Diogo Rau to Join Lilly as Senior Vice-president and Chief Information and Digital Officer

Eli Lilly and Company announced today that Diogo Rau will join the company on May 17, 2021 as senior vice-president and chief information and digital officer. Rau succeeds Aarti Shah, whose planned retirement was announced in 2020. Shah will retire after 27 years of service to the company.

“We are excited to welcome Diogo as the new leader of Lilly’s information technology and digital capabilities, as we deepen our corporate-wide use of data, analytics and machine learning, and fully leverage the power of digital capabilities to enhance experiences and outcomes for people that use our medicines,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chairman and CEO. “Diogo’s expertise and leadership roles at Apple, along with his extensive experience in guiding technology strategy, will be invaluable to Lilly as we change how we discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize innovative new medicines to meet the increasing expectations of patients, physicians, and health care systems.”

Rau most recently served as the top executive of information technology for retail and online stores at Apple, Inc. During his 10 years at Apple, he led the development and implementation of the technology supporting the Apple Online Store and Apple retail stores, including the e-commerce platform, mobile point of sale, the Apple Store App, and systems used by store team members. Prior to joining Apple, Rau was a partner with McKinsey & Company, where he led the North America IT organization and governance practice, and where he frequently presented to CIO forums and technology conferences. Rau began his career as a consultant at A.T. Kearney and later founded GiftGateway, a software company that brought rewards and recognition online. Rau graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in industrial engineering and engineering management.

“I am very pleased to join the Lilly team at such an amazing time,” Rau said. “Machine learning can open so many opportunities, and technology can strengthen our relationship with patients and physicians. I greatly admire Lilly’s mission and values, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s longstanding record of innovation.”

Ricks also commented on Shah’s upcoming retirement.

“I want to take this opportunity to again thank Aarti Shah for her contributions throughout her time at Lilly. Over the past six years, Aarti has very successfully led our information technology and digital efforts and has been a great partner to me and the entire executive team. We are grateful for her leadership and wish her well in this next chapter of her life.”