Illumina Names New Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Legal Officer

Illumina has named two executives to its leadership team, appointing Mike Sullivan as chief commercial officer and Julie Coletti as chief legal officer, the gene sequencing company said in a press release dated July 9.

Sullivan's appointment takes effect July 20, and Coletti's on Aug. 3, according to the San Diego-based company.

"We are excited to welcome Mike and Julie to Illumina," said Jacob Thaysen, Illumina's chief executive officer, in the release. He said Sullivan "brings deep commercial expertise, a customer-first mindset, and significant experience scaling global organizations," and described Coletti as "a highly accomplished legal and business leader with deep experience across the life sciences and medical technology sectors."

Commercial lead from Caris

Sullivan will lead Illumina's global commercial organization. He was most recently chief commercial officer at Caris Life Sciences, where he led global commercial operations across oncology diagnostics and precision medicine, according to the release. Before Caris, he held senior commercial roles at Roche Diagnostics, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, IDEXX Laboratories and Abbott Diagnostics. Illumina said he has more than 30 years of commercial leadership experience across diagnostics, precision medicine, healthcare and life sciences.

The post had been open since the previous chief commercial officer, Everett Cunningham, became head of testing company Quanterix in January, MedTech Dive reported on July 10.

Legal and regulatory chief from Align

Coletti will lead Illumina's global legal, regulatory and government affairs teams and serve as corporate secretary to the board of directors. She was previously chief legal and regulatory officer at Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign, and earlier held senior legal leadership positions at Danaher and Bayer HealthCare, the company said. In those roles she advised executive leaders and boards on issues including compliance, intellectual property, competition, governance and public policy, according to the release. She also serves as a director of Fortis Life Sciences, a supplier to life science and diagnostic companies.

Neither appointment involves a change to Illumina's chief executive; Thaysen remains CEO, and both executives join his executive leadership team. Illumina said the appointments add experienced leaders to its executive leadership team as it continues to advance its strategy. MedTech Dive noted that the hires come as Illumina's sales have stabilized after a period of slower demand for its sequencing tools and services. The company spun out liquid biopsy firm Grail in 2024 amid regulatory scrutiny and pushback from activist investor Carl Icahn, the outlet reported.