Werner J. Bauer is a German businessperson who has been at the head of 9 different companies is on the board of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, Givaudan SA, SIG Group AG and Bertelsmann Management SE and Chairman at Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung and Member of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH.

In his past career he occupied the position of Chairman at Life Ventures SA, Chief Technology Officer & Executive VP at Nestlé SA Supervisory Chairman at Nestlé Deutschland AG, Chairman of Nestlé Nespresso SA, Chairman of Nutrition-Wellness Venture AG, Chairman for Sofinol SA and Chairman of Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences SA (which are all subsidiaries of Nestlé SA), Director & Chief Technology Officer at Alcon AG, Chairman for Galderma Pharma SA, Chairman of Hans Rychiger AG, Professor at Technische Universität München, Professor-Food Science & Technology at the University of Lausanne and Professor at Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg.

He received a doctorate from Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.