Eli Lilly named Ralph Alvarez to its board of directors last week. Alvarez is currently the president and COO of McDonald’s Corp and has absolutely no experience with pharmaceuticals, or healthcare for that matter. Alvarez has worked in fast-food (Mickey D’s and Wendy’s) for 30+ years.

What’s also interesting is that another friend of ours, Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler also worked at McDonald’s prior to his Pfizer stint.

Kindler worked at the Golden Arches from 1996-2000 as EVP of Corporate Relations and as General Counsel. He then moved on to Boston Market (also owned by Mickey D’s) from 2000-2001 before moving to Pfizer in 2002.

I guess there’s two lessons to be learned here:

1.Running big companies doesn’t necessarily have to do with the business itself. It’s ultimately a dollars game.

2.Having connections in the fast food world when your employer sells Lipitor (Pfizer) and insulin (Lilly) has its benefits.

Quarter pounders are pretty tasty though…I’m still buying.

Image from delawareonline

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