Leadership team

Mr. Patel was named President & Chief Operating Officer on February 1^st 2018, and assumes all responsibility of the Company’s operating unit, and brings over 20 years of senior management and leadership experience to the position.

Mr. Patel joined Sakura Finetek as its Chief Financial Officer in July 2007 largely responsible for the financial and administrative functions of the Company, including treasury, taxation and information technology. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Patel was with Powerwave Technologies, where he served as their Global Operations Controller from 2003 to 2007, overseeing its production sites and supply chain management initiatives in the Americas, Europe and Asia. From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Patel was Controller of Flowserve’s hydraulic pump manufacturing division, responsible for all of its finances, administration and operations. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Patel was part of Coca-Cola Enterprises, initially as their Western North American Group I.T. Director and later as Controller of their largest operating division in north America, where he was responsible for all of its centralized financial and accounting services. Before joining Coca-Cola Enterprises, Mr. Patel fulfilled several roles in multiple countries for AST Computers, ranging from Financial Manager (1990) to Worldwide Controller (1997). In 1989, he joined EMI Music as a Manufacturing Analyst for its cassette and vinyl production site in the UK. He started his career in 1984 as a Distribution Analyst for Schweppes Limited in London, UK, supporting its depot network operations.

Mr. Patel graduated from Nottingham Trent University (UK) with a Bachelor of Arts (with Honors) in Accounting & Finance. He also graduated with an MBA and a Masters in Information Technology Management from DeVry University. He is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant (London, UK).

With over 30 years of experience serving world-class companies and brands, Mr. Castille joined Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. in January 2006 as Director of Instrument Services, bringing a wealth of experience in laboratory systems and services.  Over the years his responsibilities expanded to his current role responsible for all aspects of technical and application support, service operations, educational services, supply chain and logistics.

Before joining Sakura Finetek, Mr. Castille spent 16 years in various roles in field engineering, support, and management leading service teams for the Diagnostic System Division of Olympus America Inc. (now part of Beckman Coulter), delivering best-in-class service and support to the highly complex and competitive clinical chemistry market.  Mr. Castille began his career at Metpath Laboratories (now Quest Diagnostics) working in microbiology, hematology and clinical chemistry disciplines.

Mr. Castille has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and an MBA from the University of Redlands.

With experience in leading product development and operations management, Dr. DeCamillis joined Sakura Finetek as Senior Director of Advanced Staining Development in January 2016 through the Genemed acquisition, where she was Vice President of R&D and Operations.

Dr. DeCamillis brings over 20 years of experience in development of in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) medical devices, especially in antibody characterization by immunohistochemistry (IHC), DNA probe development and their application in chromogenic/fluorescence in situ hybridization (CISH/FISH) within various biotech organizations including Zymed Laboratories, Inc., Invitrogen Corporation, and Genemed Biotechnologies, Inc. She has led a team that developed and commercialized more than 150 biomarkers and detection systems for Sakura Finetek’s Tissue-Tek Genie^® Advanced Staining platform to date.

Dr. DeCamillis has numerous scientific publications and a patent on CISH. She was a R&D Lead for the initial PMA submission of the Zymed Laboratories/Invitrogen SPOT-Light^® HER2 CISH Kit to the FDA. Dr. DeCamillis completed her medical residency in the First Hospital at Beijing University in their Department of Pediatrics in 1989, and earned her Ph.D. in Human Genetic and Molecular Biology in 1995 at Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.  She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neuroscience and Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1999.

Dr. DeCamillis was promoted to Vice President, Sakura Bioscience Operations in May 2020 and her responsibilities expanded to include both reagent R&D and manufacturing operations.

Mr. Tsuzuki established Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. in October 1986 and served as President and Chief Operating Officer (CEO).  From April 2003 through June 2020, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.

Upon graduating from a business school with an International Business major in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Tsuzuki’s career with the Sakura group started in 1970 when he joined the International department of Sakura Finetechnical Co., Ltd. (presently Sakura Global Holding Co., Ltd.).  Before coming to the U.S.A. in 1986 to establish Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. in Torrance, California, he had grown the histology instrument OEM business with Miles.  The U.S. start-up operation in October 1986 consisted of 3 employees.  After Sakura Finetek U.S.A. acquired the Bayer/Miles Cellular Diagnostics business in December 1994 to succeed Miles in this business, the company rapidly grew to over 100 employees.  At present, Sakura Finetek U.S.A., employs almost 200 employees.

From 1994, Mr. Tsuzuki led the establishment of Sakura Finetek Europe B.V. in the Netherlands to further expand the Cellular Diagnostics business acquired from Bayer. In 2006, Sakura Finetek Europe B.V.  established its Direct Selling Units (DSU) to start direct sales in Scandinavia, followed by Germany, Benelux, France, the U.K., Austria, Ireland, Italy and Spain/Portugal. Following the Sakura Group’s expansion on a global level, Sakura Global Holding Co., Ltd. was established in which Mr. Tsuzuki has served as one of the Board of Directors from 2009 to present.