Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley

Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley was born on June 11, 1951 in Munich, Germany. After having completed an industrial business apprenticeship at Siemens AG, he studied law at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich from 1974 to 1979. He completed his practical training as a lawyer in Hamburg, Germany, and Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1979 to 1982. He earned a doctorate in law (Dr. jur.) from the University of Munich in 1986 while working.

Kley joined Bayer AG in 1982. Initially, he worked in Corporate Finance and later became the assistant to the Chairman of the Management Board. After serving as Chief Financial Officer in Japan, he held a number of senior executive positions within sales and marketing of the Pharmaceutical division from 1991 to 1994. He then served as Head of the Pharmaceutical division at the Italian subsidiary of Bayer until 1997. Subsequently, he was in charge of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations at Bayer headquarters.

In 1998, Kley became a member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Lufthansa AG.

In September 2006, Karl-Ludwig Kley joined Merck KGaA in Darmstadt as Vice Chairman of the Executive Board. He was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board in late April 2007.

Karl-Ludwig Kley is married and has one son.

Responsibility for Group functions 
Corporate Strategy; Corporate Communications; Corporate Legal and Compliance; Corporate Auditing