Succession plan for Lilly Diabetes SVP

Enrique Conterno, senior vice president of Lilly and president of Lilly Diabetes and Lilly USA, will retire at the end of the year after 27 years of service with the company, US pharma major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) announced today.

Mike Mason, who currently serves as senior vice president, connected care & insulins, will succeed Mr Conterno. Mr Mason's new title will be senior vice president of Lilly and president of Lilly Diabetes. He will report to David Ricks and join Lilly's executive committee and assume his new role January 1, 2020, following Mr Conterno's retirement.

"Mike and Enrique have partnered closely together over the last six years, and Mike has been a significant part of Lilly's work to grow our portfolio of medicines and renew our commitment to the diabetes community," said Mr Ricks, Lilly chairman and chief executive. "Mike is a 30-year Lilly veteran with deep experience across the company, including significant expertise in our diabetes business. He started his career as an engineer making insulin, led our U.S. diabetes and neuroscience commercial groups, served as general manager of Lilly Canada and led the successful US launches of Jardiance and Trulicity."