INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and
Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced the appointment of Anat
Ashkenazi as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Ms.
Ashkenazi, who most recently served in the role of senior vice
president, controller and chief financial officer of Lilly Research
Laboratories, succeeds Josh Smiley,
who has resigned as senior vice president and chief financial
officer and will be leaving the company.
Lilly was recently made aware of allegations of an inappropriate
personal relationship between Mr. Smiley and an employee.
Lilly immediately engaged external counsel to conduct a thorough,
independent investigation. That investigation revealed
consensual though inappropriate personal communications between Mr.
Smiley and certain Lilly employees and behavior that Lilly
leadership concluded exhibited poor judgment by Mr. Smiley.
Lilly holds all employees accountable to its core values and
strongly believes its executive officers carry an even higher
burden in ensuring those values are upheld. Mr. Smiley did not meet
that standard. Under the terms of his separation agreement, Mr.
Smiley will be available to assist in the transition. Mr. Smiley's
conduct was not related to financial controls, financial statements
or any other business matters or judgments.
Ms. Ashkenazi has been with Lilly for nearly 20 years and has
been senior vice president, controller and chief financial officer
of Lilly Research Laboratories since 2016. In this role, she
oversaw the CFOs of the company's commercial businesses, as well as
those for research and development, manufacturing and quality, and
G&A functions. She also led the corporate strategic planning
team and business transformation office. Previously, she
served as chief financial officer for several of the company's
global business areas.
"Lilly's core values are integrity, excellence and respect for
people. We expect all employees to live these values, and we expect
exemplary conduct from our executives at all times," said
David A. Ricks, Lilly Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer. "We are confident in Anat's ability
to serve as our next CFO given her impeccable track record of
leadership and business success across nearly all major parts of
the company, most recently as corporate controller and head of
strategy. Having finished 2020 with strong momentum and strong
financial performance, we are well positioned to continue
delivering on the promise of our pipeline and the potential to grow
Lilly and its impact on patients' lives in the decade to come. We
appreciate Josh's many contributions to Lilly and wish him
well."
"We have a high degree of confidence in both our short- and
long-term outlook at Lilly given our strong revenue growth,
pipeline potential, and margin expansion opportunities," said Ms.
Ashkenazi. "I look forward to building on this excellent
foundation, working closely with Dave and the rest of our talented
Lilly team to drive our strategy forward and helping create
shareholder value in the years ahead."
About Anat Ashkenazi
Since joining Lilly in 2001, Ms.
Ashkenazi has held a range of roles across strategy, finance and
Six Sigma. Most recently, she served as senior vice president,
controller and chief financial officer of Lilly Research
Laboratories. In this role, she oversaw the CFOs of the
company's commercial businesses, as well as those for research and
development, manufacturing and quality, and G&A
functions. She also led the corporate strategic planning team
and business transformation office. Previously, she served as
chief financial officer for several of the company's global
business areas. Prior to joining Lilly, she worked in financial
services at Ma'alot Standard & Poor's and at Ha'poalim Bank in
Israel.
Ms. Ashkenazi earned a bachelor's degree from the Hebrew University in finance and economics and a
Master of Business Administration from Tel Aviv
University.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly
is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to
create medicines that make life better for people around the world.
We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to
creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we
remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe,
Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines
to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of
disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and
volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at
lilly.com and lilly.com/newsroom. C-LLY
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains management's current
intentions and expectations for the future, all of which are
forward- looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. The words "estimate", "project", "intend",
"expect", "believe", "target", "anticipate" and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results
may differ materially due to various factors. There are significant
risks and uncertainties in pharmaceutical research and development.
There can be no guarantees that pipeline products will receive the
necessary clinical and manufacturing regulatory approvals or that
they will prove to be commercially successful. The company's
results may also be affected by such factors as the timing of
anticipated regulatory approvals and launches of new products;
market uptake of recently launched products; competitive
developments affecting current products and the company's pipeline;
the expiration of intellectual property protection for certain of
the company's products; the company's ability to protect and
enforce patents and other intellectual property; the impact of
actions of governmental and private payers affecting the pricing
of, reimbursement for, and access to pharmaceuticals; regulatory
compliance problems or government investigations; regulatory
actions regarding currently marketed products; unexpected safety or
efficacy concerns associated with the company's products; issues
with product supply stemming from manufacturing difficulties or
disruptions; regulatory changes or other developments; changes in
patent law or regulations related to data-package exclusivity;
litigation involving past, current or future products; unauthorized
disclosure, misappropriation, or compromise of trade secrets or
other confidential data stored in the company's information
systems, networks and facilities, or those of third parties with
which the company shares its data; changes in tax law and
regulations, including the impact of U.S. tax reform legislation
enacted in December 2017 and related
guidance; changes in inflation, interest rates, and foreign
currency exchange rates; asset impairments and restructuring
charges; changes in accounting standards promulgated by the
Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC); acquisitions and business development
transactions and related integration costs; information technology
system inadequacies or operating failures; the impact of the
evolving COVID-19 pandemic, and the global response thereto;
reliance on third-party relationships and outsourcing arrangements;
and global macroeconomic conditions. For additional information
about the factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from forward-looking statements, please see the
company's latest Form 10-K and subsequent Forms 8-K and 10-Q filed
with the SEC. You should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
release. Except as is required by law, the company expressly
disclaims any obligation to publicly release any revisions to
forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this
release.
Refer to:
|
Kathryn Beiser;
kathryn.beiser@lilly.com; (317) 697-8163 (media)
|
|
Kevin Hern;
hern_kevin_r@lilly.com; (317) 277-1838 (investors)
|
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lilly-appoints-anat-ashkenazi-chief-financial-officer-301224451.html
SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company