Anat Ashkenazi

The Chief Financial Officer That Left a Decades-Long Career in Pharma to Go All-In on AI

Like many professionals, Anat Ashkenazi made a mid-career industry switch. She just did so at the highest level: After 23 years at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Ashkenazi joined Google-parent Alphabet as Chief Financial Officer in July 2024. It’s easy to see why Alphabet ended its nearly year-long search by appointing her to the role — as CFO of Eli Lilly from 2021 to 2024, Ashkenazi was at the financial helm during a golden period for the drugmaker in which soaring demand for weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound sent its stock to record highs. Now, she’s bringing that financial acumen to one of the world’s most powerful tech companies. At Alphabet, Ashkenazi is tasked with a critical mission: restructuring costs across the sprawling organization in order to free up capital for artificial intelligence investments, a technology she has characterized as “one of the major, most significant transformations in our lifetime.”

By Laura Entis