Sydney Taurel
Chairman & CEO, Eli Lilly
Live Web cast January 18, 2001 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT

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Sidney Taurel, president and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company, has spent most of his working life in the United States and abroad with the Indiana-based pharmaceutical firm. Lilly, an employer of more than 31,000 people worldwide, creates medicines to treat depression, schizophrenia, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and other diseases.

A strong proponent of the global economy, Taurel has sought to convince the American public and business leaders of its many advantages. "As consumers, we're all winners when we have the freedom to take advantage of the fruits of a dynamic, diversified global economy," he said in a speech after the World Trade Club of Indiana named him International Business Person of the Year in 1996. "(G)lobal expansion by U.S. firms like Lilly also creates jobs and contributes to local economies elsewhere in the world...But that is not contrary to American interests. Ultimately, there's a benefit for all sides."

His conviction is backed up by a lifetime of international experience. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, he became an American citizen in 1995. He studied first in France, graduating from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Paris in 1969, and then received a master of business administration degree from Columbia University in 1971.

Taurel joined the Lilly subsidiary Eli Lilly International Corporation that year as a marketing associate. After holding various positions in Latin America and Europe, he was appointed to the London-based position of vice president of Lilly European operations in 1983. Three years later, he returned to Indianapolis as president of Eli Lilly International Corporation. He became executive vice president of the pharmaceutical division in 1991 and was named executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of its pharmaceutical division in 1993. Taurel became president and chief operating officer in February 1996, was chosen as chief executive officer in July 1998, and became chairman of the board of directors on January 1, 1999.

Taurel has served as chairman of the board of directors of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and as a member of the boards of ITT Industries, Inc., McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and the RCA Tennis Championships. He is also a member of IBM's board of directors and of the Columbia Business School's board of overseers, and is a trustee at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

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