A Day in the Life with Eli Lilly

By: Liz Lapetina

Posted: 2/12/07

Neither rain, sleet, or ferocious winds could prevent six Ross MBAs and two BBAs from venturing to Indianapolis to spend a Day in the Life of an Eli Lilly professional. On November 30th-December 1, eight students, had the opportunity to shadow Ross alumni at Lilly's headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Upon arriving in Indianapolis, our hosts took us to dinner. Having never been to Indianapolis, I was impressed with the vibrancy of the downtown area. Jon Currie (MBA 1) noted, "The quality of life in Indianapolis seems to be quite high; the city offers the entertainment options of a major city without the high real estate prices and traffic congestion."

Friday began with a breakfast meeting at the Lilly Corporate Center with Dave Kinard, Lilly's Executive Director for Leadership and Organizational Development. After asking about our backgrounds and interests, Dave shared his reasons for working at Lilly with us. "I came to Lilly 10 years ago for selfish and rather narrow reasons, Dave said. "I saw it as a great opportunity to do the kind of work I love in a place I wanted to live. In the last 10 years I have been fully converted to our mission as a pharmaceutical company. I get a great deal of motivation working for a company that has such a profound impact on the lives of the patients who use our products."

After breakfast and a mini photo shoot, we met our hosts for the day. My host, Bethany Thomson (MBA 2003), Associate Marketing Consultant for Six Sigma took me back to her office at Lilly's Technology Center, which is a ten minute drive from the Corporate Center. Bethany and I had the chance to talk about Lilly's division of marketing functions. Since joining the firm, she has had a wide range of marketing assignments. Fellow Ross alumnus and Six Sigma Manager Mike Schildkraut (MBA 1998) noted that this is not uncommon: "Something I find very attractive about Lilly is the opportunity to own your career. I have worked in business development, marketing, sales and now Six Sigma since joining Lilly. There is no one set career path for MBA hires at Lilly." After meeting with Bethany, I met with Cynthia Cardona, a new member of Lilly's Marketing Accelerated Development Experience (MADE) program and Tim Stewart in the market research group.

Jon Curie had a sepearate tour. He met Nick Lemen from Corporate Business Development (Mergers and Acquisitions) and shadowed Diego Salcedo (MBA 2003), who works in the Global Marketing group. While shadowing Diego, Jon learned more about the financial challenges implicit in joint drug development partnerships.

Lunchtime brought us all back to the Lilly Corporate Center, where we reunited to talk about our day. Diego reminded us that while the purpose of the day is to help business school students gain a better understanding of life at Lilly, there are benefits for current employees as well: "I always enjoy meeting with the Ross MBA students and having a chance to highlight all the reasons why they should consider working at Lilly. When I talk to them, I realize that I take for granted all the development opportunities and responsibilities afforded to me here, as well the great culture that we possess."

Our final stop was a tour of the replica of the original Lilly drug store on the Corporate Center's premises. It was fascinating to see how pharmaceuticals used to be processed by hand in small batches. Seeing this made me realize how far science has come in the last 100 years. With that, it was time to make our way back through the rain and snow to Ann Arbor. Despite the poor weather, the trip presented a great opportunity to learn more about Lilly.