Eli Lilly and Company Lechleiter joined
Eli Lilly and Company in 1979 as senior organic chemist. In 2004, he became Executive Vice President for pharmaceutical operations. In 2012, he earned US$15.57 million, according to
Forbes. In 2013, he said his advice to others was "...move quickly, but the most important thing is to be patient, resolute, and be guided by the data."
Board and organizational memberships Lechleiter is a member of the
American Chemical Society, the
Business Roundtable and
The Business Council. the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the
Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. He has served on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater,
Xavier University, for a three-year term beginning in September 2004, and on the board of the
Life Sciences Foundation. In 2014, he became chairman of
United Way Worldwide, which Lilly has supported for many years through both corporate giving and volunteerism. Lilly employees are encouraged to participate in the Lilly Global Day of Service, an internationally observed day of charitable work in their communities. Lechleiter began the initiative in 2008, the year that he became CEO. Lechleiter has identified poor K-12 and
STEM education as "this country's Achilles' heel", and the Lechleiter family has contributed towards K-12 education via the Catholic Education Foundation of Louisville. ==Awards and honors==