John C. Lechleiter: Eli Lilly and Company CEO

John C. Lechleiter was born to John and Jeanne Lechleiter on August 17, 1952, in Louisville, Kentucky and is the eldest of nine children.  In 1974, John first took part in laboratory research in a summer research program at the University of Minnesota. 

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1975. John was awarded a National Science Foundation fellow and studied Organic Chemistry at Harvard University. He obtained his Master’s degree and PhD in 1980.

In 1979 he joined Lilly as a senior organic chemist in process research and development and in 1982 became head of that department.  John began serving as director of pharmaceutical product development for the Lilly Research Centre Limited in Windlesham, England in 1984. He later held positions in project management, regulatory affairs, product development, and pharma operation. John was appointed president and chief operating officer and joined the board of directors in 2005.

Since April 1, 2008, John has served as president and chief executive officer at Eli Lilly and Company. He was elected chairman of the board of directors in January 1, 2009. 

John is a member of the American Chemical Society and Business Roundtable. He serves on the board of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), as chairman of the US-Japan Business Council and of United Way Worldwide, and on the boards of the Life Science Foundation and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. John also serves on the boards of Nike, Inc. and Ford Motor Company.

He has received Honorary Doctorates from Marian University in 2006, the University of Indianapolis in 2012, and the National University of Ireland also in 2012.  John was bestowed the inaugural Global Health Partner Award from Project HOPE in 2012. He was named in 2014, the August M. Watanabe Life Science Champion of the Year for his work in supporting the development of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. 

Pascal Soriot: AstraZeneca CEO

Pascal Soriot was born in France on May 23,1959. He holds a doctor of veterinary medicine from École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Maisons-Alfort. Pascal later earned an MBA from HEC, Paris. 

He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1986, joining Roussel Uclaf. This was previously the second largest pharmaceutical company in France until 1997 when it was purchased by Hoechst AG. Pascal joined the company as a salesman and was stationed in Australia. He was promoted in 1996 to General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, then in April 1997 moved to Tokyo, Japan. 

Pascal joined Aventis in America in 2000. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Aventis USA in 2002. The company became Sanofi Aventis USA in 2004. Next he moved to Roche in 2006. Pascal became the Chief Executive of Roche subsidiary Genentech from April 2009 to 2010. After which he rejoined Roche Pharma AG as Chief Operating Officer. Pascal held this position until September 2012. 

He was named as the new Chief Executive of AstraZeneca, the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical company on August 28, 2012. He took up the position on October 1, 2012, he was also elected Director the same year. 

Pascal took over the company when it was in bad shape. Profits fell 31 percent between the second and third quarters of 2012. One of the main reasons for the decline was the expiration of a number of its pharmaceutical patents, including Crestor (a treatment for cholesterol) and Nexium (a heartburn remedy) and there was no new products to replace them. For a number of years AstraZeneca had failed to invest in R&D and this was something that Pascal needed to immediately address. 

He had to take the painful step of lower the workforce by around 2,300 employees who were  mostly in the production lines. He relocated the company’s headquarters to its R&D hub in Cambridge while shutting down another R&D facility. Pascal focused on R&D as well. 

By April 2014, AstraZeneca was healthy enough to refuse a €87 billion takeover bid from Pfizer. 

Robert Bradway: Amgen CEO

Robert Bradway earned a degree in Biology from Amherst College and later earned an MBA from Harvard University. He joined Morgan Stanley in New York in 1985 as a health care industry investment banker. In 1990 Robert moved to London and served as head of the international health care investment banking activities of Morgan Stanley. He later was responsible for corporate finance management. 

Robert was Managing Director for banking department and corporate finance Europe, for Morgan Stanley in London after which he left the company and joined Amgen in 2006. He came into Amgen as Vice President, Operations Strategy. Robert was then promoted and became Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on April 2007. He served in that capacity until May 2010 when he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer. 

Robert was appointed to the Amgen Board of Directors in 2011.  He became Chief Executive Officer in May 2012 and Chairman in January 2013. Robert is a member of the Board of Directors of Norfolk Southern Corporation and serves on its Audit and Governance committees. 

The company that Robert leads is one of the largest publicly traded in the world. It was founded in April 8, 1980, by William K. Bowes, Jr., Franklin Pitcher Johnson, Jr., George B. Rathmannn and Joseph Rubinfeld. Amgen is based in Thousand Oaks, California. 

The biotechnology medicines company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines for grievous illnesses. Amgen focuses on human therapeutics and concentrates on innovating novel medicines based on advances in cellular and molecular biology.

The company markets recombinant protein therapeutics in supportive cancer care, nephrology and inflammation. Amgen’s products include Neulasta, a pegylated protein, based on the Filgrastim molecule and NEUPOGEN, a recombinant-methionyl human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor both of which  selectively stimulate the production of neutrophils; Embrel, an inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor, a substance that plays a role in the body’s response to inflammatory diseases; and other products. 

With a background in biology, Robert has a clear understanding of the complex and advanced work his company does and not merely relying on his management and financial knowhow. 

Andrew Witty

Sir Andrew Philip Witty is the CEO of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. He was born on August 22, 1964 and earned a BA in Economics from the University of Nottingham. Andrew was knighted in 2012 New Year Honours for services to the economy and the UK pharmaceutical industry.

In 1985 he joined Glaxo UK as a management trainee. He rose through the ranks and held a number of positions in the UK such as Director of Pharmacy & Distribution in Glaxo Pharmaceuticals UK, Director of Business Development of Biocompatibles Limited and International Product Manager of Glaxo Holdings PLC.  Andrew has also served outside of the UK as Managing Director of Glaxo South Africa and Area Director of South and East Africa.

His expertise has also been used outside of Glaxo from 2000 to 2002 serving as an economic adviser to the Governor of Guangzhou, China.

After further promotions he was appointed President, Pharmaceuticals Europe of GlaxoSmithKline plc in January 2003. Following the retirement of Dr. Jean-Pierre Garnier in May 2008 he succeeded as CEO.

In late 2012, it was revealed that Andrew had been appointed the 7^th Chancellor of the University of Nottingham effective January 1, 2013.