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Participation of women and men in executive positions

Fresenius Medical Care highly values diversity, including social inclusion, both for its governance bodies as well as its overall workforce, and considers diversity as a strength of the enterprise.

The information on this website corresponds to that in the Declaration on Corporate Governance for the 2022 fiscal year. The Company has changed its legal form from a partnership limited by shares to a stock corporation. The applicable provisions for the participation of women and men in management positions below the Management Board remain unaffected by the change in legal form. However, the applicable legal provisions for the participation of women and men on the Management Board and Supervisory Board will change because of the change in legal form. Details on this will be included in the Company’s Declaration on Corporate Governance for the 2023 fiscal year, which is expected to be made publicly available in March 2024.

Diversity concept for governance bodies

Fresenius Medical Care considers diversity, equity and inclusion a strength of the company. A high degree of diversity in the composition of the Management Board and Supervisory Board and the workforce is an important objective of Fresenius Medical Care and is in the interest of the Company because this creates an integrative working environment and lays the foundation for personal and corporate success. Diversity at Fresenius Medical Care is defined in a broad way, including – but not limited to – age, gender, nationality, cultural and ethnical origin, sexual orientation, disability, educational background, and work experience. The goal is the integration of differing perspectives and various aspects in the cooperation and decision-making in order to increase the understanding for the manifold requirements on a globally active company with heterogeneous groups of customers. Diversity, equity and inclusion are an integral part of the sustainability program of Fresenius Medical Care.

The existing diversity concept for the composition of the Management Board of the General Partner and the Supervisory Board of the Company reflects this understanding and is part of the staffing processes. The individual qualification – this includes expertise as well as skills and experience – continues to be the core selection criterion for the proposals to the General Meeting for the election of new members to the Supervisory Board; diversity aspects are considered to ensure a comprehensive and balanced decision process. For preparation of any nomination proposal, the respective competent governance body or the competent committee, as the case may be, thoroughly evaluates the current composition of the body to be filled and carefully analyzes each potential candidate’s profile with regard to the diversity criteria. Thereby, the above-mentioned standard age limits for the Management Board of the General Partner and for the Supervisory Board of the Company and the profile of skills and expertise for the Supervisory Board are taken into account.

Diversity is further actively managed in senior management levels below the Management Board in accordance with recommendation A.2 of the Code. To this end, diversity aspects such as gender are particularly considered in the evaluation of the “talent pipelines”. Additional reports, for example on the number and share of female junior talents in talent evaluation and the succession planning process, support the focus on diversity in development planning and the preparation for filling vacancies. This serves to strengthen the pursued diversity concept and to identify suitable talents at an early stage.

The diversity level of the Management Board of the General Partner across selected aspects at the end of the year under review is displayed below. Corresponding information on the diversity level of the Supervisory Board of the Company can be found in the section “Profile of skills and expertise and qualification matrix”.

Management Board Gender Nationality Education Age
Helen Giza Female British and U.S.-American Business 54
Franklin W. Maddux, MD Male U.S.-American Medicine and Mathematics 65
Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-
Hofsäß
Female Polish and German Medicine 59
Rice Powell1 Male U.S.-American Biology 67
William Valle Male U.S.-American Business 62

1 Mr. Rice Powell retired from the Management Board at the end of the year under review.

Gender diversity and targets

The Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA is statutorily obliged to define targets for the representation of female members in the Supervisory Board as well as an implementation period and to report on the defined targets and their achievement during the relevant reference period or, in the event of a failure to meet these targets, on the reasons for this, as part of the Declaration on Corporate Governance. The definition of targets for the composition of the Management Board for companies which, like Fresenius Medical Care, are organized in the legal form of a partnership limited by shares, is by contrast expressly not required. Likewise, also the Supervisory Board of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG is not required to define targets for the Management Board, because Fresenius Medical Care Management AG is not in the scope of the relevant legal provisions. At the end of the year under review, two out of five members of the Management Board were female. With the departure of Mr. Rice Powell from the Management Board at the end of the year under review, two out of four, i.e. 50%, of the members of the Management Board are female.

The Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA had resolved in 2017 to set the target for the representation of female Supervisory Board members at 30% and had set an implementation period ending on May 9, 2022. In the reporting year, the Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA resolved to renew the aforementioned target for the representation of female Supervisory Board members and set an implementation period ending on May 9, 2027. According to the new target, at least 30% and in any case not less than two members of the Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA shall be female. With two female members out of a total of six (33%), the composition of the Supervisory Board in the year under review was in line with both the target figure applicable until May 9, 2022, and the new target figure.

The Management Board is statutorily obliged to determine targets for female representation in the two top management levels below the Management Board and a respective implementation period. The Management Board in November 2020 had determined targets for female representation in the two top management levels below the Management Board and corresponding new implementation periods. The positions of the first and second management levels were determined on the basis of a global job evaluation system considering impact and contribution of the position, the required skills relating to communication and innovation as well as general knowledge and expertise. The target figure for the first management level to be achieved by the end of the implementation period on December 31, 2025, was 22%. At the end of the year under review, 20.3% (2021: 17.5%) of managers in this first management level were female. The target figure for the second management level to be achieved by the end of the implementation period on December 31, 2025, was 32%. At the end of the year under review, 34.7% (2021: 27.9%) of managers in this second management level were female.

The respective share of women at the end of the respective year therefore is as follows:

  Target
(in %)
Status 2020
(in %)
Status 2021
(in %)
Supervisory Board of the Company 301 33 33
Management Board -2 25 253
First Management Level 224 18.3 17.5
Second Management Level 324 28.3 27.9

 

1 Implementation period until May 9, 2027.
2 The definition of targets for the Management Board is not required.
3 Since January 1, 2023, the share of women in the Management Board amounts to 50 %.
4 Original implementation period until December 31, 2025.

Since the aforementioned target figures for the share of women in the first two management levels below the Management Board set in 2020 were partially already overachieved in 2022 in the context of the organizational transformation under the FME25 program, the Management Board has set new target figures as well as implementation periods and revised the definition of the first and second management levels as follows:

The first management level now includes all managers worldwide who directly report to a member of the Management Board and participate in the group-wide long-term incentive program. The target figure for female representation is 35%. The implementation period ends on December 31, 2027. At the end of the year under review, 25.6% of managers in this first management level were female.

The second management level now includes all managers worldwide who directly report to a management executive of the first management level and participate in the group-wide long-term incentive program. The target figure for female representation is 45%. The implementation period ends on December 31, 2027. At the end of the year under review, 31% of managers in this second management level were female.

Overall, the recruiting and staffing practice of Fresenius Medical Care as well as the selection decisions regarding the hiring and promotion to top management levels will also in the future be taken with a focus on the specific qualifications of the individual. For this reason, the Management Board will select candidates for the top management of Fresenius Medical Care according to the candidate’s excellence and suitability for the specific role and function in such management positions, regardless of their race, gender, or other non-performance related attributes. The number and proportion of female Supervisory Board members and Management Board members, the continuous achievement and increase of our diversity targets as well as the anchoring within the company’s sustainability program demonstrate the considerable importance of diversity for Fresenius Medical Care.

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Our Management Board currently consists of five members. The international composition and the varied responsibilities reflect our global operations.

Fresenius Medical Care Declaration of Compliance

Fresenius Medical Care endorses the principles set forth in the German Corporate Governance Code.