Digital Marketing Program Advisor |
Ricky Villarreal
Active Term: 07/2025 - 07/2026
Areas of Expertise
|
Commercial Strategy and OperationsIlluminaRicky Villarreal is a strategic healthcare and biotech executive with over 15 years of experience driving growth and transformation across leading innovative organizations. He currently serves as a senior leader of Commercial Strategy and Operations at Illumina, where he leads the development and execution of global commercial capabilities, customer engagement strategies, and enterprise-wide transformations to support long-term growth.
Ricky has also held leadership roles at Edwards Lifesciences, Baxter Healthcare, and Medtronic, where he spearheaded multi-year corporate strategies, commercial operations initiatives, and global product launches. His work has spanned multiple therapeutic areas and business units, often at the intersection of clinical innovation, financial strategy, and go-to-market execution. His expertise includes strategic planning, market development, commercial transformation, and new product introduction. Ricky holds a B.S. in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University, which provides him a unique blend of technical expertise and business acumen. He is known for navigating complexity with clarity, building high-trust cross-functional teams, and executing in ambiguous, fast-paced environments. As an advisor to USF’s digital marketing program, Ricky offers a customer-first, innovation-forward perspective. He believes today’s marketers must be digital-literate, insights-driven, and collaborative across functions to drive impact. Outside of work, Ricky is a baseball fanatic, an avid traveler, scuba diver, and marathon runner. He speaks fluent Spanish and conversational German and French. He lives in Southern California with his wife and young daughter. |
