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.
Diversity concept for governance bodies
Fresenius Medical Care considers inclusion and diversity a strength of the company. A high degree of inclusion and diversity in the composition of the Management Board and Supervisory Board and the workforce is one of Fresenius Medical Care's core objectives 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. Inclusion and diversity are an integral part of the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct at 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.1 of the Code. To this end, diversity aspects such as gender are particularly taken into account 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 and Supervisory Board of the Company across selected aspects at the end of the year under review is displayed below.
Management Board | Gender | Nationality | Education | Age |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rice Powell | Male | U.S.-American | Biology | 66 |
Helen Giza | Female | British and U.S.-American | Business | 53 |
Franklin W. Maddux, MD | Male | U.S.-American | Medicine and Mathematics | 64 |
Dr. Katarzyna Mazur- Hofsäß | Female | Polish and German | Medicine | 58 |
Dr. Olaf Schermeier1 | Male | German | Engineering | 49 |
William Valle | Male | U.S.-American | Business | 61 |
Kent Wanzek1 | Male | U.S.-American | Business | 62 |
Harry de Wit1 | Male | Dutch | Medicine and Physiotherapy | 59 |
1 The members of the Management Board Dr. Olaf Schermeier, Kent Wanzek and Harry de Wit have left the Management Board at the end of the year under review.
Supervisory Board of the Company | Gender | Nationality | Education | Age |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dr. Dieter Schenk | Male | German | Law | 69 |
Rolf A. Classon | Male | U.S.-American and Swedish | Political Science | 76 |
Gregory Sorensen, MD | Male | U.S.-American | Medicine | 59 |
Dr. Dorothea Wenzel | Female | German | Business and Busines Informatics | 52 |
Pascale Witz | Female | French | Biochemistry | 55 |
Professor Dr. Gregor Zünd | Male | Swiss | Medicine | 62 |
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. With two of in total eight members of the Management Board in the year under review being female, the share of women in the Management Board of Fresenius Management AG amounted to 25% in the year under review. In terms of the composition of the Management Board existing from January 1, 2022, two out of five and thus 40% of the members of the Management Board are female.
The Supervisory Board of FMC AG & Co. KGaA has resolved on May 10, 2017 to set the target for the representation of female Supervisory Board members at 30% and has set an implementation period ending on May 9, 2022. With two female members (33%), the composition of the Supervisory Board in the year under review was in line with this target.
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 implementation period for the first-time application in target figures adopted in 2015 expired on December 31, 2020. Against this background, the Management Board has determined new targets for female representation in the two top management levels below the Management Board and the respective new implementation periods. In this context, the definition of the two management levels below the Board of Management for which targets are to be set has also been adjusted. The positions of the first and second management levels are now 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 is 22%. At the end of the year under review, 17.5% (2020: 18.3%) 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 is 32%. At the end of the year under review, 27.9% (2020: 28.3%) of managers in this second management level were female.
The status of implementation of the targets for the share of women at the end of each 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, 2022.
2 The definition of targets for the Management Board is not required.
3 Since January 1, 2022, the share of women in the Management Board amounts to 40 %.
4 Implementation period until December 31, 2025.
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.