Eli Lilly 2015 Annual Report Download - page 130

P14
Experience: Our directors are responsible for overseeing the company's business consistent with their
fiduciary duties. This significant responsibility requires highly skilled individuals with various qualities,
attributes, and professional experience. The Board is well-rounded, with a balance of relevant perspectives
and experience, as illustrated in the following charts:
CEO Experience: 8
Financial Expertise: 7
Relevant Scientific/Academic Expertise: 6
Healthcare Experience: 4
Operational/Strategic Expertise: 7
International Experience: 7
Marketing and Sales Expertise: 5
Gender/Ethnic Diversity: 8
As the following chart demonstrates, our director composition also reflects a mix of tenure on the Board,
which provides an effective balance of historical perspective and an understanding of the evolution of our
business with fresh perspectives and insights.
2 Years Tenure or Less: 1
3-5 Years: 5
6-10 Years: 3
More than 10 Years: 4
Diversity: The Board strives to achieve diversity in the broadest sense, including persons diverse in
geography, gender, ethnicity, and experiences. Although the Board does not establish specific diversity goals
or have a stand-alone diversity policy, the Board's overall diversity is an important consideration in the director
selection and nomination process. The Directors and Corporate Governance Committee assesses the
effectiveness of board diversity efforts in connection with the annual nomination process as well as in new
director searches. The company's fourteen directors range in age from 44 to 72, and include four women and
four ethnically diverse members.
Character: Board members should possess the personal attributes necessary to be an effective director,
including unquestioned integrity, sound judgment, independence, a collaborative spirit, and commitment to the
company, our shareholders, and other constituencies.
Director Nomination Process
The Board delegates the director screening process to the Directors and Corporate Governance Committee,
which receives input from other Board members. Potential directors are identified from several sources,
including executive search firms retained by the committee, incumbent directors, management, and
shareholders.
The committee employs the same process for evaluating all candidates, including those submitted by
shareholders. The committee initially evaluates a candidate based on publicly available information and any
additional information supplied by the party recommending the candidate. If the candidate appears to satisfy
the selection criteria and the committee’s initial evaluation is favorable, the committee, assisted by
management or the search firm, gathers additional data on the candidate’s qualifications, availability, probable
level of interest, and any potential conflicts of interest. If the committee’s subsequent evaluation continues to
be favorable, the candidate is contacted by the Chairman of the Board and one or more of the independent
directors, including the lead director, for direct discussions to determine the mutual levels of interest in
pursuing the candidacy. If these discussions are favorable, the committee makes a final recommendation to