Bayer has named Werner Baumann as Chairman of its Board of Management, succeeding current Chief Executive, Marijn Dekkers.
Baumann will retain his current role as Head of Strategy and Portfolio Management until he takes on his new position as Chairman on 1 May, earlier than anticipated as Dekkers is now stepping down on 30 April. His contract was originally set to run until 31 December.
'In Werner Baumann, Bayer has a strong and experienced management personality from within its own ranks,' said Werner Wenning, Chairman of Bayer's Supervisory Board.
'In his various positions at Bayer and as a member of the Board of Management since 2010, he has contributed substantially to strengthening and realigning the company. We are convinced that, under Werner Baumann’s leadership, Bayer will continue along its track of successful development.'
Going forward, Bayer's Board of Management of Bayer will have seven members instead of eight.
Baumann joined Bayer in 1988, initially in the Corporate Finance Department in Leverkusen, Germany. In 1991 he transferred to Bayer Hispania Comercial in Barcelona, Spain, to take up a position as controller, becoming assistant to the managing director in 1995. He later moved to Bayer Corporation in Tarrytown, New York, latterly heading up the global Business Planning & Administration organisation of the Diagnostics Business Group.
In July 2002, Baumann returned to Germany to become a member of the Executive Committee and Head of Central Administration & Organisation at Bayer HealthCare. In October 2003, he was appointed a member of the Board of Management of the newly formed subgroup Bayer HealthCare, also serving as the company's Labour Director. As a member of the Board of Management and Labour Director of Bayer Schering Pharma, Berlin, Germany, from 2006 to September 2009, his roles included actively participating in this company’s integration into the subgroup.
Baumann has been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer since 1 January, 2010. Prior to 30 September 2014, he was Bayer’s Chief Financial Officer. Effective 1 October, 2014, he was appointed Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer (CSPO) with responsibility for Corporate Development and Mergers & Acquisitions. He is also responsible for the Europe region.
Between 1 April and 31 December, 2015, Baumann added Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare to his roles.
Dekkers has been Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer since 1 October, 2010. He began his professional career in 1985 as a scientist at General Elecctric's corporate research centre in the US, gaining experience in various units of the company before joining AlliedSignal (subsequently Honeywell International) in 1995.
In 2000, Dekkers became Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Electron Corporation (later renamed Thermo Fisher Scientific following the acquisition of laboratory supplier Fisher Scientific). As of 2002, he was President and CEO of this firm.
After spending 25 years of his career in the US, Dekkers joined Bayer on 1 January 2010. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at General Electric in the US. In September 2014, he took over the two-year presidency of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), Frankfurt. He is also a Vice President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Berlin.
