A supervisory board or supervisory committee, often called board of directors, is a group of individuals chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and supervise the executive directors and CEO.

Corporate governance varies between countries, especially regarding the board system. There are countries that have a one-tier board system (like the U.S.) and there are others that have a two-tier board system (like Germany).

In a one-tier board, all directors (both executive directors as well as non-executive directors) form one board, called the board of directors.

In a two-tier board there is an executive board (all executive directors) and a separate supervisory board (all non-executive directors).

German corporation law Aktiengesetz requires all Aktiengesellschaften to have two boards: a management board called Vorstand and a supervisory board called Aufsichtsrat.

In Germany the supervisory board of large corporations is composed of 20 members, 10 of which are elected by the shareholders, the other 10 being employee representatives. The supervisory board oversees and appoints the members of the management board and must approve major business decisions.

Eileen Kennedy is the Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and was the first Director of USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

Kennedy holds an undergraduate degree from Hunter College, two masters degrees from Pennsylvania State University, and a Doctor of Science in Nutrition from Harvard's School of Public Health.

Kennedy has long been involved in the academic arena of nutrition conducting research and teaching at Tufts, Columbia University, Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University.

In 2008, Dr. Kennedy was named president of the "Smart Choices" board. “Smart Choices” is a front of label nutrition benchmarking system, a program whose criteria are based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards.

Roland Berger (born November 22, 1937, in Berlin) is a German entrepreneur, consultant and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the international strategy consulting firm Roland Berger Strategy Consultants which he established in Munich, Germany, in 1967. He has been a close advisor of Gerhard Schröder, beginning when Schröder was the Minister-President of Lower Saxony and continuing through his tenure as Chancellor of Germany. Berger reportedly declined an offer to become Economics Minister in 1998 when Schröder became Chancellor because Berger was also advising the politically conservative Minister-President of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber.

Roland Berger is also the founder of the Roland Berger Foundation for Human Dignity.

Furthermore, Roland Berger is a founding partner of BLM Partners which he formed with Florian Lahnstein, Gero Wendenberg and Jason Carley. The controversial Thomas Middelhoff left that firm in November 2010. He is also Chairman Germany on the International Advisory Board of Blackstone Group and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of FIAT Group and INSEAD. He is also a member of the supervisory board of the pharmaceuticals and healthcare company Fresenius SE.