Corporate Governance Institute (CGI)

Prof. Dr. Julia Redenius-Hövermann serve as a Professor of Civil and Company Law. She joined Frankfurt School in August 2012 as an Assistant Professor. From December 2006 until July 2012 Julia Redenius has held the position of postdoctoral research associate and lecturer at the Chair of Professor Theodor Baums at the Institute for Law and Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt. Before returning to her hometown Frankfurt, Julia Redenius worked as a research associate and lecturer at the Universities of Paris II-Assas and Paris XII-Saint Maur as well as an attorney at law in Paris. Julia Redenius holds Master degrees in French, German, European and International Corporate Law from the University of Paris II-Assas and Munich as well as a Ph. D. (summa cum laude, Supervision: Professor Michel Germain) from the University of Paris II-Assas. She was admitted to the Paris Bar Exam. As an ILF Research Fellow, Julia Redenius wrote her postdoctoral thesis (“Habilitation”) under the supervision of Professor Baums in the field of corporate law and behavioural law and economics; she received the venia legendi for Civil Law, Commercial and Business Law and Comparative Law in December 2017. Within the framework of her postdoctoral thesis, she was a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School, New York, in Fall 2011 (Fellowship of the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation). Her research focuses on Corporate Law, Comparative Law, Capital Market Law, Banking Law and Law and Economics. Her advisory activity covers requests from national and international ministries concerning German Corporate Law. Julia Redenius is the Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Compliance Manager Association, member of the Governance and Stewarship Commission of the DVFA, member of the Compliance working group of FIRM.

After obtaining a MBA at the University of Cologne and trainee programs in New York and London, Prof. Strenger joined in Deutsche Bank from 1972, he held increasingly senior positions in corporate finance and asset management in Frankfurt, New York and London until 1991. In 1991, he became speaker of the management board of 'DWS Investment GmbH', Germany's largest mutual fund company with current assets of around 750 billion Euros. In 1999, he joined the Supervisory Board of DWS and assumed supervisory and advisory mandates of listed German companies. In 2001 he became a founding member of the German Government’s Commission for the 'German Corporate Governance Code' until 2016. In 2014 Prof. Strenger received the ICGN Lifetime Achiever Award in Corporate Governance for his continuing commitment in promoting good corporate governance. Today, he participates in the discussion to develop German governance as Vice Chairman of the DVFA Corporate Governance Commission and holds MBA lectures and organizes symposia on corporate governance issues. He is regularly invited for guest lectures at other universities. Internationally, he is member and Past Chairman (2005/06) of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and member of the BIAC Governance Committee of the OECD in Paris. Prof. Strenger regularly publishes articles on important governance topics in leading financial journals and magazines.

Paul Bernhardt is a research associate at the Corporate Governance Institute. He is currently studying law at the Goethe University of Frankfurt after having completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in 2019. His main interest currently lies in analyzing the overlaps between law and economics.

Dr. Peter Siemens is a postdoctoral researcher at the Corporate Governance Institute. His research focuses on questions of good governance and economic legal analysis. He studied law and wrote his PhD-thesis at the University of Frankfurt (graduating in 2019 and 2022, respectively). Dr. Siemens also earned his Master of Laws at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 2022. From 2022 to 2023, he worked at an international law firm in New York, NY as a corporate associate.

Quetzal Rojano-Adam is a research assistant at the Corporate Governance Institute. After completing his law degree at the University of Tübingen, he obtained a Master of Laws from Cornell Law School in 2023. His main interest lies in the comparative analysis of corporate governance in listed companies.

Annabel Emilie Magin is an academic assistant at the Corporate Governance Institute and a Business Administration Bachelor's student at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, interested in corporate governance and banking and finance.

Maximilian Christoph Walter is an academic assistant at the Corporate Governance Institute and a Business Administration Bachelor's student with a Bachelor Professional (Bankfachwirt) certification at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, interested in finance and investor relations.

Governance Guidelines for Sustainability in SMEs have been published

13 March 2023 - The Expert Commission for the Development of Sustainable Governance Principles for SMEs, chaired by Professor Dr. Julia Redenius-Hövermann of the Corporate Governance Institute and her deputy Professor Dr. Christina E. Bannier from Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, published its new guidelines for SMEs. The guidelines comprise practical and science-based sustainable governance principles and make it easier for companies to address ESG issues in corporate governance and set targets for sustainable orientation. Click here to read the press release.

Roundtable Discussion: Reform of Supervisory Board Law

13 February 2023 - The expectations from supervisory board members have risen steadily in recent years; the job description has changed significantly. Good corporate governance requires significantly more time and presence to manage an increasingly demanding, complex programme, especially due to a double transformation in the areas of digitalisation and sustainability. Under the lead of Prof. Dr. Julia Redenius-Hövermann and Prof. Christian Strenger, the Corporate Governance Institute discussed this topic in a roundtable on "Reform of Supervisory Board Law" with leading representatives from the judiciary, practice, and academia.

Prof. Dr. Sautner moderated the session on climate finance research at the PRI Conference

2 December 2022 - The world's leading responsible investment conference, PRI in Person & Online, took place in Barcelona between 30 November - 2 December 2022. The conference brought together an audience of over 2,400 investors, policymakers, and other sustainable finance stakeholders. CGI Director Prof. Dr. Sautner took part in the conference as a moderator of the "Climate Finance Research and Implications" session, where the latest findings of climate finance research and their implications for investment professionals were discussed. Laura Starks, Professor of Finance at the University of Texas, Irene Monasterolo, Professor of Climate Finance at EDHEC Business School and EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute, and Frederic Samama, Head of Strategic Development at S&P Global Sustainable1 were speakers at the session.

Prof. Strenger contributed to the consultation meeting at the OECD Headquarters

21 November 2022 - As part of the ongoing review of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, a consultation meeting took place on 21 November 2022 at the OECD Headquarters in Paris. As a member of the BIAC OECD Corporate Governance Committee, CGI Director Prof. Strenger spoke at the consultation session and expressed key issues in the review of the Principles with a focus on corporate ownership and institutional investors.

Frankfurt School contributes to the future of corporate governance

24 October 2022 - The Corporate Governance Institute recently contributed to a significant agenda item in the global corporate governance discussion by submitting on 13 October 2022 its official comments on the Draft Revisions to the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. The comments will be taken into account in future discussions on revising the Principles, which are to be concluded in 2023. Click to read the press release.

Expert Commission for the Development of Sustainable Governance Principles for SMEs has been established

4 August 2022 - In order to counteract the problems in the implementation of sustainability strategies and transformation processes, the Expert Commission for the Development of Sustainable Governance Principles for SMEs has been newly established under the organisation of the CGI. It has set itself the goal of developing a practical guideline: By spring 2023, scientifically sound and at the same time application-oriented recommendations for action are to be made available to SMEs in the form of principles and best-practice examples that companies can use to establish sustainable governance.

Best paper award for FS professors Kornelia Fabisik and Zacharias Sautner

25 March 2022 - We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Kornelia Fabisik (Frankfurt School), Dr. Florian Berg (MIT) and Prof. Dr. Zacharias Sautner (Director of CGI), have been awarded as winners of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance/IRRCI Research Paper Award Competition 2022.

We congratulate the winners on their paper "Is History Repeating Itself? The (Un)Predictable Past of ESG Ratings." Read the paper here.