Aradhana Sarin
Chief Financial Officer
2020 – Present
6 years (current)
Key Decisions & Impact
Sarin trained and practiced as a physician in India and Africa before moving into pharmaceutical business and finance roles, joining Alexion Pharmaceuticals in November 2017 as chief business and strategy officer and later becoming its CFO. When AstraZeneca acquired Alexion for $39 billion in 2021, it recruited Sarin as its own CFO, a rare case of an acquired company's finance chief taking the top finance job at the acquirer rather than departing after the deal closed.
Legacy
Sarin joined from Alexion as CFO and has managed AstraZeneca's capital allocation through the $50 billion U.S. manufacturing investment program, debt reduction from the Alexion acquisition, and the progressive dividend policy. She has maintained the company's investment-grade credit rating while increasing R&D investment to $14.2 billion annually. This leadership tenure shaped AstraZeneca's strategic direction and left a lasting imprint on the company's culture, portfolio, and financial performance.