John Stuelpnagel

John R. Stuelpnagel, D.V.M. has served as Chairman of our board of directors since 2013.

As co-founder and the first CEO of Illumina, Dr. Stuelpnagel is a seasoned genomics industry entrepreneur and pioneer with extensive experience building and scaling high-growth companies and commercializing disruptive technologies. During his 12 years with Illumina, Dr. Stuelpnagel was a driving force behind the company’s transformation from a private start-up to the global leader in next-generation sequencing.

After leaving Illumina in 2009, Dr. Stuelpnagel co-founded Ariosa Diagnostics, where he also served as Executive Chairman until the company’s acquisition by Roche in 2015.

Dr. Stuelpnagel shares his deep industry expertise as a member of the board of several life sciences companies. Currently, he is the Chairman at Fabric Genomics and at Inscripta. He is also a member of the board of directors for Encoded Therapeutics. He previously served as the Chairman of Element Biosciences from 2017 to 2023 and as Chairman of Sequenta from 2010 until the company’s merger with Adaptive Biotechnologies in 2015.

Dr. Stuelpnagel began his career as an associate at CW Group from 1997 to 1998. He holds a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.