Alphabet has announced who its new chief financial officer (CFO) will be, revealing today that it has hired pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company’s CFO Anat Ashkenazi.
Ashkenazi will start her new role at Google’s parent company on July 31, 2024, according to an SEC filing today, after 23 years at Eli Lilly where she served in various roles at the company until entering the CFO hotseat in 2021.
Eli Lilly confirmed that Ashkenazi had resigned, reporting that she intends to remain in position there through July, after which she intends to “pursue a career opportunity outside of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Alphabet announced current CFO Ruth Porat’s departure last July, with the company announcing that she would remain in position until they found a replacement. Porat joined Alphabet, then known as Google, from Morgan Stanley in 2015.
While Alphabet is an entirely different proposition to Eli Lilly, which is known for pharmaceuticals such as clinical depression and diabetes drugs, Eli Lilly is an $800 billion company so the step over is not exactly Herculean. Plus Alphabet already has existing alignments with the healthcare and life science sectors, through subsidiaries such as Verily and Calico.
Ashkenazi will be based in the Bay Area and report directly to Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
