OREANDA-NEWS. Effective March 31, 2015, Olivier Brandicourt (59), Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare AG and member of the Executive Council of Bayer AG, will leave the company to become new CEO of Sanofi as of April 2, 2015. On the same date, Werner Baumann (52), member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG, will take over the function of Chairman at Bayer HealthCare.

Baumann will remain a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and of the company's Executive Council. He will also retain responsibility for strategy and portfolio management as well as for the Europe region. He already held leading positions at Bayer HealthCare from 2002 to 2009 – initially as Head of Central Administration & Organization and later as a member of the Board of Management and as the subgroup's Labor Director. Between 2006 and 2009, he actively participated in the integration of Schering AG, Berlin, Germany. Bayer HealthCare comprises the Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Care, Animal Health and Medical Care divisions.

"I would like to thank Olivier Brandicourt for his commitment and his contributions to the very successful development of Bayer HealthCare and I wish him all the best in his new function as CEO of Sanofi," said Dr. Marijn Dekkers, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG. "At the same time, I am very pleased that Werner Baumann will be leading our HealthCare business. He is a highly experienced leader with extensive expertise in this area." Over the coming months, Baumann will steer HealthCare's operating business together with the HealthCare Executive Committee and will work on the strategic realignment of the business in light of Bayer's future concentration on the Life Sciences HealthCare and CropScience as announced.

Werner Baumann has been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since January 1, 2010. Effective October 1, 2014, he was appointed Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer (CSPO) with responsibility for Corporate Development and Mergers & Acquisitions. He is also responsible for the Europe region. Prior to October 1, 2014, he served as Bayer AG’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Baumann studied economics in Aachen and Cologne. He joined Bayer AG in 1988, where his first duties were in the Corporate Finance Department. After holding positions of increasing responsibility in Spain and the United States, he became a member of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare.

Olivier Brandicourt has been Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare AG and Chairman of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee since November 1, 2013. He was also appointed a member of the Executive Council of Bayer AG. Brandicourt studied medicine and biology in Paris and has worked as a practicing physician. Having begun his industrial career in 1987 at Parke-Davis / Warner-Lambert, he subsequently joined Pfizer, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming a member of its Executive Leadership Team in 2010.