Wolfgang Wienand

Overview

Wolfgang Wienand
Born	(1972-02-22) 22 February 1972 Cologne, West Germany
Citizenship	German
Education	Ph.D. in organic and bioorganic chemistry; Executive Master's in International Finance
Alma mater	University of Bonn; University of Cologne; HEC Paris
Occupation(s)	Chemist, business executive, former Olympic fencer
Employer	Lonza Group AG
Known for	CEO of Lonza Group AG; former CEO of Siegfried Holding AG; former Olympic foil fencer
Title	Chief Executive Officer
Term	2019–2024 (CEO of Siegfried Holding AG); 2024–present (CEO of Lonza Group AG)
Predecessor	Albert Baehny
Board member of	Mettler-Toledo International Inc.; SCHOTT Pharma AG (former)
Spouse	Sabine Wienand
Children	3 sons
Awards	World Youth Champion (foil, 1989); Germany's Fencer of the Year (1996)

🧬 Wolfgang Wienand (born 22 February 1972) is a German chemist, former Olympic foil fencer and business executive who has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Lonza Group AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing company, since July 2024. He previously led Siegfried Holding AG as CEO from 2019 to 2024, having joined the company in 2010 after an early career at Degussa AG and Evonik Industries in specialty chemicals. Trained as an organic and bioorganic chemist with a doctorate from the University of Cologne and an executive master’s degree in international finance from HEC Paris, he has been active in restructuring and expanding contract manufacturing businesses in Europe and beyond.

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Early life and education

🏙️ Origins and youth. Wienand was born on 22 February 1972 in Cologne, in what was then West Germany, and grew up in a milieu that combined strong traditions in both science and sport. As a pupil he developed parallel interests in chemistry and fencing, reflecting the scientific reputation of German universities and the country’s organised sporting infrastructure.

🤺 Fencing career. As a teenager he emerged as one of Germany’s leading foil fencers, winning the World Youth Championship in 1989 and later becoming ranked world number one in the discipline. He represented Germany at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he placed fourth in the individual foil event, and returned to the Games in Sydney in 2000. In 1996 he was also named Germany’s Fencer of the Year. In interviews he has characterised his approach on the piste as favouring finesse over brute force, summarising his style with the image of a fine blade rather than a broadsword.

🎓 University studies and doctorate. Alongside his fencing career, Wienand studied chemistry at the University of Bonn, where he graduated in 1999 with top honours and merit-based scholarships. He then pursued doctoral studies in organic and bioorganic chemistry at the University of Cologne, completing a Ph.D. in 2002 with research on the synthesis of a receptor designed for the molecular recognition of a biological peptide. That year he retired from competitive fencing in order to focus fully on academic and industrial work.

📚 Further business education. To complement his scientific background with formal financial training, Wienand later enrolled in an executive master’s programme in international finance at HEC Paris, which he completed in 2017. This additional qualification strengthened his profile at the intersection of science, strategy and corporate finance.

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Business career

Degussa and Evonik

🏭 Entry into specialty chemicals. After completing his doctorate, Wienand joined Degussa AG in 2002, beginning his corporate career in the specialty chemicals sector. Degussa later became part of Evonik Industries, and within this group he held a variety of roles that combined technical expertise with commercial responsibilities in both Germany and China.

🔬 Strategy and advanced silanes. By the late 2000s he was responsible for strategy and business development in Evonik’s Advanced Silanes division, working on products used in high-growth applications such as photovoltaic materials. This period consolidated his experience in aligning research-driven portfolios with emerging market opportunities.

Siegfried Holding AG

🤝 Move to Siegfried and early responsibilities. In August 2010 Wienand moved to Siegfried Holding AG, a Swiss chemical–pharmaceutical contract manufacturer, joining the group executive committee as head of research and development. He had been recruited by Siegfried’s chief executive Rudolf Hanko, a fellow German chemist and former Evonik manager, and contemporaneous accounts in the Swiss business press described their close working relationship.

🧩 Expansion into corporate development and M&A. Within two years at Siegfried, Wienand’s remit expanded beyond research to include mergers and acquisitions, corporate development, legal affairs and intellectual property, reflecting the company’s ambition to grow through selective acquisitions. He played a central role in structuring and negotiating deals, helping Siegfried move from what commentators termed a small “pharma general store” to a focused contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO).

📈 Acquisitions and integration. During this phase Siegfried bought several pharmaceutical production sites, including three facilities acquired from BASF in 2015 and a sterile fill-and-finish business in the United States, transactions that roughly doubled the size of the company. As the executive responsible for post-merger integration, Wienand oversaw the alignment of operations, quality systems and corporate culture across the enlarged network of sites.

📊 Chief executive of Siegfried. Effective 1 January 2019, Wienand succeeded Hanko as CEO of Siegfried, having previously served as chief scientific and strategy officer. Under his leadership the group set a strategic target of exceeding one billion Swiss francs in annual sales and reached this milestone in 2021, the first time in Siegfried’s 150-year history that revenues surpassed that level. By 2022 Siegfried reported sales above CHF 1.2 billion, compared with around CHF 800 million when he took office, and employed more than 3,700 people worldwide.

💉 COVID-19 response and vaccine manufacturing. Siegfried’s performance under Wienand included a notable role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company secured a contract to produce the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine at its site in Hameln, Germany. During this period he emphasised both resilience of supply chains and the importance of staff engagement, and interviews from 2020 reported that he regularly visited production floors and addressed employees personally.

🧪 Leadership style at Siegfried. Observers have highlighted that Wienand’s scientific training enabled him to discuss formulations, processes and quality issues with pharmaceutical clients “on equal footing”, rather than relying solely on financial or marketing arguments. Reports from Swiss business media noted that he combined an analytical approach with familiarity with day-to-day plant operations, having worked with the company since 2010 and maintaining informal contact with technicians and operators. In interviews he has linked this style to lessons from elite sport, stating that achievements in both fencing and business depend on collective effort rather than individual performance alone.

Lonza Group AG

🏢 Appointment as Lonza CEO. In April 2024 Lonza Group announced that it had appointed Wienand as its next CEO, recruiting him from Siegfried to lead what is one of the world’s largest CDMOs. He took up the role in July 2024, succeeding chairman Albert Baehny, who had served as interim chief executive after a period in which Lonza experienced several CEO changes in quick succession.

🧭 “One Lonza” strategy and restructuring. Shortly after his arrival, Lonza presented a strategic plan known as “One Lonza” that refocused the group on its core pharmaceuticals and biotechnology services. Under the plan, Lonza announced its intention to divest the Capsules and Health Ingredients business and reorganise its remaining operations into three divisions—Integrated Biologics, Advanced Synthesis and Specialized Modalities—aimed at supporting a range of drug modalities, from biologics to cell and gene therapies.

💹 Growth targets and market reaction. The “One Lonza” roadmap set medium-term targets of 11–13 percent annual sales growth through 2028 and a return to EBITDA margins above 32 percent, following a period of margin pressure linked to capacity investments and the winding down of large COVID-19 vaccine contracts. At the time of his appointment, Lonza’s share price had risen significantly during 2024, and analysts interpreted the choice of a CEO with direct CDMO experience as aimed at restoring strategic continuity after the leadership turnover.

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Compensation and shareholdings

💰 Executive compensation. As CEO of Siegfried, Wienand received compensation packages that increased in line with the company’s growth. In the 2021 financial year his total remuneration amounted to about CHF 4.1 million, roughly triple his pay in the previous year, reflecting the achievement of performance targets and record results. The package included a base salary of around CHF 647,000, a short-term cash bonus, long-term incentive grants in shares and additional benefits.

🏦 Lonza contract and board roles. When Lonza hired him in 2024 it stated that his CEO contract was aligned with market levels for companies of comparable size, implying a higher overall compensation than at Siegfried, though detailed figures had not yet been disclosed as of late 2024. In addition to his executive role, Wienand has served as a non-executive director on the board of Mettler-Toledo International Inc. since 2023, where he receives a combination of cash and equity compensation and has acquired a small personal shareholding, reported at around 183 shares in 2024. He also briefly sat on the board of SCHOTT Pharma AG, a German pharmaceutical packaging company, before stepping down at the end of 2024.

📉 Wealth and ownership profile. Public disclosures indicate that Wienand’s personal wealth derives mainly from salary and incentive payments rather than from large entrepreneurial shareholdings, and that his direct equity interests in the companies where he works remain modest. Analysts therefore tend to characterise him as a professional manager rather than an owner-founder figure in the pharmaceutical services industry.

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Personal life

🏡 Family and residence. Wienand is married to Sabine Wienand, a German journalist and author with a doctorate in cultural studies, and the couple have three sons. During his years at Siegfried he and his family chose to live in Lörrach in south-west Germany, close to the Swiss border, a location that allowed convenient access to Siegfried’s base in Zofingen and, later, to Lonza’s headquarters in Basel.

☕ Work–life balance and habits. In media interviews Wienand has described a daily routine that seeks to balance executive responsibilities with family life, stating that he rarely arrives in the office before the morning rush hour and often continues work from home in the evenings rather than staying late at company premises. Commentators note that this pattern reflects both the cross-border commuting realities of the Basel region and a preference for flexible working arrangements common among senior executives in Switzerland.

🎭 Personality and interests. Colleagues and journalists have portrayed Wienand as approachable and cosmopolitan, fluent in German and English and comfortable engaging with employees at different levels of an organisation. He maintains an interest in sport, particularly fencing, and has appeared at youth and international events in a mentoring or ambassadorial capacity, while also sharing cultural interests with his wife, including travel in Europe and Asia.

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Controversies and challenges

⚙️ Operational challenges at Siegfried. No major personal controversies have been reported in connection with Wienand, but he has faced operational challenges, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic when Siegfried had to manage disrupted supply chains and fluctuating demand in its customer base. The company responded by adapting production planning and securing new contracts, including vaccine-related work, and contemporary coverage credited the management team with stabilising operations during this period.

🎯 Expectations at Lonza. At Lonza, analysts and media have described the CEO position as demanding following several leadership changes and major strategic investments in previous years. The decision to divest the Capsules and Health Ingredients division and to restructure the organisation under the “One Lonza” programme requires balancing the interests of employees, customers and shareholders, and observers have noted that meeting the group’s ambitious growth and margin targets will be a key measure of Wienand’s tenure.

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Legacy and profile

🌍 Combination of sport, science and management. Commentators often highlight the unusual combination in Wienand’s biography of Olympic-level sport, academic chemistry and senior corporate leadership, a trajectory that is relatively rare among chief executives of large European industrial groups. His professional path has included assignments in cities such as Bonn, Shanghai, Frankfurt and Basel, which have been cited as contributing to an international management perspective. Articles in the Swiss business press have argued that his background contributes to a leadership style that values preparation, precision and team performance, drawing parallels between elite fencing and managing complex manufacturing networks.

🗡️ Public perception. Media profiles written around the time of his move to Lonza emphasised his reputation as a disciplined but understated executive, sometimes using fencing metaphors to describe his preference for calculated moves over dramatic gestures. As he leads Lonza through its restructuring and growth plans, assessments of his longer-term legacy are expected to focus on whether he succeeds in consolidating the group’s position as a leading pure-play CDMO while maintaining operational reliability for global pharmaceutical clients.

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