Bayer, the international HealthCare, MaterialScience and CropScience company, has appointed Martin Dawkins as managing director and country speaker for the UK and Ireland region.
He will head up all Bayer plc group companies, including Bayer CropScience which is based at the Cambridge Science Park.
Mr Dawkins joins from Bayer in Leverkusen, Germany, where he headed Bayer
HealthCare's Haematology and Cardiology business in Europe, a division with over €400 million in sales. He joined Bayer in 1986 through the acquisition by Bayer Diagnostics of Technicon Instruments. Since then, he has held numerous international posts in England, the USA, Japan and Denmark. His work has been chiefly in the diagnostics and medical equipment businesses and, latterly, with haematology and cardiology products.
Mr Dawkins takes on his new, broader role at a time of consistent all-round growth for the company. All of Bayer's main businesses - CropScience,
MaterialScience and HealthCare - are showing growth, both on a global and local level. After a period of re-structuring, the company is moving forward with a portfolio of high-value, research-led and future-oriented products.
"Bayer had an excellent year in the region in 2005, and the first quarter of 2006 has also shown very promising results," says Mr Dawkins. "The company has been through a very positive re-structuring process, and is now well placed to meet the challenges of its ever more complex markets."
Mr Dawkins will be based at the company's UK/Ireland headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, where 450 of the region's 2,000 people are based. Aged 46, he was born in Bristol, and studied at the University of West of England, and Basingstoke College of Higher Education.
Mr Dawkins replaces Lambert Courth who, after three and a half years in the role, has been appointed to lead the integration programme for Bayer's acquisition of Berlin-based Schering AG. At €16.5 billion, this global acquisition is the largest in Bayer's 140 year history, and the two companies' combined strength will create a new healthcare heavyweight.
