Bayer Employees Named Rising Stars by Healthcare Businesswomen's Association

MORRISTOWN, N.J. and TARRYTOWN, N.Y., May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer HealthCare is pleased to announce two employees have been named Rising Stars by The Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA). They were honored at the annual HBA Woman of the Year luncheon in New York City on May 3.

Mary Puncochar, Area Sales Manager, U.S. Sales and Marketing, Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care, and Laura Schwieterman, Senior Brand Manager, U.S. Marketing, Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care, were the recipients. The honor is bestowed upon professionals who contribute significantly to their organizations, exemplify leadership, are role models for others and exhibit dedication to the healthcare industry.

Mary was honored for creating several programs to aid sales representatives and managers in achieving their career goals, including a new mentorship program that has been adopted nationwide.  "Mary's abilities to develop leaders, manage and lead change and inspire others continue to strengthen the organization," said Michael E. Mathews, Region Head, North America Bayer Diabetes Care and Senior Vice President, Bayer HealthCare.

Laura was recognized for leading the Alka-Seltzer Plus® team to reach a decade-long sales goal and launching a new product in record time. "Laura exemplifies a Rising Star through her business results and leadership of initiatives that better the organization," said Timothy Hayes, Senior Vice President of Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care's North American Region and Head of Global Business Development.

Both women act as leaders and mentors within the Bayer HealthCare organization by championing the national Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) program, designed to cultivate successful women leaders to strengthen business results.

About Bayer HealthCare
The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of EUR 17.2 billion (2011), is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care and Pharmaceuticals divisions. Bayer HealthCare's aim is to discover, develop, manufacture and market products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Bayer HealthCare has a global workforce of 55,700 employees (Dec 31, 2011) and is represented in more than 100 countries. Find more information at www.bayerhealthcare.com.

BAYER and the Bayer Cross are registered trademarks of Bayer. 

SOURCE Bayer HealthCare