10X Genomics Hires Technology And Intellectual Property Veteran Eric Whitaker As General Counsel

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--10x Genomics, a company focused on enabling the mastery of biology by accelerating genomic discovery, today announced the appointment of Eric Whitaker as general counsel. In this role, Whitaker will serve as 10x Genomics’ principal legal officer, managing all of its legal affairs and reporting to Serge Saxonov, co-founder and CEO.

“I am delighted to add an executive of Eric Whitaker’s experience and caliber to the 10x leadership team,” said Saxonov. “10x has been growing exponentially, both in terms of product development, as well as global commercial footprint. Eric’s experience over the past 20 years working with fast growing companies, all with pioneering technology, will be instrumental as we establish our platform as the standard for biological discovery and diagnostics.”

Whitaker added, “I am excited to be joining 10x during this time of rapid growth and expansion. My experience with negotiating strategic relationships, positioning companies for growth, and especially, intellectual property strategies and litigation will all be called upon as the Company pursues a growing number of corporate and commercial opportunities and continues to protect its remarkable inventions.”

Whitaker brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in a range of industries to the position. Most recently, Whitaker was with cloud computing software company Nutanix where he served as chief legal officer. While at Nutanix, Whitaker was responsible for all legal matters including leading the company’s successful IPO, executing multiple technology acquisitions and winning multiple strategic litigation matters. Prior to Nutanix, Whitaker was senior vice president and chief legal officer at SanDisk where he led the development and deployment of a patent portfolio ranked fifth in the world that generated nearly $4 billion in license and royalty revenue. He also played a leadership role with the negotiations and acquisitions of Fusion-IO and Smart Technologies. Before SanDisk, he was at Tesla where he was general counsel and corporate secretary. Following Tesla’s IPO, he structured and negotiated major corporate transactions, developed the company’s intellectual property portfolio and formulated strategies for international growth.

Whitaker obtained his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his undergraduate degree in Politics from Princeton University. His recognitions include being selected as one of the 25 leading general counsel in California in 2011 by the Daily Journal, and receiving the "In-House Legal Department of the Year" award in 2012 by The Recorder, an American Lawyer publication.

About 10x Genomics

10x Genomics is changing the definition of sequencing by providing an innovative genomics platform that dramatically upgrades the capabilities of existing sequencing technologies. This is achieved through a combination of new microfluidic science, chemistry and bioinformatics. By implementing GemCode™ Technology within the Chromium™ System, researchers can now, for the first time, find new structural variants, haplotypes and other valuable genomic information with comprehensive workflows for Single Cell, V(D)J, Genome, Exome and de novo Assembly applications that incorporate their pre-existing sequencing technologies.

www.10xGenomics.com.