Eli Lilly said on Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer Josh Smiley resigned after an independent investigation found inadequate personal communication with some Lilly employees.
Lilly said she recently became aware of allegations of an inappropriate personal relationship between Smiley and an employee, and the company immediately hired an outside lawyer to conduct an independent investigation.
The investigation revealed consensual, though inadequate, personal communications between Smiley and some Lilly employees, and behavior that Lilly’s leadership considered to display poor judgment on Smiley’s part, the company said.
Reuters was unable to contact Smiley immediately for comment. A Linkedin survey showed that Smiley’s account, which he managed alone, was no longer available.
Eli Lilly took “quick and meaningful action” as soon as it heard of the allegations, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.
Smiley has been with the company since 1995 and became CFO in 2018. He will be replaced by Anat Ashkenazi, who most recently was senior vice president, controller and chief financial officer at Lilly Research Laboratories, the company said.
Lilly said that Smiley’s conduct was not related to financial controls, financial statements or any other business matters or judgments, and he will be available to assist in the transition of his role.
The scrutiny of executives and the treatment they give to employees was intensified during the #MeToo social media movement.
In 2019, McDonald’s fired chief executive Steve Easterbrook due to a consensual relationship with an employee, which the board determined to violate company policy.
Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich resigned in June 2018 after an investigation found that he had a consensual relationship with an employee who violated company policy.
Under the separation agreement, Smiley will waive all of his $ 1 million cash bonus, as well as other current and future stock incentive awards, totaling more than $ 20 million in target value.