Jacob Thaysen is Chief Executive Officer of Illumina, a global leader in DNA sequencing and genomics technology headquartered in San Diego. He joined the company in September 2023 following a leadership transition.

Thaysen holds a PhD in physics from the Technical University of Denmark and founded Cantion, a research and defense application development company in Denmark, where he served as CTO. He later worked as a management consultant at Copenhagen Consultancy Company (now Bain & Co) before transitioning to the life sciences industry.

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. He launched the MiSeq i100 benchtop sequencers in October 2024 to deliver faster, smaller, and easy-to-use instruments.

Prior to Illumina, Thaysen spent over 10 years at Agilent Technologies, serving as president of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group and Diagnostic and Genomics Group, managing Agilent's largest division with approximately $4 billion in revenue. He also held leadership roles at Dako as corporate vice president of R&D.

Under Thaysen's leadership, Illumina continues to dominate the genomics market with machines accounting for over 90% of all DNA data produced globally. The company serves 165 countries and has sequenced nearly four million people, with technology responsible for generating more than one billion gigabases of genomic data.