Governance

Maintaining responsible corporate governance and ethics to fulfill our purpose and enhance productivity.

Sustainable business strategy

Sustainability considerations affect how we develop new technology solutions and manage day-to-day operations.

In 2021, for example, we boosted the memory efficiency of our hardware lines, improved our software’s ability to enable energy savings, and more actively partnered with customers to help them reduce their carbon footprint. We continued to reduce our own real estate presence and raised energy efficiency in our offices.

Citrix’s commitment to sustainable business practices could not be achieved without strong governance to push our agenda forward. Our grounding in integrity and ethics better prepares us to effectively and responsibly manage ESG issues.

Sustainability governance

In 2021, our Board maintained oversight of Citrix’s ESG practices and their impact on our business and key stakeholders. We recognize that effective oversight of these matters is critical to our long-term success.

The Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee provided formal oversight of Citrix’s policies and practices involving corporate responsibility and ESG issues. In 2021, our management team regularly updated this committee regarding its expanded ESG program and progress on implementation of ESG goals and targets. Central to our responsible governance approach is our commitment to increase transparency through ESG-related disclosures and the adoption of metrics-based ESG reporting.

To learn more about management’s approach to, and oversight of, specific sustainability issues, please review the Data Index.

Board composition

The composition of our Board changed in 2021. David J. Henshall stepped down as Chief Executive Officer, President and director. Ajei Gopal, who joined the Board in 2017, resigned his directorship as well. With these changes, the Citrix Board reduced its size to eight directors.

On January 31, 2022, Citrix announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement under which Vista Equity Partners, a leading global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, and Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation, an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management L.P., would acquire Citrix.  On September 30, 2022, the previously announced transaction to acquire Citrix was successfully completed with Citrix becoming a private company and being combined with TIBCO Software to form Cloud Software Group. 

Risk management

The pandemic, climate change and social unrest presented new risks for Citrix’s stakeholders and business. In 2021, our Board continued to focus on the assessment and oversight of these emerging and urgent risks.Our Board plays an active role in reviewing Citrix’s corporate strategy and priorities, holds management accountable for creating a culture that actively manages risk and has direct decision-making authority on significant risk matters.

Our most prominent risks concerned working remotely and returning to the office, cybersecurity, and the potential for corruption across our network of over 10,000 business partners globally. We made significant progress in addressing each of them in 2021.

In 2021, the Board actively reviewed corporate strategy and priorities, held management accountable for creating a culture that actively manages risk, and had direct decision-making authority on significant risk matters. Board committees were responsible for overseeing certain aspects of risk management, particularly corporate strategy, including product strategy, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, executive officer succession, business continuity, crisis preparedness, and competitive and reputational risks.

The Audit Committee was vital in risk oversight in 2021. It regularly reviewed with management the compliance policies and processes by which we assessed and managed our exposure to certain significant areas of risk.

Climate risk mitigation

Fighting climate change is critical for maintaining a strong economy and a livable planet. Since 2020, Citrix has identified, measured, and monitored climate-related risks. We annually calculate our Scopes 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions against our 2019 baseline and are working toward ambitious 2030 carbon reduction targets. In addition, we submitted corporate climate data and strategy information for a second year to CDP, the leader in environmental disclosure standards. In 2021 we also committed to setting net-zero targets with the Science Based Targets initiative.

Our performance according to these metrics has meaningfully improved compared with the 2019 baseline:

  • Scope 1: 6.6% 

  • Scope 2 (market based): 14.7%

  • Scope 3: 25%

  • CDP Climate Change score: B

We also are using this report to assess our climate-related financial risks, as demonstrated by the inclusion of our Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Index. Learn more about our climate risk mitigation efforts in our 2021 CDP Climate Change disclosure and the report’s Environmental Impact section.

Technology, data, and information security

Citrix is committed to protecting information belonging to the company and our customers, partners, and employees.

In 2021, we continued to improve our technology, data, and information security (TDIS) oversight, risk management, and governance through organizational, technical, and operational investments, and internal and third-party validations.

Cyber-related risks that increased as a result of COVID-19 further intensified in 2021. The pandemic left companies more vulnerable to cyber risk not only because so many employees worked at home, but also because it accelerated digital transformation across all sectors. Bad actors, moreover, proliferated to exploit the situation for financial gain, intellectual property theft, political considerations, or gratuitous disruption.

In 2019, we identified TDIS as an enhanced risk area and had an external firm conduct an independent cybersecurity risk assessment. In 2020 and 2021, we built on this assessment to further strengthen the security of our products, services, and networks, and introduced our zero trust network access product, which helps protect workforces against browser-based attacks.

Security for our customers

Customer protection is our priority. Our TDIS strategy benefits customers by incorporating advanced technologies with a focus on cybersecurity and data privacy. By designing our products around our TDIS philosophy — with centralized delivery, visibility, and control of apps and data — we build security into the core of our solutions and practices. The Citrix Trust Center provides the latest information on our approach to security, privacy, and compliance.

Ethics and integrity

Citrix is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of business ethics and corporate governance in alignment with our core values. We honor our responsibilities to customers, employees, partners, shareholders, the environment, and communities where we live and work.

To learn more about our commitment to ethics and integrity, please see our: