Gabi Mittas has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer for Lilly North Asia Pacific Hub, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Gabi is replacing Andrew Lechleiter who is joining Lilly’s new global Alzheimer’s Disease Unit in Indianapolis, U.S. after two years in his Sydney based role.
Gabi began her career at Lilly Australia and quickly demonstrated her deep marketing expertise in leadership roles across several therapeutic areas and affiliates. Most recently she led Lilly’s global marketing strategy for Cyramza ® (ramucirumab), an antineoplastic drug used to treat advanced gastro-intestinal cancers, lung cancers, liver cancer and colorectal cancer, along with a PD-1 inhibitor. She is excited to return home after 14 years, to Lilly Australia & New Zealand to where her journey with Lilly started.
“I’ve been fortunate to have had marketing experiences in different countries, therapeutic areas and across regions with Lilly. But I’m very excited to come home. In the marketplace, our team really punches above its weight and since re-connecting with them I’m even more impressed with the enthusiasm and ambition of this team to get our products into the hands of people who need them most”, says Gabi.
Over the past five years, Lilly’s marketing and sales teams have been working on a program to accelerate customer interaction capabilities, catering for the evolving needs of medical professionals through both face-to-face and virtual touchpoints. In 2020, COVID-19 reinforced this program’s relevance and importance.
“A realisation that has been extremely powerful in all my experiences is that our craft is special. It truly is about creating meaningful connections and remarkable experiences founded in deep, universal human truths. I’m excited to work with our team in ANZ to further identify and develop the marketing competencies required for delivering best in class customer experiences both for today and for the future”, she added.
Throughout the years, Gabi has also been committed to Lilly’s diversity & inclusion programs and is known at Lilly as a strong talent developer. “The ANZ region has an amazing mix of backgrounds, experiences, thoughts and ideas – and this excites me! Over the coming weeks, my first priority is to connect with the team, get to know them, have them get to know me and together figure out how we can leverage each other’s skills and experiences to do the best work we can. Priority number two is to have fun while at it!”
Ben Basil, President & GM of Lilly Australia & New Zealand said he is delighted to welcome Gabi back to the team. “Gabi not only has the skills and experience to take our marketing strategies to next level, but also brings tremendous passion. She will be a great coach for our Marketing team and will help us deliver commercial excellence across ANZ.”
When asked what she is most looking forward to about coming home, Gabi said “being close to my parents and giving them regular big hugs! With the pandemic, I didn’t get the chance to see my parents for an entire year and I’m making up for lost time now”.
“Oh, and good coffee! Bring on a good Aussie flat white!…and the great seafood…and the plethora of amazing Aussie Shirazs…There’s no place like Australia,” added Gabi.
With Gabi’s appointment, Lilly ANZ now has 54% female leaders in its executive team.