Burkhard A. Prause
President and Chief Executive Officer, Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc. at 
BRUKER
BRUKERExecutive
About Burkhard A. Prause
Burkhard A. Prause, Ph.D., serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc. (BEST) with responsibility for global operations; he has held this role since April 2008 and is currently age 58 as of April 1, 2025 . He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Notre Dame and previously served as a senior staff scientist at the Max-Planck Institute in Tübingen and as Product Manager for Bruker BioSpin MRI GmbH . Company incentive design explicitly links executive pay to performance metrics such as organic revenue growth, non-GAAP operating profit, and non-GAAP diluted EPS; in 2024 Bruker’s revenue grew 13.6% to $3,366.4 million, while non-GAAP diluted EPS declined 6.6% to $2.41, and pay-versus-performance disclosures track TSR, net income, and non-GAAP EPS across years .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, Inc. (BEST) | President & CEO | Since April 2008 | Management of global operations |
| Bruker EAS GmbH | Managing Director | Since January 2005 | Operational leadership in superconducting businesses |
| Bruker HTS GmbH | Managing Director | Since January 2005 | Operational leadership in high-temperature superconductors |
| RI Research Instruments GmbH | Managing Director | Since December 2008 | Management of precision instrumentation subsidiary |
| Bruker ASC GmbH | Managing Director | Since March 2009 | Management oversight in superconducting components |
| Bruker BioSpin MRI GmbH | Product Manager | Prior to 2002 | Product management in MRI |
| Max-Planck Institute, Tübingen | Senior Staff Scientist | Prior to 2002 | Research leadership in physics |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrostatic Extrusions Ltd. | Director | Since April 2013 | Governance oversight |
| CCAS (Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors) | Director | Current | Industry collaboration in superconductors |
| ivSupra (German superconductor industry coalition) | Chairman | 2006–2010 | Sector coordination and advocacy |
Fixed Compensation
- Executive officer compensation program: base salary, annual cash incentive, and long-term equity (stock options and RSUs), with pay-for-performance emphasis and limited perquisites; no excise tax gross-ups .
- Stock ownership guidelines require 2x base salary for executive officers and 5x annual retainer for non-employee directors; all directors and executive officers have met their ownership guidelines .
- Insider Trading Policy prohibits hedging and pledging of company securities by directors and executive officers .
Stock Ownership Guidelines
| Position | Ownership Requirement |
|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer | 5x annual base salary |
| Executive Officers | 2x annual base salary |
| Non-Employee Directors | 5x annual retainer |
Performance Compensation
Annual Incentive Plan (ICP) – Structure for Group Presidents
| Metric | Weighting | Target Setting | Payout Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currency-Adjusted Revenue Growth | 15% | Annual business plan goals approved by Compensation Committee | 0–200% based on linear achievement vs. target |
| Non-GAAP Gross Profit Improvement | 15% | Annual business plan goals approved by Compensation Committee | 0–200% |
| Non-GAAP Operating Profit Improvement | 15% | Annual business plan goals approved by Compensation Committee | 0–200% |
| Working Capital Improvement | 15% | Annual business plan goals approved by Compensation Committee | 0–200% |
| Non-GAAP EPS | 10% | Company-level metric to align group leaders with overall EPS | 0–200% |
| Individual Strategic Objectives | 30% | Pre-set goals; qualitative evaluation | 0–125%, subject to committee discretion |
Equity Award Terms (Plan-Level)
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Instruments | Stock options and RSUs under stock incentive plans |
| Vesting | Equal annual installments over four years for options and RSUs |
| Option Expiry | Generally 10-year term for executive officers; CEO exceptions noted in plan tables |
| Change-in-Control | Double-trigger vesting if awards are assumed and employment terminates without cause/for good reason within specified period; if not assumed, time-based RSUs vest; board retains discretion to accelerate |
| Clawback | Mandatory recoupment for Section 16 officers upon accounting restatement; broader clawback rights incorporated in plan and award agreements |
Note: Specific ICP targets, actuals, and payouts for Dr. Prause are not separately disclosed; the structure above applies to Group Presidents generally .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership for Dr. Prause is not separately itemized in the 2025 proxy’s beneficial ownership table (which lists NEOs and directors); however, all executive officers have met stock ownership guidelines per board review .
- Hedging and pledging of Bruker securities are prohibited for executive officers, reducing misalignment and leverage risk .
- Equity grants vest over multi-year schedules, reinforcing retention and alignment with long-term shareholder value .
Employment Terms
- No individual severance arrangements are disclosed for Dr. Prause; among executives, only Dr. Busse and Mr. Srega have disclosed employment agreements with severance/change-of-control terms; others (CEO, CFO, EVP Munch) have no cash severance arrangements .
- Change-in-control economics: Double-trigger vesting for assumed awards under the 2016 Plan; if awards are not assumed, time-based RSUs vest; board may accelerate vesting at its discretion .
- Clawback and recoupment: The company’s Dodd-Frank compliant Clawback Policy requires recoupment of incentive-based compensation upon qualifying restatements; broader clawback rights may be embedded in award agreements .
Performance & Track Record
Company Pay-Versus-Performance Metrics (FY 2020–FY 2024)
| Metric | FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Shareholder Return (Value of $100) | 106.58 | 165.58 | 135.30 | 145.89 | 116.73 |
| Peer Group TSR (Value of $100) | 134.62 | 169.92 | 112.96 | 100.00 | 93.96 |
| Net Income ($ Millions) | 161.4 | 280.6 | 298.5 | 428.5 | 113.8 |
| Non-GAAP Diluted EPS ($) | 1.35 | 2.10 | 2.34 | 2.58 | 2.41 |
Additional FY 2024 performance context: revenue increased by $401.9 million (+13.6%) to $3,366.4 million; non-GAAP operating margin declined 300 bps; non-GAAP diluted EPS decreased 6.6% .
Compensation Committee & Governance Signals
- Compensation Committee uses a peer group and engages Aon as independent consultant; peer group includes Agilent, Bio-Rad, Charles River, Entegris, Mettler Toledo, Teradyne, Waters, among others .
- “What we do/don’t do” practices include pay-for-performance, double-trigger change-in-control provisions, robust ownership guidelines, clawback for overpayments; no hedging/pledging, no excessive perks, no excise tax gross-ups, no guaranteed bonuses .
- Say-on-Pay approval at 2024 Annual Meeting was approximately 96%, with annual frequency supported by 72% .
Investment Implications
- Alignment appears strong: multi-year vesting and prohibited hedging/pledging, plus ownership guidelines (met by all executive officers), support long-term orientation and reduce near-term selling pressure risk .
- Incentive design emphasizes financial discipline (organic revenue growth, non-GAAP operating profit, working capital and EPS), which ties compensation outcomes to core drivers of shareholder value and may constrain discretionary payouts in weaker performance years .
- Retention risk for Prause cannot be directly quantified due to absence of disclosed severance terms; however, standard multi-year vesting creates retention hooks, and change-in-control double-trigger provisions protect earned equity while minimizing single-trigger windfalls .
- Trading signal visibility is limited without Form 4 data for Prause; beneficial ownership specifics are not disclosed for him, though policy guardrails and ownership guidelines reduce misalignment risks .