Thomas Hasler

Overview

Thomas Hasler
Born	1965 (age 60–61) Switzerland
Citizenship	Swiss
Education	Diploma in chemical engineering; business engineering qualification; Executive MBA
Alma mater	Zurich University of Applied Sciences; University of St. Gallen
Occupation(s)	Chemical engineer; business executive
Employer	Sika AG
Known for	Long-term career and leadership at Sika AG
Title	Chief executive officer
Term	1 May 2021 – present
Predecessor	Paul Schuler
Board member of	Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce; Gebr. Knauf KG
Children	3

👤 Thomas Hasler (born 1965) is a Swiss chemical engineer and business executive who has served as chief executive officer of Sika AG, a global specialty chemicals and construction materials company, since 1 May 2021. Over a career of more than thirty years at Sika he has progressed from laboratory chemist to senior roles in research and development, automotive adhesives and global industry management before being chosen as an internal successor to lead the group. As CEO, Hasler has overseen record sales and profitability, the acquisition and integration of MBCC Group and the launch of a digital and efficiency programme, while also facing periods of share price volatility and debate among investors and commentators about the balance between operational performance and shareholder returns.

🏗️ Long Sika career. Hasler joined Sika in 1989 as a chemist specialising in adhesives, gradually broadening his remit from laboratory work into leadership of research teams, business development and regional operations. In the 1990s and 2000s he held a series of posts in the automotive and industrial businesses, including heading research and development for automotive original equipment manufacturers and later managing Sika’s automotive activities in Europe and North America. His promotion to Head of Global Automotive in 2011, followed by roles as chief technology officer and Head of Global Business & Industry, placed him at the centre of the group’s innovation agenda and global expansion before his elevation to the chief executive role.

🌱 Strategic themes as CEO. As chief executive, Hasler has framed Sika’s strategy around long-term trends such as urbanisation, sustainability and digitalisation, arguing that the company’s products should reduce the environmental footprint of construction and industry while improving performance. He has placed particular emphasis on linking innovation and sustainability by creating a dedicated innovation and sustainability function and by directing resources toward low-carbon concrete admixtures, energy-efficient building envelopes and lighter, more durable materials for transport and infrastructure. In parallel, he has promoted investment in digital tools and processes, from customer relationship management systems to automated production, culminating in the “Fast Forward” programme announced in 2025 to accelerate digitalisation and efficiency gains.

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Early life and education

🎓 Early life and studies. Thomas Hasler was born in 1965 in Switzerland and grew up with a strong interest in science and technology, which led him to train as a chemical engineer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur, where he received a diploma in chemical engineering (Dipl. Ing. Chem. HTL). Seeking to complement his technical background with business skills, he added a qualification in business engineering in Zurich and later completed an Executive MBA at the University of St. Gallen while already advancing through Sika’s management ranks, rounding out his education with executive courses at IMD Lausanne and London Business School.

🧪 From laboratory to management. Hasler’s early professional years were spent in Sika’s laboratories working on industrial adhesives, but he soon began to move beyond purely technical responsibilities as he took charge of research teams and interacted more directly with customers. Mentored by senior executives, he learned to translate customer requirements into product specifications and to balance innovation with commercial considerations, a combination that later shaped his management style as he navigated between engineers, sales teams and corporate decision-makers.

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Career at Sika

🚗 Automotive and R&D roles. In the early 1990s Hasler led research and development for automotive original equipment manufacturers, focusing on structural adhesives and sealants that would enable lighter, more durable and more fuel-efficient vehicles. His work involved close cooperation with car manufacturers to tailor adhesive systems to their production lines, reinforcing his conviction that long-term customer relationships and detailed technical support were critical competitive advantages for Sika.

🌍 International expansion and U.S. experience. In 1995 Hasler moved formally into the business side of Sika’s Automotive division and over the following decade helped to expand the segment in Europe and North America, gaining a reputation for turning around underperforming units and establishing new client relationships. He later relocated to the United States, where he served as senior vice-president for Automotive in North America and subsequently for all of Industry & Automotive at Sika’s U.S. subsidiary, gaining front-line profit-and-loss responsibility and a broader perspective on the company’s global operations.

🧩 Group management responsibilities. By 2011 Hasler had been appointed Head of Global Automotive, joining Sika’s upper management and integrating the group’s technical know-how with a more explicitly customer-centric strategy. In 2014 he became chief technology officer and a member of Group Management, where he championed innovation and helped formulate Sika’s growth strategy for the late 2010s; three years later he was named Head of Global Business & Industry, overseeing multiple divisions and regions as the company broadened its product portfolio and geographic footprint.

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Chief executive of Sika

🏢 Appointment as chief executive. Sika announced in late 2020 that Hasler would succeed Paul Schuler as chief executive officer, with the transition taking effect on 1 May 2021, continuing the company’s tradition of promoting long-serving internal candidates to the top job. Commentators described his rise as a classic Sika succession story in which a manager steeped in the firm’s culture and “Sika Spirit” of entrepreneurial teamwork took over from a predecessor after decades inside the organisation.

📈 Innovation and sustainability agenda. Early in his tenure Hasler re-organised Sika’s innovation activities to bring research, development and sustainability more closely together, including the creation of a Chief Innovation & Sustainability Officer role to signal the strategic importance of environmental performance. He has argued that the construction industry must move decisively toward products that support a lower-carbon, resource-efficient built environment, and has highlighted solutions such as low-carbon concrete admixtures, high-performance building envelopes and adhesive technologies for electric vehicles as examples of where Sika can generate growth while reducing emissions for its customers.

🧬 MBCC Group acquisition and integration. A central strategic move under Hasler was Sika’s agreement in November 2021 to acquire MBCC Group, the former BASF Construction Chemicals business, for about CHF 5.5 billion, the largest takeover in the company’s history. The deal, which significantly expanded Sika’s presence in admixtures and flooring systems and was expected to boost annual sales by nearly 30 percent, was justified by management as strengthening the group’s position as a sustainability-oriented leader in construction chemicals and as an opportunity to realise extensive cost and revenue synergies. Regulatory authorities required substantial divestments of MBCC assets—amounting to several hundred million Swiss francs in sales—to address antitrust concerns, and analysts observed that turning around weaker parts of the acquired portfolio would be a demanding task despite Sika’s strong track record in integrating acquisitions.

📊 Digitalisation and the “Fast Forward” programme. Alongside portfolio expansion, Hasler has promoted digital transformation across Sika’s operations, investing in global customer relationship management platforms, data-driven sales processes and increasingly automated production sites in order to improve efficiency and customer service. In 2025 he launched the “Fast Forward” programme, committing roughly CHF 120–150 million to digital initiatives and restructuring measures, including adjustments to underperforming operations in China, with the goal of achieving CHF 150–200 million in annual cost savings by 2028 and positioning Sika as a digital leader in its markets.

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Financial performance and market reaction

💹 Revenue growth and margins. Under Hasler’s leadership Sika’s revenues and profits have continued to grow, with the company surpassing CHF 10 billion in annual sales for the first time in 2022 and exceeding CHF 12 billion by 2024, helped by organic growth and acquisitions such as MBCC. The group reported record operating profit and net income over this period, while its material margin—a key profitability indicator in the materials sector—rose from around 49 percent in 2022 to more than 54 percent in 2024, reflecting pricing power, cost discipline and synergy realisation from integration projects.

📉 Share price volatility and returns. Despite these operational records, Sika’s share price has been volatile during Hasler’s tenure: after reaching an all-time high of around CHF 380 in late 2021, the stock fell by roughly half during 2022 amid concerns about global economic conditions, energy costs and delays in closing the MBCC acquisition, before partially recovering in 2023. Analysis of the period to early 2025 suggests that shareholders experienced a decline of more than 20 percent over three years even as earnings per share continued to edge higher, highlighting a divergence between market valuation and the company’s underlying financial performance.

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Compensation, wealth and external roles

💼 Executive compensation. As chief executive of a major Swiss-listed industrial company, Hasler receives a remuneration package that combines a relatively modest fixed salary with substantial performance-linked elements. In the 2024 financial year his total compensation was reported at around CHF 5.4 million, representing an increase on the prior year and consisting of roughly one-quarter fixed pay and three-quarters variable components such as bonuses and share-based incentives, a structure designed to align his interests with those of shareholders and broadly in line with peer companies in the Swiss chemicals sector.

💰 Shareholding and personal wealth. Over the course of his long career at Sika, Hasler has accumulated a personal shareholding that in 2025 amounted to approximately 0.02 percent of the company, valued at around CHF 8 million based on prevailing market prices. Swiss corporate governance rules require shareholder approval of executive pay, and while some investors have expressed reservations about granting large pay increases at a time of lacklustre share price performance, there has been no significant shareholder revolt against the board’s proposals regarding Hasler’s remuneration.

🤝 Board mandates and industry roles. In addition to his duties at Sika, Hasler has taken on selected external roles, including membership of the board of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, reflecting his experience in transatlantic business relations, and appointment in 2025 to the partners’ committee of Gebr. Knauf KG, a family-owned German building materials group. These positions extend his influence beyond Sika and signal recognition of his expertise in construction materials, though they remain secondary to his primary role as chief executive.

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Management style and personal life

🏔️ Family and personal interests. Hasler maintains a relatively low public profile for the chief executive of a large multinational and tends to share few details about his private life, but available profiles note that he is married with three children and spends much of his leisure time in the Swiss mountains. He is described as an enthusiastic skier and hiker who uses time outdoors as a way to recover from the demands of corporate life, an inclination that aligns with a broader Swiss executive culture of combining intense professional engagement with regular retreats to the Alps.

🧠 Leadership style and corporate culture. Accounts from colleagues and corporate communications portray Hasler as a methodical, data-oriented manager whose decision-making is rooted in his training as a chemist and long exposure to product development and operations. He is seen as placing strong emphasis on process discipline and measurable improvements while delegating considerable operational authority to regional and divisional heads, and he frequently invokes the “Sika Spirit” of pragmatic collaboration and entrepreneurship, crediting employees and a culture of continuous improvement for the company’s success.

🏭 Operational focus and field experience. Anecdotes repeated in interviews and profiles describe how, earlier in his career, Hasler spent extended periods on automotive factory floors in North America, observing how Sika’s sealants and adhesives were applied along production lines and gathering feedback from line workers and engineers. These experiences reinforced his belief that senior leaders should understand the practical realities of how products are used and helped to shape a management approach that pays close attention to operational details and to the needs of customers on construction sites and in industrial plants.

😄 Personality and internal perception. Colleagues and media portrayals generally depict Hasler as approachable and understated rather than flamboyant, noting that he often listens more than he speaks in meetings and favours factual, technically grounded presentations over rhetorical flourishes. Within Sika he is reported to leaven his otherwise serious demeanour with a dry, self-deprecating sense of humour in smaller settings, which, together with his long service and willingness to engage with employees at different levels of the organisation, has contributed to a perception of him as a trusted “company man”.

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Controversies, criticism and challenges

⚔️ Saint-Gobain takeover dispute. Before becoming chief executive, Hasler was part of Sika’s senior management during the protracted conflict between the company and France’s Saint-Gobain over a proposed change of control between 2014 and 2018, when the Burkard family sought to sell its controlling stake to the French group. Although he did not play a public role in the legal and governance battles, management, including Hasler as chief technology officer, aligned with the board in opposing the transaction on the grounds that it threatened Sika’s independence and long-term strategy; the eventual settlement preserved the group’s autonomy and reinforced a management culture wary of short-termist shareholder pressure.

🌐 Macroeconomic headwinds and integration risks. As CEO, Hasler has had to steer Sika through a period marked by post-pandemic supply-chain disruptions, inflation, rising interest rates and a slowdown in construction activity in key markets such as China, all of which have affected demand for construction chemicals and inputs costs. The prolonged regulatory review of the MBCC acquisition and the need to divest portions of the acquired portfolio added to uncertainty, and the company responded under Hasler’s leadership by raising prices, tightening costs and, later, launching the “Fast Forward” efficiency programme to adapt its cost base to the new environment.

📰 Investor criticism and media commentary. The combination of share price underperformance relative to previous highs and rising executive pay has attracted criticism from some investors and commentators, including an opinion piece on Swiss financial blog Inside Paradeplatz in November 2025 that accused Hasler of delivering too little for shareholders and described his management as confused “management by hyperventilation”. Other analysts have noted the divergence between Sika’s solid earnings progression and its weaker share price performance over the same period, though assessments vary as to whether this reflects macroeconomic factors, integration risk or leadership shortcomings.

🛡️ Governance, compliance and ESG. Despite such criticisms, Sika’s board has publicly backed Hasler, emphasising the company’s strategic continuity, record earnings and strong market positions, and there have been no major personal scandals or legal cases linked to his leadership. The company has strengthened its compliance systems and code of conduct in recent years, with Hasler and the chair of the board issuing joint messages on ethical behaviour, and has set sustainability targets related to emissions and resource efficiency, positioning Sika as a proponent of climate-conscious construction solutions in which Hasler plays a prominent spokesperson role.

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Legacy and assessments

🧱 Long service and corporate transformation. Observers frequently note that Hasler’s career—from joining Sika as a young chemist in 1989 to leading the company as CEO more than three decades later—parallels the transformation of Sika itself from a mid-sized, largely European adhesives producer with around CHF 1 billion in sales to a global construction chemicals leader with revenues exceeding CHF 12 billion. His ascent is sometimes cited internally as an example of how technical specialists can rise through the organisation and how the company cultivates long-term careers, reinforcing Sika’s preference for internal succession in top roles.

🔭 Sector influence and future outlook. Through his external mandates and participation in industry fora, including his role on Knauf’s partners’ committee, Hasler contributes to discussions about the future of construction materials, digital construction and sustainability beyond the boundaries of Sika itself. Public statements and interviews suggest that he views the coming years as defined by opportunities in areas such as infrastructure renewal, urban densification and the electrification of transport, and he presents Sika’s innovations in adhesives, sealants and admixtures as tools to address these challenges while improving resource efficiency.

🎭 Assessments of his leadership. Assessments of Hasler’s leadership emphasise his deep familiarity with Sika’s products and operations, his methodical management style and his commitment to a culture of continuous improvement, while differing on how successfully these qualities translate into stock-market performance. Supporters point to record earnings, strong market shares and successful integrations under his watch, whereas critics highlight share price volatility and question whether his understated, engineer-turned-manager profile resonates sufficiently with investors; together, these views position him as a case study in the opportunities and constraints facing long-tenured insider CEOs in global industrial companies.

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