DUSSELDORF, GERMANY

INTRAPRENEUR

When microbiologist Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah became Chairwoman of Henkel’s Supervisory Board and Shareholders‘ Committee in 2009, she was the first woman to assume such a role at a DAX 30 company.

Henkel operates worldwide in three business areas–Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care, and Adhesive Technologies. This publicly traded company employs about 50,000 people and generates more than 18.1 bn. euros in sales. Founded in 1876, Henkel’s consumer and industrial businesses hold global leading positions with brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. The company takes pride in its sustainability approach and is listed in the world’s major sustainability indices. “We don’t just have a corporate strategy with financial goals, but also a sustainability strategy with measurable and ambitious goals,” reports Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah. By 2030, Henkel aspires to use one-third of the raw materials it needs today for each euro it generates.

In recent years, Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah unified the more than 120 family shareholders who, in 2014, extended their family share-pooling agreement which increased the family’s holding of ordinary voting shares bound under this agreement to around 61 percent, and prohibits family owners from selling these shares. “It shows the trust and confidence that the family has in our strategy and the company’s further potential,” said Henkel’s CEO at the time, Kaspar Rorsted.

Trained as a natural scientist, Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah is very involved in education matters, and is the patron of Henkel’s education initiatives to encourage children to study science. She is Chairwoman of the Fritz Henkel Foundation which advances social improvements. In addition to her positions at Henkel, she is a member of the supervisory boards of Heraeus and Bayer–two other German based international companies–and is a founding member of the Board of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf.