Baumann will succeed Dr Marijn Dekkers
Werner Baumann will become the new Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer, effective May 1, 2016. This was decided by the company’s Supervisory Board at its recently held meeting. He will succeed Dr Marijn Dekkers. Presently, Baumann is the board member with responsibility for strategy and portfolio management. He will retain these functions in the future. Going forward, the board of management of Bayer will comprise seven members instead of eight.
Werner Baumann was born in Krefeld, Germany. After studying economics at RWTH Aachen University and the University of Cologne, he joined Bayer in 1988. His first duties were in the corporate finance department in Leverkusen. 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.
One year later, he moved to Bayer Corporation in Tarrytown, New York, latterly heading up the global business planning and 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 and Organization 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 Labor Director of Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany, from 2006 through 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 January 1, 2010. Prior to September 30, 2014, he served as Bayer’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He was also appointed as the Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer (CSPO) with responsibility for corporate development and mergers and acquisitions. He is also responsible for the Europe region. Between April 1 and December 31, 2015, Baumann was additionally the Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare.