For our video series, “What CEOs learn from board roles,” Heidrick & Struggles’ Nicolas von Rosty speaks with Frank Mastiaux, CEO of EnBW, Germany’s largest electric utility company, and non-executive director of Alstom, a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer, about how joining the board of Alstom after being CEO of EnBW for nearly nine years benefitted Mastiaux’s role, as well as the immediate benefit he saw from gaining the perspective of the conversation happening at the board level. He also talks about the differences between the one-tier board model in France and the two-tier model in Germany, what it has been like to join a board when all the meetings have been held remotely, and the benefits and challenges of having a non-executive role in a different industry than his executive role.

About the interviewer

Nicolas von Rosty (nvonrosty@heidrick.com) is partner-in-charge of Heidrick & Struggles Germany and managing partner of the CEO & Board Practice in Germany and Central Europe; he is also a member of the Industrial Practice.