Shares of Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) are in focus this morning after the company named a new chief financial officer and replaced the head of its research and development unit, among other changes.

MANAGEMENT CHANGES: Eli Lilly announced this morning that current CFO, Derica Rice, will retire in June and that Josh Smiley has been promoted to senior vice president and CFO and will become a member of Lilly's executive committee, effective January 1, 2018. Dan Skovronsky, a senior vice president at the company, will become SVP for science and technology and president of Lilly Research Labs on June 1, 2018, succeeding Jan Lunberg, who will retire at the end of May. The company also announced that Myles O'Neill will become SVP and president of manufacturing operations beginning January 1, replacing Maria Crowe, who is retiring in December. Commenting on the management shakeup, Chairman and CEO David Ricks said that "joining our executive team are individuals who have the experience, expertise and leadership skills to build on our momentum of innovation driven volume growth. Importantly, this team will help us maintain focus as we work to bring forward new medicines in diabetes, cancer, immunology, neurodegeneration and pain and change the path of serious disease."

WHAT'S NOTABLE: Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said it would cut about 3,500 jobs around the world, resulting in annual savings of about $500M beginning in 2018. The company expects most of the cuts to come from a voluntary early-retirement program it is offering in the U.S. It is also closing a plant in Larchwood, Iowa, the research and development office in Bridgewater, New Jersey and the Lilly China Research and Development Center in Shanghai, China. Lilly expects charges of about $1.2B before tax, or 80c per share after tax. The initiatives are part of a broad productivity plan to improve its cost structure, particularly fixed costs, the company said at the time.

PRICE ACTION: Eli Lilly is fractionally lower in morning trading. Shares are up about 15% year-to-date.