Illumina Management Team

Jacob Thaysen, PhD is Chief Executive Officer of Illumina. Prior to joining the company in 2023, Thaysen served as president of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group and Diagnostic and Genomics Group at Agilent; corporate vice president of R&D at Dako; and 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 is Chairman of the ALDA Board (Analytical, Life Science and Diagnostic Association) and is a San Diego Chapter member of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer. Thaysen holds an MSc and PhD in physics from the Technical University of Denmark.

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.

Todd Christian is Head of Services, Arrays, and Genomics Access (SAGA) at Illumina, where he is responsible for the go-to-market strategy and commercialization of arrays, pharma and clinical diagnostics partnerships, Population Genomics, Services and Support, and Illumina Lab Services.

Before joining Illumina, Christian was vice president and general manager of the cell analysis division at Agilent Technologies, Inc. During his time there, he was an integral part of the company’s multi-year growth strategy to expand its position in cell analysis and other high-growth segments of the life sciences, biopharma and diagnostics markets to serve new and existing customers.

Christian is a distinguished leader in the life sciences market, with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. Before joining Agilent, he spent a number of years at both large and small organizations in the life sciences space, including Becton Dickinson, Applied Bioscience, and Guava Technologies.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College and a variety of executive certificate programs in marketing, program management, and operations. He has recently served on a variety of non-profit boards focused on funding youth education and underserved communities, and actively volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.

Everett Cunningham is Illumina’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), responsible for building, guiding, and managing the company’s global commercial organization and commercial strategy. 

Cunningham joined the company in June 2024 and has more than 20 years of extensive commercial experience across healthcare tech, life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. Most recently, he served as Chief Commercial Officer at Exact Sciences, where he oversaw the company’s marketing, sales and customer service functions. Prior to Exact Sciences, he held various senior leadership roles at Quest Diagnostics, GE Healthcare, and Pfizer where he spent 21 years in various senior leadership roles.  

Cunningham holds a degree in economics from Northwestern University. He currently serves on the boards of Visby Medical and Arvinas, Inc. At Arvinas, he is a member of the Compensation and Audit committees.

As Chief Legal Officer, Scott Davies has worldwide responsibility for all legal and intellectual property matters, regulatory, government affairs, and market access. He also serves as Illumina's code of ethics compliance officer.

Prior to his appointment, Davies served as Illumina’s interim General Counsel and Secretary, and prior to that, Illumina’s Vice President, Legal – Chief Corporate Counsel and Assistant Secretary. Davies joined Illumina in 2009 as its first corporate-focused attorney and has managed all of Illumina’s significant corporate legal matters and transactions since that time. While taking on positions of increasing responsibility, Davies developed and led a global corporate and commercial legal team and has worked closely with Illumina’s senior executive team and board of directors on a wide range of legal matters across the spectrum of Illumina’s global business operations.

Prior to joining Illumina, Davies was a corporate transactions (M&A), securities, and finance attorney for 12 years, including 10 years with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a leading international law firm, and two years with Allen & Overy, a leading UK-based global law firm, resident in its London office.

Davies received a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Brigham Young University.

As Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Ankur Dhingra is responsible for Illumina’s accounting, financial planning and analysis, internal audit, investor relations, tax, and treasury functions.

Prior to joining Illumina, Dhingra served as CFO at Summit Therapeutics – a California-based biopharmaceutical oncology company. He was previously CFO at CareDx, Inc, a molecular diagnostics company focused on the transplant patient journey. Dhingra spent 18 years at Agilent Technologies in a variety of financial and operational leadership roles, including Vice President of Investor Relations and Group CFO for the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group (LSAG), which consists of Agilent's market leading analytical instrument portfolio, informatics, and cell analysis franchise.

Mr. Dhingra is a Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

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. In her tenure as part of the Illumina Human Resources leadership team, she 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 serves on the board of San Diego Squared, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underrepresented students in STEM. She earned a master’s in business administration from London Business School and a bachelor’s 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, Pegels 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.

Pegels 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.

Jakob Wedel is Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Illumina, leading corporate strategy, partnerships, alliances, and acquisitions. With more than 25 years in top-tier strategy consulting focused on the life science and technology sector, Mr. Wedel brings a wealth of expertise in driving growth and innovation to the company.

Prior to joining Illumina, Wedel was a Senior Partner at Ernst and Young's strategy practice, EY Parthenon, where he played a key role in the global expansion of its life science strategy practice. His leadership in the global life science practice provided him with deep insights into the dynamics of the life science tools, clinical diagnostics and biopharma sectors, and positioned him as a trusted advisor for global industry executives.

Wedel spent more than 20 years at renowned consulting firms McKinsey and Bain & Co. serving life science, diagnostics and pharmaceutical clients in the US and Europe. He co-founded the Nordic strategy firm Qvartz, which grew to 450 professionals before being acquired by Bain.

Wedel attended Aarhus University in Denmark and earned a Master of Science in International Marketing & Management from Copenhagen Business School.

Brian Blanchett is the Vice President of Enterprise Finance & Treasurer, and interim head of Investor Relations at Illumina. Blanchett previously served as interim head of Investor Relations in 2021, leading all investor strategies and activities including quarterly earnings releases and conference calls, investor presentations, and day-to-day interactions.

Prior to joining Illumina, Blanchett held leadership positions at Qualcomm in Strategic Finance, Capital Markets, and Ventures Finance. He also has experience in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan, working in both the Technology Coverage and Mergers and Acquisitions groups, and experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Audit, Tax, and Advisory groups. 

Blanchett holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science & Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky. Blanchett also holds the following designations/licenses: Certified Public Account (licensed in both California and Georgia), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and Certified Treasury Professional (CTP).