Dr Marijn Dekkers, chief executive of US laboratory equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific, will become Bayer's new chief executive from 1 October next year.
Current chief executive Werner Wenning has extended his contract by eight months to 30 September 2010. Wenning has been ceo for the past seven years and will be 64 next year.
Dekkers, who holds Dutch and US citizenship, will join the Bayer Management Board on 1 January 2010. He will also serve as interim chief executive of Bayer HealthCare, replacing Arthur Higgins who is leaving the company during the first half of 2010 for personal reasons. Higgins was appointed chairman of the Bayer HealthCare executive committee in 2004 and has been ceo of Bayer HealthCare since 2006.
"The supervisory board believes that in Dr Dekkers it has found a highly qualified successor to steer the fortunes of our company. His international experience, goal-oriented approach and proven management skills are very convincing qualities," said Dr Manfred Schneider, chairman of the Bayer supervisory board.
Bayer also said chief finance officer Klaus Kuehn will take early retirement on 30 April 2010 to be replaced by Werner Baumann, who is currently a board member and on the executive committee of Bayer HealthCare.