Of the 365 newly appointed supervisory board members on the capital side in the past three years, more than one in three (36 percent) had financial expertise. In addition to Nikolaus von Bomhard, seven other of the ten most influential supervisory board members in Germany have a background in the financial sector or experience as a CFO.
The second most powerful supervisory board in the republic, Michael Diekmann, was once CEO of the Allianz insurance group, and numbers four to six (Florian Funck, Karl-Ludwig Kley, Joe Kaeser) were or are CFOs.
For Nicolas von Rosty, Germany head of recruitment consultancy Heidrick & Struggles, “The demand for financial experts for the supervisory board reflects a trend that we have been seeing at board level for a number of years. Because of their knowledge and experience in capital market communication, CFOs are now well-received CEOs there.”
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Only number three in the ranking, Karl-Heinz Streibich, stands out as a non-financier. But he scores with another very popular expertise: digital competence. For many years, Streibich managed the largest German IT group after SAP, Software AG.
The supervisory boards are becoming more professional
As of July 31, 2022, economics professor Wolff recorded all representatives of the capital side of the stock corporations in the Dax family (Dax, MDax, SDax). 1071 supervisory board positions or 960 mandate holders were taken into account. In addition, the new appointments of the past three years were analyzed with regard to their skills and demographic factors.
Not only financial and digital experts are in demand, but also sustainability skills. One in five of the newly appointed supervisory board members had digital experience in the past three years and one in ten had experience in sustainability. Examples of this are the new Lufthansa supervisory board member Erich Clementi, a former IBM manager, and the new Covestro controller Lise Kingo, previously head of the United Nations’ Global Compact sustainability initiative.
“The appointments to the supervisory board have become more professional,” analyzes Professor Wolff. “Whereas awareness and big names, ideally former Dax CEOs, were in demand, today it’s almost exclusively about professional qualifications.” 83 percent of the newly appointed supervisory board members are newcomers without a previous Dax mandate. The times of the entangled Deutschland AG and nepotism are finally over.
This development is also being driven by international HR consultancies such as Egon Zehnder, Russell Reynolds, Spencer Stuart, Korn Ferry and Heidrick & Struggles. They have now recognized the appointment of supervisory boards as a business area, after having held back here for decades, particularly in Germany. There was simply not enough to earn. After all, the salary of the personnel consultant is usually linked to the gross annual salary of the candidate. And that is significantly lower for supervisory boards than for top management positions.
In the meantime, however, headhunters like von Rosty are filling such bodies from the point of view of business development: “We usually earn less when looking for a supervisory board than with average operational appointments. However, we are strengthening our network and our positioning with such a platform.”
Three women in the top ten for the first time
In addition to skills, another criterion now also plays a key role in new appointments: gender. The trend towards an increasing proportion of women on supervisory boards is continuing. At 42 percent, the proportion of women among new appointments in 2022 was higher than ever. In 2020 it was still 32 percent.
“There is no longer the ideal candidate, but the ideal candidate,” explains Rosty’s HR consultant. The search profile reads: “Firstly, the candidate is a woman, secondly, has operational experience, ideally at board level, thirdly, brings professional expertise in the key areas of finance, digitization or sustainability, fourthly, has only recently retired from operational activities and is now retired and open and independent enough for an inspector post.”
With her four mandates at Deutsche Telekom, DWS, Heidelberg Cement and Infineon, Margret Suckale even has the most mandates among the most powerful multiple supervisory boards. 83 of the 960 active members of the Supervisory Board as of the reporting date still have three mandates. More than 90 percent of the Dax inspectors have only one mandate. “The days of overboarding are finally over – thanks to regulation and the pressure from investors and shareholders,” says Professor Wolff.
The professionalization of supervisory board appointments and activities with many newcomers has consequences: The Handelsblatt ranking has become more volatile. While the same former top managers used to occupy the top positions for years, there are now clearer shifts every year.
This year, the climbers in the top ten include ex-McKinsey consultant Clara Streit and finance manager Florian Funck. In his main job, the 49-year-old is CFO of the Haniel family group and part-time is a member of the supervisory board at the Haniel holdings Ceconomy and Takkt as well as at the Vonovia housing group. The President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, is also new among the top inspectors. She sits on the supervisory boards of Siemens Energy and Vonovia.
Prominent figures such as Clemens Börsig, 74, are among those who dropped out. The former Deutsche Bank manager has given up his mandates at Daimler and Linde. Former Bosch boss Franz Fehrenbach, 73, is also stepping down from the list of powerful by giving up his mandates at BASF and Linde.
The analysis also shows that the sources of power of the most influential supervisory boards have become more diverse. While some supervisory board members such as Michael Diekmann have their mandates in particularly relevant and large companies such as Allianz, Fresenius and Siemens, others such as Hildegard Müller are characterized more by their high-quality network – or like the family entrepreneur Georg Schaeffler by their high status within companies due to a long tenure. Georg Schaeffler has been active at Schaeffler and Continental for years and is now new at Vitesco Technologies.
>> Read also: The economy makes it too easy for itself with the training guarantee
In 2022, the ranking also shows an above-average change in the network centers. While in the past mandates at Linde and Deutsche Telekom in particular were associated with high network power, this year the supervisory boards of Vonovia and Siemens Energy are generating particularly important networks.
This shift can be explained on the one hand by a number of new appointments, most of which came from newcomers – there were four at Linde and three at Telekom – and on the other hand by the departure of former top inspectors such as Clemens Börsig and Franz Fehrenbach. Economics professor Wolff is therefore certain: “There has never been more dynamism in German supervisory boards.”
More: Multi-supervisory board member Clara Streit: “We have to shape, not manage”