John Lechleiter

John Lechleiter started working at Eli Lilly in a research laboratory, as an organic chemist, in 1979. Over the next three decades, he climbed the management ladder all the way to the top, becoming Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the large pharmaceutical company in 2008. In December, after 37 years at Lilly, Lechleiter retired. He spoke with Asher Mullard about his career path, the prospects for chemists with their eyes on the executive suite and his high-risk, high-reward bets on Alzheimer disease drug development.