Dr. Marijn Dekkers, former CEO of Bayer AG and of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., is the chairman of the board of directors and strategic advisor to Ginkgo Bioworks, the organism company. Dekkers brings more than 25 years of scientific and management experience in the life sciences and chemical industries, as well as a successful track record leading and scaling companies in the Fortune 100. Most recently, Dekkers served as the CEO of Bayer AG, steering the company through several successful commercial milestones and repositioning it as a global life science company focused on human, animal and plant health. Prior to Bayer, Dekkers was the CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. where he first integrated the various Thermo Electron companies and then, through the acquisition of Fisher Scientific, created the global leader in the life science tools industry. Presently, Dekkers is chairman of Unilever, as well as the founder and chairman of Novalis LifeSciences, a boutique investment and advisory firm.