Gene sequencing test maker Illumina Inc. said Sunday that its board has accepted the resignation of its CEO and director, Francis deSouza, effective immediately.
Charles Dadswell, senior vice president and general counsel, has been named interim CEO, while the board conducts a search for a new CEO. Illumina said deSouza, who has been with the company since 2013 and was named CEO three years later, will stay on in an advisory capacity until July 31.
“Illumina’s technology remains at the forefront of DNA sequencing and has continued to set the pace for the industry,” Illumina's board chair, Stephen P. MacMillan, said in a statement. “We are confident Illumina can continue to execute on its goals, while we conduct and complete a CEO search process.”
The company, based in San Diego, said the board is looking at internal and external candidates.
The resignation comes as Illumina has been locked in a monthslong heated battle with activist investor Carl Icahn, over its $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test maker Grail that has faced regulatory hurdles. Icahn had urged shareholders to vote out its chairman, John Thompson, and deSouza. Company shareholders voted out Thompson in late May.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
