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Objectives for the composition of the Supervisory Board, Board of Management and Senior Executive Positions

In view of the purpose of the Company, its size and the extent of its international activities, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG strives to take the following criteria into account in its composition: 

  • At least three members of the Supervisory Board should be persons who embody in particular the characteristic of internationality.
  • At least four shareholder representative members of the Supervisory Board should be persons who do not represent potential conflicts of interest, particularly conflicts of interest that could arise through a position as a consultant or member of the governing bodies of customers, suppliers, lenders, or other third parties.
  • In addition, at least four of the shareholder representatives must be persons who are independent as defined by article 5.4.2 of the German Corporate Governance Code.
  • Furthermore, proposals for elections should not normally include persons who will have reached the age of 75 by the time the election takes place or who have been members of the Supervisory Board for more than 20 years by the time the election takes place.

The above criteria have been met. The statutory gender quota of at least 30% will apply to new appointments to the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG from January 1, 2016, based on the Gesetz für die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe von Frauen und Männern an Führungspositionen in der Privatwirtschaft und im öffentlichen Dienst (Act on the Equal Participation of Women and Men in Leadership Positions in the Private and Public Sectors).

The Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG has also set itself the longer-term goal of increasing the proportion of female members on the Board of Management to 30%. The Supervisory Board did not identify any opportunity for increasing the proportion of female members on the Board of Management by the end of 2016 as of the date stipulated in the Act for determining a specific target; as a result, it resolved a target quota of zero for December 31, 2016. However, the appointment of Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt in October 2015 to take up the newly created Board of Management position for Integrity and Legal Affairs with effect from January 1, 2016 means that a female member has been appointed to the Group’s Board of Management.

Volkswagen AG has set the following target quotas to increase the proportion of women in management: the aim is for the proportion of women in the first management level to amount to 9.8% as of the end of 2016, with the figure for the second management level amounting to 13.3%.