Pacific Biosciences: Christian Henry, Mike Hunkapiller, William Ericson

Pacific Biosciences has appointed Christian Henry to serve as chairman of its board of directors, effective immediately.

PacBio said in a statement it was separating the chairman and CEO roles "in alignment with best practices." Mike Hunkapiller, the previous chairman, will continue to serve as president and CEO and will remain on the board. William Ericson of Wildcat Venture Partners will step down as lead independent director but will also continue to serve on the board.

Henry was previously executive VP and chief commercial officer at Illumina. He joined the board in July 2018.

PacBio will provide Henry an annual retainer of $35,000 as well as options to purchase 35,000 shares of common stock.