Werner Baumann has been named as the new chairman at Bayer Healthcare, replacing Olivier Brandicourt who departs from the firm on April 2.
Brandicourt was appointed as Sanofi’s new CEO last week, making way for Baumann to resume his new role at the German firm’s pharmaceuticals divisions.
This will be split alongside his duties as a member of the board of management and the firm’s executive council.
Baumann has already held numerous leading positions at Bayer from 2002 to 2009, including head of central administration and organisation and labour director.
Marijn Dekkers, chairman of the board of management at Bayer, said: “I am very pleased Werner Baumann will be leading out Healthcare business. He is a highly experienced leader with extensive expertise in this area.”
Baumann has been a member of the board of management since January 2010 and was appointed chief strategy and portfolio officer (CSPO) in October last year, with responsibility for corporate development and mergers & acquisitions and the Europe region.
Baumann replaces Brandicourt, who was named as Sanofi’s new CEO last week.
Commenting on Brandicourt’s departure, Dekkers added: “I would like to thank Olivier Brandicourt for his commitment and his contributions to the very successful development of Bayer Healthcare and I wish him all the best in his new function as CEO of Sanofi.”