Alphabet's new CFO was in the middle of the GLP-1 boom. Now she's onto generative AI

Alphabet's outgoing finance chief, Ruth Porat, spent the past year and a half trying to help her internet company navigate the generative artificial intelligence boom. The person who was just named her successor was knee-deep in a very different phenomenon: anti-obesity drugs.

Alphabet announced on Wednesday that Eli Lilly Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi will be its new CFO after an almost year-long search. During that time, Ashkenazi has managed the books at the world's most valuable drugmaker, which has seen so much demand for weight loss treatments Mounjaro and Zepbound that it's struggled to maintain supply.

"Hundreds of thousands of people fill scripts for Mounjaro and Zepbound, yet we understand the frustration from those facing prescription delays or uncertainties getting their medicine," Ashkenazi said on Eli Lilly's first-quarter earnings call in April.

The two drugs are part of a class of treatments called GLP-1s, which have taken off in the past couple years because of their effectiveness in helping people lose weight. The medications, which also treat diabetes, work by mimicking a hormone produced in the gut to suppress a person's appetite. About one in 8 adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1, according to a survey released last month from health policy research organization KFF.

Shares of Eli Lilly have soared 90% in the past year and are trading at a record. The company in April reported better-than-expected results and hiked its full-year guidance.

"During her last three years as Lilly's CFO, we have experienced tremendous growth and laid the groundwork to help us reach even more patients with our medicines," Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a press release on Wednesday.

Ashkenazi, who spent the past 23