Forum of Germany's Female Executives

Odgers Berndtson hosted the first ”Germany’s Female Executives” forum in Frankfurt on 26 May 2010. Thirty two female Board members met with Deutsche Telekom Chief Human Resources Officer Thomas Sattelberger for a roundtable conference to discuss the issue of having a quota for women.

What causes women’s careers to fail? Does Germany need a quota for women? What alternatives do companies have to promote more women in leadership? These and other questions were subject to intense debate by these leading women executives, invited for the first time by Odgers Berndtson to take part in a high-powered round table at Villa Kennedy in Frankfurt.

The Odgers Berndtson forum ”Germany’s Women Executives” was set up to provide board women and women in executive positions in the leading companies in Germany with an exclusive platform to discuss the promotion of women in senior management and to share their experience and their tried and proven solutions.

The focus of this initial event was to allow for personal exchange and getting to know one another. The brief introductory speeches by Daniela Weber-Rey, Partner in Clifford Chance and the only female member of the German Corporate Governance Commission, Dr. Margarete Haase, Board of Management member of DEUTZ AG, as well as Thomas Sattelberger, Board of Management member of Deutsche Telekom AG, left enough time for an intense discussion of the overriding issue, ”Are women in Germany ready for the quota?“

The women executives responded quite positively to the event: All of the participants said they found the discussion to be very open, constructive and personally rewarding. Thomas Sattelberger summed it up: ”Show me a circle of men whose discussions are as honest, authentic and thoughtful. You won't find one!“

WELT published an extensive report on the Odgers Berndtson”Germany’s Women Executives” forum on 31 May 2010. The online version of the article (in German) is available here.