Relationship and stakeholder management

In performing its duties, the Supervisory Board acts in accordance with the interests of the company and the business connected with it, taking into consideration the interests of the company’s stakeholders. The Chair of the Supervisory Board is in regular close contact with the Co-CEOs, as is the Chair of the Audit Committee with the CFO.

Furthermore, the Supervisory Board regularly interacts with members of the Executive Committee, who attend Supervisory Board meetings and participate in the yearly site visit of the Supervisory Board.

The Supervisory Board interacts with our employees on various occasions and in various contexts. The Supervisory Board regularly receives information on relevant topics from senior leaders and experts in the company during committee meetings, full Supervisory Board meetings, annual site visits, and also as part of their ongoing professional education. In September 2021, we announced our strategic decision to focus our resources and capabilities to address the urgent societal and environmental challenges linked to the way the world produces and consumes food. The Supervisory Board was involved early on in this strategic process to contribute to the decisions and engage with the various topics. In addition, the Supervisory Board was involved in discussions around merger & acquisition (M&A) opportunities, such as the acquisition of First Choice Ingredients and the flavor and fragrance bio-based intermediates business of Amyris Inc., as well as large innovation projects resulting in the development of products such as Bovaer^®, Veramaris^®, EVERSWEET™ and CanolaPRO^®. The Supervisory Board also performed a post-investment review of our second-generation bio-ethanol plant in Emmetsburg (Iowa, USA). During its annual site visit, the Supervisory Board actively takes the opportunity to interact with employees at different levels, from the shop floor to senior leadership, thus collecting valuable information and insights from various sources across the company.

Direct, one-to-one contact between Supervisory Board members and Managing Board and Executive Committee members generally follows naturally from topics discussed in the meetings of the Supervisory Board. These discussions draw on the expertise of individual Supervisory Board members, whose advice is sought on a wide range of specialist topics as required. Supervisory Board members also have direct contact with other employees in the course of the aforementioned site visits and specifically arranged meetings. The full Supervisory Board reviewed the company’s new Food System Commitments together with members of the company’s Sustainability department, and Eileen Kennedy had further in-depth discussions with the Senior Vice President Corporate & Nutrition Strategy. The Audit Committee discussed our efforts in the area of cybersecurity, and Pradeep Pant, who is based in Singapore and has extensive knowledge of and experience with Asian markets, continued to be in regular contact with our senior management in that region.

In 2021, due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, most of the meetings were held virtually and face-to-face meetings could only be arranged on a few occasions. Examples of the meetings and visits that could take place include the introductory visits of Thomas Leysen, Carla Mahieu and Corien Wortmann-Kool to the DSM site in Delft (Netherlands), during which the DSM Biotech Center was visited; their visit to the Brightlands Campus in Geleen (Netherlands); and the annual site visit of the full Supervisory Board, together with the Executive Committee, to DSM Austria GmbH — founded in 2021 after the acquisition of Erber Group, including Biomin and Romer Labs. Due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, Erica Mann participated virtually during this site visit to Austria.

The Supervisory Board takes an active interest in maintaining a good understanding of our stakeholders and their positions on various topics related to the company’s areas of business. This includes the perceptions of our shareholders. The Supervisory Board is informed of the position of other DSM stakeholders by the Managing Board. In addition, the Supervisory Board collects such information through its own network.