.
Charles Dadswell, enior vice president and general counsel at Illumina, has been serving as interim CEO since June.