Bayer appoints Dekkers as new chief executive

Bayer has announced that Dr Marijn Dekkers will take over as the company’s chief executive officer from October next year.

Currently president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dr Dekkers will join the management board at Bayer in January 2010 and serve as chief executive of Bayer HealthCare in what the firm has termed a “transition phase”.

He will then succeed Werner Wenning, who recently extended his contract by eight months, to become Bayer’s chief executive on October 1st.

“The supervisory board believes that, in Dr Dekkers, it has found a highly-qualified successor to steer the fortunes of our company,” said Dr Manfred Schneider, chairman of the Bayer supervisory board.

“His international experience, goal-oriented approach and proven management skills are very convincing qualities.”

Dr Dekkers was born in the Netherlands and holds both Dutch and US citizenship. He joined the Boston-based firm Thermo Electron Corporation as chief operating officer in 2000.

Earlier this month, Bayer celebrated its renewed inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for 2009.