Francis deSouza was appointed president of Illumina in 2013. He leads the Illumina business units and core functions responsible for envisioning, developing and producing the company's products. He is also a member of Illumina's executive management team and helps direct all aspects of company strategy, planning and operations. Illumina was at the top of MIT Technology Review’s annual list of the 50 Smartest Companies after outflanking and outlasting competitors. The company is leading the genome-sequencing business—just as that market is about to soar in importance with the arrival of precision medicine.