Hi Marc! How did you get started in the world of work?

Hi! Well, I started in logistics as a truck driver working in a warehouse and built my experience up along the way. Then at the age of 32, I did a Bachelor's Degree in Management, Economics and Law - nothing related to logistics! It was the next evolution of my career. In 2009, I applied for my first job at Illumina. 

At the time, Illumina was a much smaller company. I spent 11 years as Distribution Manager in the warehouse and we grew from three people at the beginning to around 62 by the time I left. The revenue also grew, from around $70 million up to $970 million in those 11 years, which made it a very interesting journey and I learned a lot of new things! It really felt like being an entrepreneur and finding out what worked and what didn't work.

How are you enjoying being back at Illumina?

There are a lot of new people and new departments! However, the company’s mission and values are still the same - that’s what I connected with. The feeling that I could potentially contribute to somebody becoming healthy again or staying healthy is an important aspect to me and a big part of why I decided to come back. The mindset of developing ideas on the go hasn’t changed in the past 15 years, so coming back into that culture really worked for me.

You were part of the Alumni Network when you left Illumina. Why do you think having a good professional network around you is so important? 

When I first left, I knew it was important to continue to maintain my network within Illumina. I think it's extremely important to develop a good network around you and invest time in building that network for both professional and personal development. Don’t be afraid to start reaching out to people you don’t know! There are so many people at Illumina who are willing to give you free advice and feel proud to talk about Illumina and the support they can give. 

I think I’m probably a very good example of the power of alumni networks and relationships! Illumina didn’t hesitate to hire me back and I think that’s because I maintained my relationships even when I left the company. As you said, I was a part of the Illumina Alumni network and it was interesting to me that they really seemed keen to hire good people back. Illumina knows that their alumni understand the company and the culture, so they’ll get up to speed quickly. It’s good for everyone.

What are some of your proudest career moments? 

I'm definitely proud of the fact that I’ve been a part of building a really good team. The growth of logistics and the scaling of the company provided a lot of opportunity for people to grow and develop themselves personally, so being a facilitator of their success is something I’m really pleased to have been a part of. I’m also proud of the way we created reliable, sustainable ways of working across the US. That helped us extend the strategy of being an in-house logistics distribution center.

What are you focused on achieving right now? 

Before I returned to Illumina I knew I wanted to stretch myself in my next role and I’ve definitely got that now. The next thing I want to focus on is supporting my team in their personal development. I think that's important because I get a huge sense of pride and satisfaction if I can help someone else to become successful. My reference point is always trust. I trust people to be able to do their job properly and that if they need help, they’ll ask for it. I want everyone to know that they have the opportunity to be the start of something great, that they do have the power to make a change. I hope that by showing them I have that trust in them, they’ll be able to try something new and see what happens - and hopefully that will benefit the business too.