For the second time this year, HEADSAHEAD, the executive search specialist, together with Linklaters, one of the leading commercial law firms in Germany, invited interested supervisory board chairmen to an exchange of practical experience at the Industrie-Club Düsseldorf. In response to the positive feedback from the first Practical Forum in July, a number of the participants from the first event as well as new guests met there on November 26, 2018, to discuss current issues facing supervisory board chairmen.

For this evening, Marc Tüngler, member of the Government Commission on the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC), could be invited to provide insights into the draft of the 2019 revision of the GCGC. Mr. Tüngler pointedly presented the core topics of the reform, which are intended to make the Code leaner, more structured, more readable and thus more user-friendly. With Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Wilsing, Partner at Linklaters, as expert sparring partner, a lively exchange immediately developed on the pros and cons of the revised Code structure and the new recommendations on the independence of supervisory board members and executive board compensation.

In particular, the changes to the Code with regard to Executive Board compensation, which are intended among other things to ensure greater clarity and transparency in this area, sparked a lively discussion among the Supervisory Board chairmen present. In particular, the future application of proven compensation systems, the difficult question of the measurability of strategic and sustainable corporate goals, and appropriate and meaningful variable compensation components were discussed. All in all, it was a high-level exchange characterized by extensive practical experience and in-depth knowledge.

“The government commission is yearning for your opinions!” With this urgent appeal, Mr. Tüngler closed the discussion after about two hours and expressly called on the participants to actively participate with their expert opinions in the consultation of the government commission, which will run until 31.01.2019.

There was a good atmosphere at the subsequent finale in the Club Lounge. “HEADSAHEAD succeeded in bringing together a selected round of supervisory board members from different industries to discuss relevant topics with fruitfully diverging opinions in a discreet atmosphere,” commented Viktoria Kickinger, Managing Director of the Directors Channel as well as the Directors Academy, on what she found an extremely inspiring evening.

HEADSAHEAD and Linklaters are planning to continue the series in view of the high acceptance of this event format and are pleased to invite to the third Practice Forum for Supervisory Board Chairs in spring 2019.