Sandra E. Peterson is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bayer CropScience and Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience AG since October 1, 2010.
Peterson, born in 1959 in New York, N.Y., holds a B.A. in Government from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and a Master of Public Administration in Applied Economics from Princeton University, New Jersey. She received a fellowship from the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart, Germany, and spent a year in 1984-85 serving with the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federation of German Industries.
From 1987-1993, Peterson was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, working on brand marketing strategies, innovative product development and new business. Between 1993 and 1996 she held various global executive positions with home appliances manufacturer Whirlpool Corporation, subsequently being appointed Executive Vice President at foods company Nabisco. In 1999 Peterson became Senior Vice President of Merck-Medco's Health Businesses, where she launched several new business lines. Her areas of responsibility at Medco included business development, strategy, cooperation management, product development, branding and marketing. As an Executive Management team member, she played a role in the strategic spin-off of Medco Health from Merck & Co., Inc., latterly serving as Group President of Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
Sandra E. Peterson has been a member of the Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare since May 2005, heading up the Medical Care Division since January 2009. Prior to that she was in charge of the Diabetes Care Division, now one of the businesses of Medical Care. She joined the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience on July 1, 2010.
Peterson is a member of the Board of Directors of Dunn & Bradstreet. In addition, she is a member and former Chairman of the Board of Wildlife Trust, an international non-profit scientific organization; a member of the Committee of 200, an international organization for women in management positions; and a member of the Women's Forum. She is also a member of the Board of CropLife International.
