Competence Profile, Diversity Concept and Succession Planning for the Board of Executive Directors

The Supervisory Board works hand in hand with the Board of Executive Directors to ensure long-term succession planning for the composition of the Board of Executive Directors. BASF aims to fill most Board positions with candidates from within the company. It is the task of the Board of Executive Directors to propose a sufficient number of suitable candidates to the Supervisory Board.

BASF’s long-term succession planning is guided by the corporate strategy. It is based on systematic management development characterized by the following:

  • Early identification of suitable candidates of different professional backgrounds, nationalities and genders
  • Systematic development of leaders through the successful assumption of tasks with increasing responsibility, where possible in different business areas, regions and functions
  • Desire to shape strategic and operational decisions, and proven success in doing so, as well as leadership skills, especially under challenging business conditions
  • Role model function in putting our corporate values into practice

The aim is to enable the Supervisory Board to ensure a reasonable level of diversity with respect to education and professional experience, cultural background, international representation, gender and age when appointing members of the Board of Executive Directors. Independent of these individual criteria, the Supervisory Board is convinced that ultimately, only a holistic approach can determine an individual’s suitability for appointment to the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. The overall aim is to ensure that the Board of Executive Directors as a whole has the following profile, which serves as a diversity concept:

  • Many years of management experience in scientific, technical and commercial fields
  • International experience based on background and/or professional experience
  • At least one female Board member
  • A balanced age distribution to ensure the continuity of the Board’s work and enable seamless succession planning

The number of Board members is based on the insights gained by BASF as a company with an integrated leadership culture and is determined by the needs arising from cooperation within the Board of Executive Directors. In May 2018, this was reduced from eight to seven members in the course of the changes to the composition of the Board of Executive Directors. The standard age limit for members of the Board of Executive Directors is 63.

The current composition of the Board of Executive Directors meets the competence profile and the requirements of the diversity concept in full.