Baumann to Succeed Dekkers as Bayer CEO

As had widely been expected, Werner Baumann has been named chairman of the management board of Germany’s Bayer, succeeding Marijn Dekkers. As had not been expected, the 53-year-old will step into the job on May 1. Speculation over Baumann’s appointment had been rampant since mid-2015 when Dekkers announced his decision to end his tenure at Bayer at the end of 2016 rather than 2017.  As the former chemical group, which now presents itself as a pure life science player, revealed on Feb.24, the 58-year-old Dutch-born chief executive, who also holds US citizenship, will leave the company following the annual general meeting on Apr. 30.

“With its clear focus on the Life Science businesses and its new organizational structure, Bayer is in a position of strength. The course for successful future development has already been set at all levels. Also with a successor from within the company there will be no need for a familiarization period. I would like to wish Werner Baumann every success in his new role," said Dekkers.

On the management board since 2010, Baumann currently holds responsibility for Strategy and Portfolio Management, functions he will retain going forward. With the appointment of the new CEO, the board will be reduced from eight members to seven.

Following rapid implementation of Bayer’s transition to a pure life science player, the company is now entering a new era, said supervisory board chairman and former CEO Werner Wenning. “That is why this is now the right time to hand on responsibility for managing the company,” he added.

Oliver Zühlke, chairman of the Bayer Central Works Council and vice chairman of the supervisory board, praised the outgoing chief executive for “always being open to the concerns raised by the employee representatives.” 

New CEO Baumann, who was born on Oct. 6, 1962 in Krefeld, Germany, studied economics at RWTH Aachen University and the University of Cologne before joining Bayer’s Corporate Finance Department in Leverkusen in 1988. In 1991 he transferred to Bayer Hispania Comercial in Barcelona, Spain, first as controller and from 1995 as assistant to the managing director. Transferring to US-based Bayer Corporation in 1996, he headed the global Business Planning & Administration organization of the Diagnostics Business Group.

Upon returning to Germany in July 2002, Baumann became a member of the Executive Committee and Head of Central Administration & Organization at Bayer HealthCare before being named to the managing board of the newly formed subgroup Bayer HealthCare. The 54-year-old has been a member of the Bayer holding’s managing board since Jan. 1, 2010. He served as chief financial officer until his appointment as Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer (CSPO) with responsibility for Corporate Development and Mergers & Acquisitions.

Dekkers, born on Sept. 22, 1957 in Tilburg, The Netherlands, began his tenure as Bayer chief executive on Oct.1, 2010. The chemistry and chemical engineering graduate who began his professional career in 1985 as a scientist at the corporate research center of General Electric in the US also gained experience in management at companies including AlliedSignal (subsequently Honeywell) and Thermo Electron Corporation (later Thermo Fisher Scientific). Dekkers is currently a member of the board of directors at General Electric in the US. On announcing his early resignation from Bayer, Dekkers said he intended to return to the US: