Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY -0.15%) is drawing from the ranks of the finance industry for its latest high-level hire. The company announced Wednesday it has tapped Elizabeth Mily to be its executive vice president, strategy and business development. The appointment is effective March 30.
In its press release trumpeting Mily's hire, Bristol Myers Squibb said that she is to "oversee company strategy and all business development activities, including strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, as well as other strategic initiatives."
Previously, Mily was managing director and chair of the global life sciences group at Barclays. According to her new company, while at the sprawling bank she "executed over $200 billion in completed [mergers and acquisitions] advisory assignments and has advised on an extensive amount of debt, equity and equity-linked financings." Mily had been at Barclays since 2010.
Her LinkedIn page reveals a career that has blended the finance and healthcare industries. Before her time at Barclays, she did a brief stint as senior vice president of corporate strategy and development at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
In its press release, Bristol Myers Squibb repeatedly referenced merger and acquisition activities. Considering that and Mily's work history, it's reasonable to believe the company will continue actively looking to acquire new assets. It certainly hasn't been shy to do so in the recent past. In November, it closed what had been a challenging deal -- its massive, $74 billion absorption of pharmaceutical company Celgene.
The performance of Bristol Myers Squibb stock on Wednesday was generally in line with that of the broader market, declining by slightly over 7%.