WHIPPANY, N.J. — Veteran health care products executive Natalie Bartner has joined Bayer HealthCare as president of Bayer Consumer Care, North America.

Natalie Bartner

Bayer said Monday that Bartner takes over the post from Timothy Hayes, who is leading the integration of Merck Consumer Care, which Bayer acquired last year in a $14.2 billion deal.

Bartner will be based in Whippany, N.J., and become a member of the Consumer Care global management team, reporting directly to Erica Mann, president of Bayer Consumer Care.

Bayer noted that Bartner brings more than 25 years of experience in the over-the-counter health care products and pharmaceutical industries. She comes to Bayer from Sanofi, where most recently she served as vice president and head of commercial strategy and operations and deputy to the president of North America pharmaceuticals.

Before joining Sanofi, Bartner spent nearly 15 years at Pfizer (formerly Wyeth) in roles of increasing responsibility across a number of functions, including marketing, sales, customer support, strategic planning and information services. She led the marketing functions for the U.S. nutritionals, gastrointestinal, topicals and respiratory business units, overseeing such leading brands as Centrum, Advil Cold & Sinus and Robitussin.

“I am thrilled to have someone of Natalie’s caliber, industry perspective and deep understanding of the nonprescription, over-the-counter business join Consumer Care at an exciting time for our company,” Mann said in a statement. “Natalie’s leadership of our North America region will allow us to build upon the success we have achieved over many years and take our success to the next level in this critical market.”