Accelerating the transformation of Bayer: Supervisory Board of Bayer AG appoints Sarena Lin to Board of Management as Chief Transformation and Talent Officer

The Supervisory Board of Bayer AG announced the appointment of Sarena Lin (50) to the company’s Board of Management as of February 1, 2021. Lin will become the company’s Chief Transformation and Talent Officer. She will be responsible for Human Resources, Strategy and Business Consulting and drive the accelerated transformation of Bayer. Additionally, she will serve as Labor Director. Lin will be based at the company’s headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. She will join Bayer from Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, where she is a member of the Executive Committee, responsible for the areas of Transformation and Technology. She previously worked in senior positions at McKinsey and Cargill, among others. Lin holds citizenship from the United States of America and Taiwan. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese and basic German.

“We are delighted that Sarena Lin will strengthen the Bayer Board of Management with her global experience, strategic expertise, leadership skills and ability to lead large-scale transformations,” said Norbert Winkeljohann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG. “Bayer must now decisively accelerate the transformation it has initiated. Few companies have the potential to benefit from the ongoing bio revolution as much as Bayer. The company’s leading positions in attractive life science businesses must be translated into accelerated growth and value creation.”

“The employee representatives on the Supervisory Board welcome the appointment of Sarena Lin as a member of the Board of Management – and thus also the appointment of a woman as Labor Director. Based on her international experience and expertise, she will provide fresh impetus. We expect our dialogue on future HR policy and the development of our work culture here at Bayer to be conducted in a spirit of trust – guided by the social partnership we have actively promoted here for so long,” said Oliver Zühlke, Deputy Chairman of Bayer’s Supervisory Board.

“I have gotten to know Bayer as a highly professional, innovative company with enormous potential and an inspiring vision and purpose. Now is the time to unleash that potential,” said Lin of joining the company. “I am looking forward to shaping the ongoing transformation as part of Team Bayer for the benefit of all of the company’s stakeholders.”

Lin was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and later received her MBA in Strategy and a master’s degree in International Relations at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She worked at McKinsey from 1998 to 2011 and held roles such as Managing Partner in Taipei, Taiwan as well as Partner in New York, New York, USA. From 2011 to 2017 she acted as the Corporate Vice President of Strategy and Business Development and subsequently as President of the Feed and Nutrition business at Cargill in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She then joined Elanco, where she served as President, Elanco USA as well as Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Global Marketing. Lin is married and has a daughter.