Martin Brudermüller (born 5 May 1961) is a German businessman who was the CEO of

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

from 2018 to 2024.

Early life

Brudermüller was born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

on 5 May 1961. He earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in chemistry from the

University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

, Germany, in 1985 and 1987 respectively. He did postdoctoral research at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, US.

Career

Brudermüller joined BASF in 1988 and worked as a chemist in the ammonia laboratory. In 1993, he moved to the New Business Development / Marketing division in the Intermediates division. In 1995 he was delegated to BASF Italia Spa, Milan, as Head of Marketing and Sales Pharma Intermediates. From 1997 he was staff to the vice chairman of the board. After working as productions director for fat-soluble vitamins in the Fine Chemicals division from 1999, he was promoted in the following years to Senior Vice President Strategic Planning BASF Group and President Functional Polymers Division. Since 2006 he is member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft (since January 14, 2008 BASF SE). In 2011, Brudermüller became Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and from 2015 also Chief Technology Officer. From 2018 he was chairman of the board of executive directors and chief technology officer (CTO). Brudermüller was nominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Brudermüller strongly opposed a proposed EU ban on Russian gas imports. He said it would destroy the German economy. BASF has sizeable investments in the Russian natural gas industry and partners with

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

. The German central bank said it would reduce German GDP for the year by 5% while other economists said it would reduce German GDP by 0.3 to 3%. In his capacity as CEO, Brudermüller accompanied

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Olaf Scholz on a state visit to China in 2022.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2024)

Non-profit organizations

Munich Security Conference The Munich Security Conference (MSC), formerly Munich Conference on Security Policy, is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Germany, since 1963. Over the past four decades the Munich Security Con ...

(MSC), Member of the Security Innovation Board (since 2021) *

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

, Member of the Senate * European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), Member

Personal life

Brudermüller has been married since 1993.

References

Living people BASF people German chief executives German chemical industry businesspeople 1961 births Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni Businesspeople from Stuttgart {{Germany-business-bio-stub