Board of Management

Committed to value creation

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The Board of Management, headed by Dr. Markus Steilemann, runs the company with the goal of sustainably increasing Covestro’s enterprise value and achieving defined corporate objectives.

The Board of Management defines the long-term goals and strategies for the company and sets forth the principles and directives for the resulting corporate policies. It coordinates and monitors the most important activities, defines the company's portfolio, develops and deploys managerial staff, allocates resources and decides on the financial steering and reporting of the Covestro Group.

The members of the Board of Management bear joint responsibility for running the business as a whole. However, the individual members manage the areas assigned to them on their own responsibility within the framework of the decisions made by the full Board. The full Board of Management makes decisions on all matters of fundamental importance and in cases where a decision of me full Board is prescribed by law or otherwise mandatory.

The Members of the Covestro Board of Management

  • Dr. Markus Steilemann

    Dr. Markus Steilemann

    Chief Executive Officer

    Year of Birth: 1970
    Nationality: German

    Biography

    Dr. Markus Steilemann has been Chief Executive Officer of Covestro since June 2018. His area of responsibility covers central areas such as strategy, sustainability, personnel or communications.

    Born in Geilenkirchen, Germany in 1970, Steilemann graduated with a PhD in chemistry from RWTH Aachen University. He began his career with the Bayer Group in 1999. From 2008, Steilemann held various management positions in the Polycarbonates business unit at Bayer MaterialScience, the predecessor company of Covestro. Between 2013 and 2015, Steilemann headed the entire business unit headquartered in China, where he lived for several years.

    Steilemann returned to Germany and joined the Covestro Board of Management in 2015 with responsibility for innovation. In addition to this role, he became head of the Polyurethanes business unit in the following year. In 2017, he became Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), responsible for all three business units including innovation, marketing and sales.

  • Sucheta Govil

    Sucheta Govil

    Chief Commercial Officer

    Year of Birth: 1963
    Nationality: British citizen of Indian origin

    Biography

    Sucheta Govil has been a member of Covestro's Management Board since August 2019. As Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), she is in charge of the three divisions Polyurethanes, Polycarbonates and Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties. Govil is also responsible for the Central Marketing, for Innovation Management & Commercial Services as well as for the Supply Chain Centers in the three major regions EMLA, NAFTA and APAC.

    Being British citizen of Indian origin born in 1963 , Govil studied at the University of Delhi and at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, where she graduated with a post-graduate degree in Business Management. During her professional career, she held various management positions in marketing and innovation worldwide, among others at GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, AkzoNobel and DSM. She also currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at Eurocell plc in London, a leading supplier of building products.

  • Dr. Thomas Toepfer

    Dr. Thomas Toepfer

    Chief Financial Officer

    Year of Birth: 1972
    Nationality: German

    Biography

    Dr. Thomas Toepfer is member of the Board of Management since April 2018 and the company’s Labor Director since January 2019. As Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Covestro, he is responsible for Accounting, Controlling and Finance. He also oversees Investor Relations, Information Technology, Portfolio Development, Taxes and Law, Intellectual Property & Compliance.

    Born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1972, Toepfer holds a PhD in Business Administration from Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management (WHU), Koblenz. He worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc. and in leading management positions for STILL GmbH, Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH amongst others. Before joining Covestro he was a member of the Executive Board, Chief Financial Officer and Labor Director of KION GROUP AG.

  • Dr. Klaus Schaefer

    Dr. Klaus Schäfer

    Chief Technology Officer

    Year of Birth: 1962
    Nationality: German

    Biography

    Dr. Klaus Schäfer is member of the Board of Management since 2015. He is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Covestro and responsible for production and technology as well as all chemical production sites.

    Previously, Schäfer was head of Production and Technology in the Polyurethanes segment, was the Country Representative in China for predecessor company Bayer MaterialScience, and Managing Director of German site operator Currenta, which provides services to Covestro at the Dormagen, Krefeld-Uerdingen and Leverkusen sites.

    Born in Bruehl, Germany, in 1962, Schäfer studied physics at the city’s university. After obtaining his PhD, he worked for Erdölchemie and BP before joining the Bayer Group in 2001.

    Since Jun 2019, Schäfer is a member of the supervisory board of TÜV Rheinland AG.

Cooperation in a spirit of trust

In all its actions, the Board takes account of the interests of stockholders, employees and other stakeholders. It performs its tasks according to the law, the Articles of Incorporation and the Board of Management's rules of procedure, and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code as stated in the declaration of conformity. lt ensures compliance with the law and internal company directives, and works with the company's other governance bodies in a spirit of trust.

According to the Board of Management's rules of procedure and schedule of duties, the Chair bears particular responsibility for coordinating all Board of Management areas. The Chair represents the Board of Management and Covestro AG and the Group in dealings with the public and other third parties.

Find more information on the Board of Management of Covestro, including a detailed listing of the compensation for its members, in the Covestro Annual Report 2019.