John F. Kuckelman, ‘99 J.D.

John Kuckelman has been appointed Group General Counsel of Novo Nordisk, effective April 1, 2024. Kuckelman will be based at the company headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and will serve as the company’s chief legal officer, responsible for global legal affairs and security. Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company that focuses on people living with diabetes, obesity, and rare blood and endocrine diseases, and produces approximately half of the world’s insulin supply. Before joining Novo Nordisk, Kuckelman had been based in Basel, Switzerland, where he served as General Counsel of Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Head of Legal for Novartis Innovative Medicines International. During his six year tenure at Novartis, John also served as General Counsel of Novartis Gene Therapies, in Chicago, Illinois, and as Head of Legal for Novartis in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, based in Singapore. Kuckelman also held various legal leadership roles at Eli Lilly and Company during a ten year period with the Indianapolis-based company. This included serving as General Counsel of Elanco, Lilly’s animal health company, during the merger of Elanco and Novartis Animal Health. During his time at Lilly, he also served as General Counsel of Lilly Asia Operations, based in Hong Kong. He also served as Lilly’s first global anti-corruption counsel, during a period of intense FCPA enforcement in the pharmaceutical industry.