Lou Sacco is CTO and founding member of Daisy Health, an innovative telemedicine start-up based in San Diego. He started with Illumina in 2016 as a Principal Engineer and was promoted to the Director of Solutions Architecture & DevOps. In our alumni spotlight, Lou speaks to us about his hopes for Daisy Health, why he got involved in supporting Illumina’s digital transformation, his pride in his exceptional team and his passion for Scouting!

Lou is making an impact through Daisy Health’s digital marketplace.  The platform improves healthcare accessibility and efficiency by seamlessly connecting providers, insurance brokers, employers, and their employees to supplemental healthcare options and other lifestyle benefits. It removes much of the tedium in creating benefit proposals, managing employee rosters, and facilitating payments and broker commissions electronically. The most incredible part? The Daisy Health team delivers telehealth benefits and prescriptions for less than $1 per day, especially to those underinsured.  

“This endeavor not only reflects my commitment to innovation and leadership but also underscores the tangible, positive impact technology can have on people's lives, making this accomplishment particularly fulfilling.” 

Lou was initially recruited to Illumina by David Lindgren, who was seeking his expertise in leading the technical strategy for a new IT Digital Transformation team. They were excited to work together and motivated by Illumina’s mission of making the world a better place through genomics.

At Illumina, Lou built and led a solutions architecture team in developing over 20 tailored business and engineering applications. His proactive advocacy and execution of cutting-edge technologies resulted in the creation of distribution lists through a popular tool still used today at the company, delivering on specific business needs such as Commercial's Pricing application to introducing Rancher for Kubernetes application deployments.  

These initiatives significantly enhanced operational efficiency, streamlined application deployment processes, and integrated seamlessly with Illumina’s continuous improvement and delivery pipelines, allowing Lou’s team to update and deploy crucial applications and microservices built for various departments.  

Lou’s team of two exceptional managers and twenty incredibly talented analysts, developers, QA testers, and support employees were committed to innovation and excellence. They motivated Lou to lead with passion and vision and further helped him to grow as a leader. He is filled with pride when his team members experience professional growth and success.  

When at Illumina, he recalls having the pleasure of mentoring Matt Rousseau, Ajay Venkatachala, and Dago Aceves – dedicated individuals with ongoing success and impactful contributions at Illumina. 

“These responsibilities and accomplishments at Illumina have prepared me for my current position as CTO at Daisy Health, where I continue to lead and innovate... Launching a start-up has been an enlightening journey, instilling in me invaluable lessons about innovation, collaboration, and resilience.” 

Looking to the future, Lou is hopeful that Daisy Health can improve patient outcomes in the healthcare space. He’s exhilarated by the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and predicts the use of these models will revolutionize customer interactions and streamline operations across the industry. At Daisy Health, AI/ML will enable a data-centric approach to ensure the company is in step with their users' needs while spotlighting areas for improvement in real time. 

Outside of work, Lou has engaged in youth development with the Boy Scouts of America and coaching baseball. His own passion for baseball and his son’s childhood scouting experiences inspired him to get involved. Lou took on leadership roles in both areas, planning and participating in various activities focused on creating environments where young people can thrive. 

Lou lends keen advice to leaders in all capacities: “Reflecting on my career and involvement in various initiatives, one resounding truth stands out: people are our greatest asset. Every milestone achieved and every project brought to fruition resulted from the collaborative effort, and none of it would have been possible without a talented and dedicated team. Whether in technology, healthcare innovation, or youth development, the commitment, creativity, and diligence of individuals I have had the privilege to work with have been instrumental. As I navigate my professional career, I always try to remember to invest in people, foster a culture of support, diversity, and collaboration, and celebrate the collective successes we achieve together. For in the tapestry of our careers, the people we work with, learn from, and mentor leave the most indelible marks.”