New Cefic Executive Director Operations (COO)

Hartwig Wendt, Vice President Corporate Public Affairs at Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany, has been appointed Executive Director Operations (COO) of Cefic, Brussels, Belgium, and will also head the Public Affairs department. He officially started his role on April 1. The position as Executive Director Operations is a new role at Cefic. Hartwig joins Cefic as a secondee from Bayer at an exceptionally challenging time for the industry. He will support the organisation in addressing these multi-faceted challenges over the next two years.

“I am delighted to join Cefic at a pivotal time for our industry. The Covid-19 pandemic and current supply chain problems caused by the war in Ukraine clearly show how important it is for Europe to have its own production facilities, well-trained, efficient employees, and functioning supply chains on our continent. The EU chemicals industry is a major supplier of all manufacturing industries and essential and strategic value chains, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, EV batteries, construction materials. A strong chemical industry is therefore essential for the European Green Deal and Europe’s strategic autonomy.” Hartwig Wendt said.

Hartwig Wendt studied chemistry at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, in 1995. He began his career as a scientist in research and development at Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany, in 1996. After holding various positions in research and development and marketing, he became Director of Corporate Advocacy in 2002 and assumed responsibility for international HSEQ management. In 2007, he became Vice President Corporate Development, and since 2018, he has been Vice President Corporate Public Affairs at Bayer AG.

Hartwig Wendt has served as a strategic advisor to the Board of Management in various capacities and provided, among other things, the strategic thinking for the spin-off of the materials business in 2014, which now operates under the name Covestro. For the past three years, Hartwig has led the Bayer Group’s Global Public Affairs Issue Management Team. Hartwig Wendt joined Cefic in 2015 as Executive Director.

Cefic was founded in 1972. It is the voice of large, medium, and small chemical companies across Europe, which provide 1.2 million jobs and account for 15 % of global chemical production.