Sidney Taurel

Taurel was born a Spanish national in Casablanca, French Morocco, on February 9, 1949. He received his primary and secondary education in Casablanca. In 1969, he graduated from École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris. In 1971, he received an MBA from Columbia Business School. He later received a doctorate in human letters honoris causa from Indiana University.

In 1971, Taurel joined Eli Lilly and Company's subsidiary Eli Lilly International Corporation as a marketing associate. After sales and marketing assignments in Indianapolis, São Paulo, and Paris, he became general manager of the company's affiliate in Brazil in 1981 and was appointed to the London-based position of vice president of Lilly European operations in 1983. He was named executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of its pharmaceutical division in 1993. Three years later, he was promoted to president and chief operating officer.

As chairman and CEO from 1998 to 2008, Taurel led the company's efforts to successfully tackle the challenge of the patent loss of its main product Prozac while remaining independent; he drove a deeper globalization of the company, significantly increased its commitment to research and development and partnering, and oversaw the successful launches of a dozen new products, roughly doubling the company's sales. He spoke often on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, as chairman of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America from 1998 to 1999.

In 1977, Taurel married Kathryn H Fleischmann from São Paulo, Brazil. They had three children, Alex (born in Paris in 1979), Patrick (born in 1982 in São Paulo), and Olivia (born in 1988 in Indianapolis). They became American citizens in 1995. His wife Kathryn died in 2014.