Lilly adds Carole Ho and Adrienne Brown to its executive committee

Eli Lilly announced on November 6, 2025, that it is adding two new members to its Executive Committee and expanding the responsibilities of two current leaders, as the company works to manage a growing list of drugs in development ^[1].

Carole Ho, M.D., is joining Lilly as executive vice president and president of Lilly Neuroscience. She spent more than 20 years in biopharmaceutical development and most recently served as chief medical officer and head of development at Denali Therapeutics, where she led clinical development strategy ^[1].

Adrienne Brown, who has worked at Lilly for more than 20 years, is being promoted from group vice president of corporate business development to executive vice president and president of Lilly Immunology. Brown has held roles across U.S. and Japan operations, business development, sales, and marketing, and she led the U.S. launch of Mounjaro, Lilly's tirzepatide drug used for type 2 diabetes ^[1].

Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., will take on an expanded role as chief scientific and product officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. In this position, he will oversee research and development along with global launches and product strategy for three areas: Cardiometabolic Health, Immunology, and Neuroscience. He will keep reporting to Lilly chair and CEO David A. Ricks and will stay on the Executive Committee ^[1]. Ho, Brown, and Kenneth Custer, Ph.D., who leads Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, will all report to Skovronsky ^[1].

Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly Oncology, will also take on a larger role. The company's corporate business development function is moving under his leadership. Van Naarden will continue reporting directly to Ricks ^[1].

Ricks said in the announcement that Lilly has "transformed our research engine, sped development, and launched breakthrough medicines while dramatically expanding production capacity and improving access to care and affordability" in recent years, and that the company sees a bigger opportunity ahead to grow its impact ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

This is a corporate leadership change, not a change to any specific drug, dose, or price. But the people running Lilly's Cardiometabolic Health division, which includes Mounjaro and Zepbound, now report through Skovronsky's newly widened role that also covers immunology and neuroscience product strategy ^[1]. That means the same executive overseeing research now has a bigger hand in how launches roll out across multiple drug categories, not just diabetes and obesity treatments.

Brown's move from leading the Mounjaro launch to running the immunology unit shows Lilly moving commercial talent between its therapeutic areas, which could shape how future GLP-1-related products and other treatments are marketed and rolled out. The sources do not say whether this reorganization will change supply, pricing, or the pace of new approvals for semaglutide or tirzepatide products ^[1]. It is not yet known from the available information what specific effect, if any, this will have on patients' day-to-day access to these medicines.

What happens next

The announcement does not include a timeline for when these leadership changes take effect or what specific projects Ho and Brown will prioritize first ^[1]. Lilly has not detailed, in the material reviewed, any near-term changes to its obesity or diabetes drug pipeline tied to this reshuffle. Readers watching for updates on Zepbound, Mounjaro, or orforglipron development would need to look to future company statements for specifics, since this release focused solely on leadership structure ^[1].