Bernd Montag

If you don’t love what you do, then life is too short.

— Bernd Montag

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Overview

Dr. Bernd Montag
Born	(1969-04-16) 16 April 1969 Munich, West Germany
Citizenship	German
Education	Physics
Alma mater	Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen–Nuremberg
Occupation	Business executive
Employer	Siemens Healthineers
Known for	Chief executive officer of Siemens Healthineers AG
Title	Chief executive officer
Term	2015–present
Children	3
Awards	Entrepreneur of the Year (Börse Online, 2022)
Website	https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/

😀 Bernd Montag (born 16 April 1969) is a German physicist and business executive who has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Healthineers AG since 2015, leading the medical-technology group from its origins as a division of Siemens AG to a listed company among Germany's most valuable healthcare firms. Under his leadership the company has been rebranded as Siemens Healthineers, floated in an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and expanded into areas such as oncology and digital health through major acquisitions, including the purchase of Varian Medical Systems. Trained as a theoretical physicist and a former high-level basketball player, Montag is often portrayed as a low-profile, analytically minded leader who stresses trust, teamwork and long-term innovation in healthcare systems.

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Early life and education

🎓 Munich upbringing and studies. Montag was born on 16 April 1969 in Munich, then part of West Germany, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Ottobrunn in an environment that encouraged both academic and athletic pursuits. In 1988 he enrolled at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg (FAU) to study physics and remained at the institution for both his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, completing a doctorate in theoretical multi-particle physics in 1995 with research on metallic clusters. During this period he worked as a scientific assistant at the university’s institute of theoretical physics, an experience that reinforced the analytical approach later visible in his management style.

🏀 Basketball and formative discipline. Alongside his studies Montag pursued competitive basketball, playing for clubs including SG München and Bamberg, competing in Germany’s first and second Bundesliga and appearing for the German junior national team before deciding to concentrate on his scientific career. He has described discovering a passion for theoretical physics during his time at FAU and has summarised his personal philosophy with the observation that "if you do not love what you do, then life is too short", linking the commitment required in elite sport to the dedication he expected to bring to his professional work.

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Career

Early career at Siemens

💼 Entry into Siemens medical technology. After completing his doctorate in 1995, Montag chose a corporate career over academia and joined Siemens AG’s medical-technology division in Erlangen as an internal consultant for quality and process management in the healthcare unit. In 1997 he moved into a commercial position as export sales manager in the audiology business, gaining experience with international customers in the hearing-aids market, before switching in 1999 to product management for high-end computed tomography (CT) scanners, where he could apply his physics background directly to imaging technology.

📈 Rise through imaging leadership. During the early 2000s Montag advanced through successive leadership roles within Siemens’ imaging operations: he became market segment manager for CT in 2000, head of marketing for the magnetic resonance (MR) business in 2001 and, in 2004 at the age of 35, chief executive of the CT business unit. He subsequently led the Magnetic Resonance division and, following an internal reorganisation, in 2008 was appointed chief executive of the newly created Imaging & IT division, which combined diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT, before becoming CEO of the Imaging & Therapy Systems division in 2010 with global responsibility for imaging and image-guided therapies. Commentators have described his management style in these years as calm and analytical, grounded in operational facts rather than public showmanship.

Chief executive of Siemens Healthineers

🏥 Appointment as CEO and rebranding. In February 2015 Siemens appointed Montag chief executive of its global healthcare business, then still operating under the name Siemens Healthcare, making him responsible for a unit that generated around €12–14 billion in annual revenue. In 2016 he oversaw a major strategic rebranding in which the business adopted the name "Siemens Healthineers", a portmanteau of "healthcare" and "engineers" intended to underline the identity of its roughly 45,000 employees as engineering-driven partners to healthcare providers. The launch attracted widespread media attention and some ridicule, as footage of an internal event featuring a theme song and choreographed dance drew comparisons to Disney "Imagineers" and other corporate gimmicks, but Montag defended the brand as a "bold signal" of the unit’s ambition and its orientation as a people-focused company.

💹 Initial public offering and listing on the DAX. Montag subsequently led the separation of Siemens Healthineers from Siemens AG through an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March 2018, in which Siemens floated a minority stake at an offer price of €28 per share, valuing the medtech group at roughly €28–30 billion. The shares opened at €29.10 and rose on their first day of trading amid strong investor demand, and Siemens Healthineers later joined the DAX index of leading German companies.

🧬 Acquisitions and strategic repositioning. After the IPO Montag pursued a strategy of shifting Siemens Healthineers from a predominantly equipment-focused manufacturer towards a broader healthcare solutions provider with a strong focus on oncology, digitalisation and services. In August 2020 the company announced the US$16.4 billion acquisition of Varian Medical Systems, a leading US-based radiation oncology specialist, in what was identified as one of the largest healthcare transactions of that year; Montag described Varian as "an icon" of the sector and argued that the price, which included a substantial premium, was "sensible" in view of the combined growth prospects. The transaction, completed in 2021, significantly expanded Siemens Healthineers’ position in cancer care, while subsequent moves such as the acquisition of a majority stake in US consultancy ECG Management Consultants in 2022 added advisory and hospital-operations capabilities to its portfolio and underpinned a multiyear "Strategy 2025" programme focused on precision medicine, digitally enabled care delivery and employee empowerment.

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Performance, leadership style and public image

📊 Business performance and investor reception. During Montag’s tenure Siemens Healthineers has recorded substantial growth in revenue and market value, with annual revenue rising from about €13.4 billion in the mid-2010s to around €22.4 billion by fiscal 2024 and the company’s market capitalisation roughly doubling compared with the time of the IPO, placing it among the ten most valuable companies on the DAX index. In 2021 the share price significantly outperformed the wider German market, contributing to an "Entrepreneur of the Year" award for Montag from financial magazine Börse Online, although subsequent years saw more moderate total shareholder returns of around 9 per cent between 2020 and 2023 and earnings-per-share growth of roughly 4 per cent per year. By late 2024 and 2025 the company faced headwinds from slower healthcare spending in China and challenges in its diagnostics division, but still met its financial guidance and maintained a strong position in global medical imaging and therapy markets.

🧠 Leadership philosophy and trust-building. Observers frequently characterise Montag as a low-profile, analytically minded chief executive whose management style blends a scientist’s attachment to data with lessons learned from team sports. He has emphasised the importance of listening, transparency and respectful dialogue in building trust within large organisations, themes he set out publicly at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he spoke about "listening first" and approaching technologies such as artificial intelligence in healthcare with both optimism and ethical caution. Colleagues have described him as detail-oriented on topics such as product quality and patient safety while also delegating operational authority to experts, a balance he has likened to coaching a basketball team in which star players and role players are equally important to success.

🌍 Public image, ESG positions and communication. Although Siemens Healthineers has grown into one of Germany’s largest listed companies, Montag has maintained a relatively understated personal profile in the media, contributing to portrayals of the company as one of the more "enigmatic" firms on the DAX. He has nevertheless taken visible positions on social and environmental issues tied to the company’s healthcare mission, including supporting diversity and gender-equality initiatives, backing Siemens Healthineers’ goal of achieving carbon neutrality in its own operations by 2030 and advocating for expanded access to medical technology in low-income regions. During the global protests against racial injustice in 2020 he published a message to employees and on social media speaking out against racism and injustice, a stance that was widely noted inside the company.

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Compensation and wealth

💶 Executive remuneration and shareholdings. As chief executive of a large DAX-listed medtech group, Montag is among Germany’s higher-paid corporate leaders: analyses of Siemens Healthineers’ disclosures indicate that his total remuneration amounted to around €5.7 million in 2023 and approximately €6.1 million in the 2024 financial year, including a base salary of about €1.4 million and variable components linked to short- and long-term performance targets. Commentators have noted that this level of pay is modestly above median compensation for chief executives in the German medical-technology sector, reflecting the company’s global scale, and have also pointed to more moderate shareholder returns in recent years when assessing future pay developments. Public filings show that Montag holds Siemens Healthineers shares acquired through incentive programmes and personal purchases, including an open-market share purchase of around €100,000 reported in 2021, while his overall private wealth has not been publicly quantified.

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Personal life

🏡 Family, sport and private interests. Montag is married and has three children and has spoken about the importance of maintaining a balance between demanding executive responsibilities and family life. A former professional-level basketball player, he remains physically active as an enthusiastic jogger around his home base of Erlangen and has described running as a way to clear his mind, while he also retains an interest in reading and scientific topics outside of work. He has encouraged younger colleagues to approach their careers with the same passion he brought to physics and sport, often repeating his maxim that one should "love what you do" because "life is too short" to commit to work that does not fit one’s interests and values.

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Challenges and outlook

⚙️ Operational challenges and restructuring. Leading Siemens Healthineers has required Montag to navigate periods of significant disruption, including the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the company’s diagnostics division rapidly scaled up testing products even as hospitals deferred some equipment investments. In the early 2020s he also faced slower demand and heightened regulatory scrutiny in China, an important market for imaging systems, as well as margin pressure in the diagnostics business; in response he initiated cost-efficiency measures and restructuring programmes aimed at improving profitability and "future-proofing" the division, decisions that occasionally drew critical scrutiny from labour representatives and financial analysts.

🔭 Independence and future strategic direction. Looking ahead, Montag has framed his task as sustaining innovation and growth in an increasingly competitive medtech landscape while completing the integration of Varian and further developing digital tools such as artificial-intelligence-supported diagnostics and "digital twin" simulations in healthcare. In 2025 Siemens AG announced plans to transfer a large portion of its remaining shareholding in Siemens Healthineers directly to Siemens shareholders, reducing the parent group’s stake from a majority to a minority position; Montag welcomed the move as a "natural next step" towards full independence for Healthineers as a stand-alone company. He has suggested that his dual background as a physicist and former team captain continues to shape how he approaches this next phase, emphasising the importance of being not only "a boss" but also "a good colleague" in leading a large, knowledge-intensive organisation.

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Awards and recognition

🏆 Recognition. Montag’s leadership of Siemens Healthineers has been recognised in industry and financial circles. Notable distinctions include Entrepreneur of the Year (Golden Bullen award) presented by Börse Online in 2022, citing Siemens Healthineers’ strong share-price performance in 2021 and its strategic expansion following the IPO.

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