John C. Lechleiter (born 1952) is an American businessman and chemist. He served as president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of directors of

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company, Trade name, doing business as Lilly, is an American multinational Medication, pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 count ...

from April 2008 to December 2016.

Early life and education

Lechleiter first participated in laboratory research in a summer research program at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1974. Lechleiter received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Chemistry from

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

in 1975. He went on to receive a master's degree and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1980 after studying on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. His thesis advisor was Dr. Paul A. Wender.

Career

Eli Lilly and Company

Lechleiter joined

in 1979 as senior organic chemist. From 1984 to 1986, he served as director of pharmaceutical product development at the

Lilly Research Centre The Lilly Research Centre is a medical research centre in Surrey. It is the European headquarters of Eli Lilly and Company. Construction Lilly received permission for the site in 1959. The site was built by McAlpine. The site was to open by Augu ...

Limited in

Windlesham Windlesham is a geographically-large village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately south west of central London. Its name derives from the Windle Brook, which runs south of the village into Chobham, and the common suffi ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In 1986, he returned to the U.S. as manager of research and development projects for Europe. He became Director of development projects management in 1988, Executive Director of pharmaceutical product development in 1991, Vice President of pharmaceutical product development in 1993, and Vice President of regulatory affairs in 1994. Lechleiter became Vice President for development and regulatory affairs in 1996, and Senior Vice President of pharmaceutical products in 1998. In 2001, he was appointed executive vice president for pharmaceutical products and corporate development. In a 2003 e-mail, he discussed the use of the anti-

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

drug

Zyprexa Olanzapine, sold under the brand name Zyprexa among others, is an atypical antipsychotic primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is also sometimes used off-label for treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiti ...

for "disruptive kids", an

off-label Off-label use is the use of pharmaceutical drugs for an unapproved indication (medicine), indication or in an unapproved age group, dose (biochemistry), dosage, or route of administration. Both prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs (OTCs) ca ...

use, for which drug manufacturers are not legally permitted to encourage, even if it was not approved by federal regulators because it could lead to

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. "The fact we are now talking to child psychs and peds and others about Strattera means that we must seize the opportunity to expand our work with Zyprexa in this same child-adolescent population." In 2004, he became Executive Vice President for pharmaceutical operations. Lechleiter served as Lilly's president and chief operating officer beginning in October 2005. He also joined Lilly's board of directors at that time. Lechleiter was elected as Lilly’s president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective April 1, 2008. Effective January 1, 2009, Lechleiter was appointed as chairman of the company's board of directors, succeeding Sidney Taurel. In 2012, he earned US$15.57 million, according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''. He is credited with successfully guiding the company through a difficult period in which patent protection expired for four of its main products, Gemzar,

, Cymbalta and Evista, and for establishing a promising pipeline of possible new drugs. In 2013, he said his advice to others was "...move quickly, but the most important thing is to be patient, resolute, and be guided by the data."

Board and organizational memberships

Lechleiter is a member of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

, the

Business Roundtable The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major U.S. companies. Unlike the United States Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, ...

and

The Business Council The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C. He is Chairman of the

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is an American trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1958, PhRMA ...

and President of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations. Lechleiter is on the Boards of Directors of

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, ...

(from 2009), the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. He has served on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater,

, for a three-year term beginning in September 2004, and on the board of the Life Sciences Foundation. He serves as a distinguished advisor to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. In 2014, he became chairman of

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

Worldwide, which Lilly has supported for many years through both corporate giving and volunteerism. Lilly employees are encouraged to participate in the Lilly Global Day of Service, an internationally observed day of charitable work in their communities. Lechleiter began the initiative in 2008, the year that he became CEO. Lechleiter has identified poor K-12 and

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

education as "this country's Achilles' heel", and the Lechleiter family has contributed towards K-12 education via the Catholic Education Foundation of Louisville.

Awards and honors

He has received Honorary Doctorates from Marian University (2006), the

University of Indianapolis The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University an ...

(2012), and the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

(2012). In 2012, he was awarded the inaugural Global Health Partner Award from

Project HOPE Project Hope (希望工程; ''Xiwang gongcheng'') is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Central Committee. Started in 1989, it aims to bring schools i ...

. In 2014, he was named as the August M. Watanabe Life Sciences Champion of the Year for his work in supporting the development of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute. In 2015, he received the International Citizen of the Year Award from the International Center of Indianapolis.

Personal life

Lechleiter and his wife Sarah live in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Indiana, and have three children, Andrew, Daniel and Elizabeth, and several grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lechleiter, John C. 1952 births Living people American chief executives American organic chemists Eli Lilly and Company people Harvard University alumni Nike, Inc. people Presidents of Eli Lilly and Company Xavier University alumni