U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly (LLY) has named long-time company insider Lucas Montarce as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
The appointment, which takes effect immediately, comes months after former CFO Anat Ashkenazi departed to join Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL).
Montarce has worked at Eli Lilly since 2001 and held various leadership positions within the company, including head of finance for Lilly Research Laboratories.
Most recently, Montacre served as the president of Eli Lilly’s Spain, Portugal, and Greece operations.
In addition to his new role as CFO, Montarce will serve as the company’s executive vice-president.
He will be paid a base salary of $1 million U.S. and is eligible for an annual bonus of another $1 million U.S., said the company.
The CFO appointment comes at an important time for Eli Lilly.
The company is spending billions of dollars to ramp-up manufacturing of its diabetes and weight loss drugs “Mounjaro” and “Zepbound” as it races to meet unprecedented global demand.
Eli Lilly, along with European rival Novo Nordisk (NVO), are leaders in the red-hot market for weight loss drugs, which some analysts say could be worth $150 billion U.S. by 2030.
The stock of Eli Lilly has risen 52% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $902.71 U.S. per share.
