Bayer Crop Science Announces Executive Leadership Changes
After 31 years at Bayer, Jackie Applegate is retiring as commercial lead for North America.
Brian Naber has been appointed to the role, effective March 1, 2024. Naber was most recently lead for the Asia Pacific division, and that role will be filled by Malu Nachreiner.
As of February 1, Oliver Rittgen will serve as the crop science division’s chief financial officer succeeding Kelly Gast, who retired after almost 30 years with the company.
Additional changes coming at the beginning of 2024 include:
- Sascha Israel has been appointed as head of product supply succeeding Dirk Backhaus who retired after 27 years with Bayer.
- Amanda McClerren, former head of crop science R&D digital transformation and information technology, will become the chief information officer, head of digital transformation and information technology.
- Jessica Christiansen assumes the position as head of crop science communications after having led the division’s sustainability and business stewardship team. She is taking over for Tom Armitage, who decided to pursue further career opportunities outside of Bayer.
“With the new setup of the crop science executive leadership team, we are perfectly positioned to further drive our vision of regenerative agriculture and to deliver much needed innovations to farmers,” said Rodrigo Santos, member of the board of Bayer AG and president of the company’s crop science division. “I am looking forward to working together with this team to tackle some of the most important topics of our time: achieving food security and fighting climate change at the same time. To this end, we will continue to support our customers to produce more while restoring more. I would like to thank Jackie, Kelly, Dirk, and Tom for their dedicated service to Bayer and their outstanding achievements over the last years. They all will leave a lasting legacy, in particular for the crop science division.”
