Michael H. Kramarsch

Michael H. Kramarsch is founder, Delegate of the Board and Managing Partner of the hkp /// group.

In his more than 20 years consulting business he has established himself as one of the most highly regarded experts in the field of value-oriented management, corporate governance, performance management and top-executive compensation - in industrial companies as well as banks. His consulting expertise to Boards (Aufsichts- und Verwaltungsräte), Executive Boards and HR managers spans Germany, Switzerland and Austria – as well as additional European countries and the U.S.

Prior to founding hkp/// group on January 1st 2011, Mr. Kramarsch worked 13 years for an international HR management consulting firm. There he held various management and executive positions, e.g. as Managing Partner for the German-speaking regions.

Jointly with Prof. Fred G. Becker, Michael H. Kramarsch published one of the first studies in German-speaking countries on value-oriented corporate management and incentives in 1997. His book on equity-based management compensation (“Aktienbasierte Management-Vergütung”, Schaeffer Poeschl), available as second edition, is still considered a standard reference of executive compensation in Germany. Together with Dirk Filbert he analyzed the regulatory framework conditions of an altered remuneration landscape in "Performance-based remuneration in the banking business", a chapter of the "Handbook Corporate Governance in Banks" (Ed. Hopt, K. and Wohlmannstetter, G., Vahlen / CHBeck, June 2011).

Michael H. Kramarsch was a named specialty expert for German regulatory bodies as Governmental Commission on Corporate Governance (Deutsche Regierungskommission Corporate Governance), managed by Chairman Prof. Dr. T. Baums (2001), and The Government Commission German Corporate Governance Code (Regierungskommission DCGK) managed by the Chairmen Klaus Peter Müller und Dr. Manfred Gentz (2012 to 2014). He is founding member and CEO of the German Association of Independent Compensation Consultants (VUVB) as well as member of the advisory board of HHL Center for Corporate Governance, Leipzig.

Mr. Kramarsch is regularly cited in articles, lectures and publishes on current developments in corporate governance, top executive compensation and performance management.

Michael H. Kramarsch, Managing Partner
Phone +49 69 175 363 363
michael.kramarsch@hkp.com

Michael H. Kramarsch

Michael H. Kramarsch, Managing Partner
Phone +49 69 175 363 363
michael.kramarsch@hkp.com

Regine Siepmann

Regine Siepmann, Senior Partner, is a member of the founding team of the hkp/// group. As an experienced consultant, she has been supporting Supervisory Boards and Corporate Offices in questions of sustainable Corporate Governance and compensation at the interface of HR, strategy and finance for about 15 years.

As head of the consulting practice Board Services at hkp/// group, her consulting focus includes the design and amount of executive compensation as well as the composition and evaluation of the working methods of Supervisory Boards and the investor-friendly communication of issues relevant to Supervisory Boards. Furthermore, she deals with the disclosure of the remuneration of board members according to national and international accounting standards and she is a member of the working group on executive compensation of the German Accounting Standards Committee (in German: Deutsches Rechnungslegungs Standards Committee e.V. - DRSC).

Regine Siepmann is involved in continuous education for Supervisory Boards and is active alongside Supervisory Board chairmen, investor representatives and academics in the working group Guidelines for Sustainable Management Board Remuneration. The Corporate governance expert is a member of the Association of Independent Compensation Consultants (VUVB) as well as a sought-after speaker and author of numerous specialist articles and publications.

Regine Siepmann, Senior Partner
Phone +49 69 175 363 327
regine.siepmann@hkp.com

Regine Siepmann

Regine Siepmann, Senior Partner
Phone +49 69 175 363 327
regine.siepmann@hkp.com

Guidelines for sustainable management board remuneration systems

A working group of well-known chairs of German supervisory boards, institutional investors, academics and corporate governance experts has presented guidelines for sustainable remuneration systems for German publicly listed companies.

26. July 2018

From Michael H. Kramarsch, Regine Siepmann

A working group of well-known chairs of German supervisory boards, institutional investors, academics and corporate governance experts has presented guidelines for sustainable remuneration systems for German publicly listed companies

Frankfurt, 26 July 2018. A working group of well-known supervisory board chairs of listed companies in Germany together with representatives of key institutional investors, academics and corporate governance experts has developed best practice guidelines for simpler and sustainability focussed best-practice management board remuneration. The guidelines cover key design elements of sustainable management board remuneration in Germany, offer companies direction for the alignment of their remuneration plans with institutional investor expectations and support a constructive dialogue between companies and their shareholders.

"Through the implementation of the European Shareholders Rights Directive, remuneration of management board members will become a regular voting item at the annual general meetings of listed German companies. In some cases, companies are insufficiently prepared for the expectations of investors regarding remuneration systems, which is also driven by the different and sometimes not congruent expectations of institutional investors”, explains Michael Kramarsch, Managing Partner of hkp/// group and one of the two initiators of the working group. "The guidelines presented by the working group include statements on the design and presentation of the remuneration report, along with dialogue with investors to provide clear points of reference. Important stakeholder goals and greater transparency among investors and voting advisors on remuneration issues are also addressed", says the corporate governance expert.

This view is also shared by Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt, Head of Hermes EOS in London. As the other initiator of the working group, he points out that the guidelines will help to significantly enhance clarity and comprehensibility of management board remuneration and to reduce the complexity of many existing systems. "Importantly, the devised guidelines will help companies to simplify management board remuneration and to take into account the pay-for-performance relationship more explicitly. In doing so, they will make remuneration systems more comprehensible for the various market players and society. In addition, they will support companies in their preparations to meet the expectations of institutional investors, including those from abroad. A constructive dialogue on remuneration between investors and companies will be another outcome of the stipulated guidelines. At the same time, however, the guidelines also require investors to make their expectations and requirements for management board remuneration systems more transparent and comprehensible for companies", says Hirt.

Background on the working group
The working group "Guidelines for Sustainable Management Board Remuneration", which consisted of representatives from various stakeholder groups, was established in early 2018 and subsequently developed the best practice guidelines. The working group involved international investors in the drafting process through a meeting in London. It consisted of the following members:

Supervisory board chairs:

Dr Werner Brandt (ProSiebenSat.1, RWE, Siemens)
Dr John Feldmann (Hornbach Holding, Kion)
Jürgen Fitschen (Ceconomy, Kühne & Nagel, Vonovia)
Dr Jürgen Hambrecht (BASF, Daimler, Fuchs Petrolub)
Prof Dr Ulrich Lehner (Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Henkel, Porsche)
Werner Wenning (Bayer, Henkel, Siemens)

Representatives of institutional investors:

Nicolas Huber (DWS)
Henrike Kulmann (Allianz Global Investors)
Michael Schmidt (Deka Investment, Head of the DVFA Corporate Governance Committee)
Ingo Speich (Union Investment)

Academic representatives:

Prof Christian Strenger (Deputy Chair of the DVFA Commission for Corporate Governance and Director of the Center for Corporate Governance, HHL Leipzig)
Prof Dr Michael Wolff (University of Göttingen)

Corporate governance experts:

Dr Georg Franzmann (BASF)
Hendrik Schmidt (DWS)
Dr Stephan Semrau (Bayer)
Regine Siepmann (hkp/// group)
Dr Michael Viehs (Hermes Investment Management)

Initiators:

Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt (Hermes EOS)
Michael H. Kramarsch (hkp/// group)

Download: www.leitlinien-vorstandsverguetung.de

You would like to know more about this topic?

Arrange a (telephone) appointment with Michael H. Kramarsch

Press contact

Thomas Müller Partner, Head of Marketing & Communication
Phone: +49 69 175 363 323
E-Mail: thomas.mueller@hkp.com

Subscribe to our newsletter!