Bayer will have a new chairman eight months earlier than expected after Dr Marijn Dekkers request to have his contract cut short was accepted by the company’s supervisory board.
Taking over from Dr Dekkers on May 1 as chairman of the board of management will be Bayer stalwart Werner Baumann.
He is currently Bayer’s board member with responsibility for strategy and portfolio management, functions that he will retain in addition to his new role.
Dekkers said: “With its clear focus on the life science businesses and its new organisational 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 familiarisation period.”
Baumann joined Bayer in 1988, working initially in the corporate finance department in Leverkusen. During his 28 years with the firm he subsequently held a variety of senior roles, and was appointed to the board of management in 2010.
He then served as chief financial officer, chief strategy and portfolio officer and chairman of the board of management of Bayer HealthCare.
Werner Wenning, chairman of the supervisory board of Bayer, said: “In Werner Baumann, Bayer has a strong and experienced management personality from within its own ranks.
“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.”
Outgoing chairman of the board of management Dekkers held the role since 2010, overseeing a major reorganisation of the company, during which its polymer materials business was divested and the remaining operations realigned into three divisions.
Prior to joining Bayer six years ago Dekkers served as Thermo Fisher Scientific’s president and CEO. His decision to step down was originally taken in 2014, though he had planned to stay until the end of 2016.