Dr. Markus Eckert is Head of leather chemicals business unit of LANXESS and chairman of LANXESS (Pty.) Ltd. Eckert was born in Cologne, Germany, on April 28, 1971. He studied chemistry at the University of Cologne and Munich Technical University from 1991 to 1996 and obtained his doctorate under Professor Matthias Beller at Munich Technical University in 1999. He spent several months in both the United States and Japan carrying out research.

Eckert joined the Bayer Group in 1999 as a laboratory head and project manager in the Research & Development Department of what was then the Fine Chemicals Business Unit. From January 2003 to June 2004 he was in charge of Regional Strategic Planning at Bayer Polymers Asia/Pacific in Shanghai, China. He was then appointed assistant to Dr. Axel C. Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of LANXESS, and, as a member of the Business Design project team, was closely involved in building up LANXESS as a specialty chemicals group. Eckert was made head of LANXESS’s Corporate Development group function on April 1, 2005.

Effective October 1, 2009, Dr. Markus Eckert has global responsibility for the leather chemicals business of the LANXESS specialty chemicals group.

Markus Eckert is married and has two children.