Supervisory board chair

Average age

The average age of the DAX 40 chairs is 66, rising from 64 in 2021 and exceeding the average age of 60 for shareholder representatives. The age range within boards is enormous: falling between 46 and 81 years, it spans more than one generation.

Tenure

Since the DAX 40 was established in September 2021, the average 2022 tenure of a chair is 8.9 years (compared to 8.2 years in 2021). Among the former DAX 30 companies, average tenure among chairs was significantly lower, at 6.2 years (2020).

As we have mentioned elsewhere in this report, our 2020 Index analysed a broader group of 68 companies. Average tenure among chairs then was 4.7 years, having fluctuated at around 5.5 years prior to that. This fall in average tenure was probably related to changes in chairmanship. The range of tenure among individual chairs was wide, ranging from less than one year to 23 years.

Average tenure (in years)

Diversity

Among the DAX 40 companies, only three boards (7.5%) had a female chair at our cut-off date (at Brenntag, Henkel, and Zalando), one of whom was foreign.

Overall, 22.5% (nine) of the chairs in DAX 40 are foreign.

The requirements of the quota law in relation to women are not yet reflected among the supervisory board chair population. The chairs of supervisory boards covered by the Board Index continue to be predominantly male (92.5%) and German (77.5%). It is apparent that the lack of gender diversity at this level is ongoing.

External commitments

Overall, 15 chairs (37.5%) hold one other public company board seat, and 11 chairs (27.5%) hold two other public company board seats. 14 chairs (35%) do not hold any public company board seat.

Only two of the DAX 40 chairs held a chair role in another DAX 40 company.

Number of board seats in public companies held by chairs

Committee membership

Chairs are highly engaged in committee participation, although the extent has further declined (from chairing an average of 1.5 committees in 2020). Chairs usually lead the nomination/presidial and remuneration committee (in some companies, the NomCo and Remco are combined into one).

Chairs leading/sitting on selected committees