Werner Wenning will be new Bayer CEO
Werner Wenning (54), currently Chief Financial Officer of Bayer AG, will be the new Chairman of the company's Board of Management. This was decided at today's meeting of Bayer's Supervisory Board. At the end of the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on April 26, 2002, Wenning will succeed Dr. Manfred Schneider (62), who has run the company since April 1992. At that Meeting, Schneider will stand for election to the Supervisory Board and will be a candidate for its chairmanship.
As Chief Financial Officer, Wenning played a decisive role in Bayer's introduction of value management, a profitability-based controlling tool designed to increase corporate value. He also linked the performance-related remuneration of the company's managers to the value management system. Wenning is an acknowledged financial expert who is widely respected by the international capital markets.
Said Supervisory Board Chairman Hermann Josef Strenger, commenting on Wenning's appointment: "I firmly believe that Werner Wenning is the right man for the job. His decisiveness and perseverance are convincing arguments in his favor."
Wenning has broad experience of Bayer's operations. Born on October 21, 1946 in Leverkusen-Opladen, he joined Bayer AG in Leverkusen as a commercial trainee on April 1, 1966. He then took a year's training in finance and accounting followed by a year working in the Corporate Auditing Department. In 1970 Bayer transferred him abroad for the first time to head up the finance and accounting department of Bayer Industrial S.A., a company that had just been formed in Lima, Peru.
In 1975 Wenning returned to Leverkusen, where he worked for three years in Corporate Auditing, before going back to South America in 1978 to become Managing Director of the Peruvian company.
From 1983 to 1986, he was head of the staff department of the Health Care Sector in Leverkusen. He subsequently switched to the Plastics Business Group as head of marketing for thermoplastics, and in 1987 assumed responsibility for that business group's worldwide marketing operations.
On April 1, 1991, Wenning was seconded for a year to what was then the Treuhandanstalt privatization agency in Berlin. In 1992 he went abroad again, this time to Barcelona as Managing Director of Bayer Hispania Industrial S.A. and Senior Bayer Representative for Spain. In April 1996 he became head of Corporate Planning and Controlling in Leverkusen.
Werner Wenning was appointed to the Board of Management of Bayer AG effective February 1, 1997. He is Chairman of the Board Committee for Finance and a member of the Board Committees for Corporate Coordination and for Human Resources. He is also the representative for the Central and South America, Africa and Middle East regions.
Wenning also holds a number of offices outside Bayer. For example, he is a member of several supervisory boards and Vice President of Deutsches Aktieninstitut e.V., Frankfurt.
Werner Wenning is married with two grown-up daughters. He is a keen sports fan, was an active soccer player and now goes jogging to keep fit. He enjoys attending soccer matches whenever his schedule permits. Since the time he spent living and working in Barcelona, he has taken an enthusiastic interest in Spain and its cultural heritage.
Other news from the department people
Get the chemical industry in your inbox
From now on, don't miss a thing: Our newsletter for the chemical industry, analytics, lab technology and process engineering brings you up to date every Tuesday and Thursday. The latest industry news, product highlights and innovations - compact and easy to understand in your inbox. Researched by us so you don't have to.
