Dr. Michael Zobel, MBA, has served as head of specialty chemicals group LANXESS’s Ion Exchange Resins business unit since March 1, 2005.

Michael Zobel was born in Marl, Germany, in 1969. He received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes e.V. (German National Scholarship Foundation) to study chemistry at the University of Munich, where he gained his pre-diploma, and the University of Münster, where he completed his studies and obtained his doctorate.

The Ph.D. chemist and MBA joined Bayer AG in 1997, where he served in a number of responsible positions, such as laboratory and project manager in Research & Development (1997-1999), as Assistant to the Board of Management and as Coordinator for Strategic Planning and M&A Projects of the Bayer Polymers subgroup (2000-2001). He then worked as Project and Change Manager in corporate restructuring projects in the Bayer Group (2002).

In 2003 Zobel participated in a full-time MBA program at Warwick Business School in the UK, which was supported by Bayer AG.

Following completion of his MBA, he assumed global responsibility at Bayer AG for the sales and marketing of general-purpose rubber and rubber chemicals. With the establishment of LANXESS AG as an independent company, Zobel was named Global Product Manager and member of the Executive Management Team of the Rubber Chemicals business unit in mid 2004.

Dr. Michael Zobel assumed the position of global head of the LANXESS Ion Exchange Resins business unit at the beginning of March 2005.

Michael Zobel is married.

Leverkusen, September 2008