Foreword Luigi Abete; 1. Corporate boards, incentive pay and shareholder activism in Europe: main issues and policy perspectives Massimo Belcredi and Guido Ferrarini; 2. European corporate governance codes and their effectiveness Eddy Wymeersch; 3. Restructuring in family firms: a tale of the two crises Christian Andres, Lorenzo Caprio and Ettore Croci; 4. Corporate boards in Europe: size, independence and gender diversity Daniel Ferreira and Tom Kirchmaier; 5. Board on task: developing a comprehensive understanding of the performance of boards Jaap Winter and Erik van de Loo; 6. Directors' remuneration before and after the crisis: measuring the impact of reforms in Europe Roberto Barontini, Stefano Bozzi, Guido Ferrarini and Maria-Cristina Ungureanu; 7. Shareholder engagement at European General Meetings Luc Renneboog and Peter Szilagyi; 8. Board elections and shareholder activism: the Italian experiment Massimo Belcredi, Stefano Bozzi and Carmine Di Noia.