11:47 Jun 6, 2009 

@ Anne-Marie: The company in question is a German one. The readership cannot be defined. It depends on the potential customer.

22:11 Jun 5, 2009 

So I don't have to disagree with absolutely everybody, I would like to point out that Vorstand means both the body itself (executive board, management board, board of management) and a member of that body. What the German text is referring to is Herr XX as a *member* of the executive board. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's the VoVo, and I rather think that what the text is getting is that he's the COO rather than the CEO.

The generic translation of Vorstand is "Executive Board" unless the company concerned prefers to use "Management Board" or "Board of Management". Some banks have been using the deprecated term "Board of Managing Directors" since the early post-war years (when British banks didn't have Chairmen, CEOs, CFOs, etc., but merely managing directors - no PLCs in those days).

BTW, the German translation of Board of Directors is "Board of Directors" or Verwaltungrat (which itself is another example of polysemy...)

21:38 Jun 5, 2009 

to Ted: sorry, but I cant share your views. Board of Directors is NOT limited to use in Switzerland. and as I said earlier, there are a number of different terms for the person presiding over it. The Senior Executive President Administration would be the man in charge of the administrative part; he may just as well be called chief executive, or as one of us suggested chief executive officer CEO. the term Board of Directors (in German also known as Kuratorium ) is widely used in USA but also in Germany and Austria. In view of the multitude of terms for the word in question it doesnt make sense to insist on a specific term. If you look up the word Vorstand you´ll come across more than a dozen of different words.

20:35 Jun 5, 2009 

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