Werner Baumann (born 6 October 1962) is a German businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

, succeeding

Marijn Dekkers Marijn Emmanuel Dekkers (born 22 September 1957 in Tilburg, Netherlands) is a Dutch-American former pharmaceutical businessman. He was CEO of Bayer AG from 2010 to 2016. He served as CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. from 2002 to 2009. He served ...

on 1 May 2016.

Early life

Werner Baumann was born on 6 October 1962 in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

, Germany. Baumann was the first of his family to attend university, studying economics at

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

and the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

. Despite having interest in working for an auditing firm, he chose to work at Bayer, thinking he could finish his doctorate degree.

Career

Baumann began working for Bayer, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

multinational,

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

and

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

company, in 1988. He started his career in the finance department and later worked under Werner Wenning, current chairman of the supervisory board, as his assistant in Bayer's Spanish business division. Baumann began to rise through the ranks and went on to hold the position of chief financial officer and chief of strategy. As chief of strategy, Baumann played a key role in the Bayer AG acquisition of Schering in 2006. In February 2016, Baumann was announced as the next CEO of Bayer, succeeding Marijn Dekkers. After only four weeks as CEO, Baumann launched a US$62 billion all cash takeover bid for

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

, an American agricultural, seed, and agrochemical company. The acquisition took over 20 months to complete and closed on 7 June 2018. Losses for Bayer investors reach tens of billions of Euros just two years after the acquisition. His position as CEO of Bayer has been renewed in 2020 until 2024 before the general meeting of shareholders that will take place in 2021.

Other activities

* Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG), Member of the Board of Trustees *

German Future Prize The German Future Prize award is considered one of the most prestigious conferred for science and innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offer ...

, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
Deutscher Zukunftspreis.

Personal life

Baumann is married, with four children and resides in Krefeld, Germany.

References

1962 births German chief executives Living people People from Krefeld Bayer people RWTH Aachen University alumni {{Germany-business-bio-stub