UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Filed by the Registrant  [x]

☒                            Filed by a Party other than the Registrant  ☐

Check the appropriate box:

GARTNER, INC.

(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

☐ Fee paid previously with preliminary materials.

☐ Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Exchange Act Rule 0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing for which the offsetting fee was paid previously. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

To be admitted to the Annual Meeting, please visit www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/IT2021. Online check-in will be available approximately 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 8, 2021, the Record Date, are entitled to participate in and vote at the Annual Meeting. To participate in the Annual Meeting, including to vote, ask questions, and view the list of registered stockholders as of the Record Date during the Annual Meeting, stockholders of record should go to the meeting website at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/IT2021, enter the 16-digit control number found on your proxy card or Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”), and follow the instructions on the website. If your shares are held in street name and your voting instruction form or Notice indicates that you may vote those shares through the http://www.proxyvote.com website, then you may access, participate in, and vote at the annual meeting with the 16-digit access code indicated on that voting instruction form or Notice. Otherwise, stockholders who hold their shares in street name should contact their bank, broker or other nominee (preferably at least 5 days before the Annual Meeting) and obtain a “legal proxy” in order to be able to attend, participate in or vote at the Annual Meeting. For more information about how to attend the Annual Meeting online, please see “Information Concerning Proxy Materials and the Voting of Proxies – How Can I Participate in the 2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting?” on page 57 of the Proxy Statement.

In the event of a technical malfunction or other situation that the meeting chair determines may affect the ability of the meeting to satisfy the requirements for a meeting of stockholders to be held by means of remote communication under the Delaware General Corporation Law, or that otherwise makes it advisable to adjourn the meeting, the chair of the meeting will convene the meeting at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on the date specified above and at the location specified above solely for the purpose of adjourning the meeting to reconvene at a date, time and physical or virtual location announced by the meeting chair. Under either of the foregoing circumstances, we will post information regarding the announcement on the investors page of the company’s website at https://investor.gartner.com.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to Be Held on May 24, 2018:June 3, 2021: We are making this Notice of Annual Meeting, this Proxy Statement and our 20172020 Annual Report available on the Internet atwww.proxyvote.com and mailing copies of these Proxy Materials to certain stockholders on or about April 10, 2018.19, 2021. Stockholders of record at the close of business on March 29, 2018April 8, 2021 are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting.

By Order of the Board of Directors,

Jules Kaufman
Corporate Secretary

Secretary

Stamford, Connecticut

April 10, 201819, 2021

56 Top Gallant Road

Stamford, Connecticut 0690406902

www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/IT2021

PROXY STATEMENT

For the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 24, 2018June 3, 2021

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Annual Meeting and Proposals

The 20172021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Gartner, Inc. will be held on Thursday, May 24, 2018,June 3, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. local time,Eastern Time, for the purposes set forth in the accompanying Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and described in greater detail below. This Proxy Statement and form of proxy, together with our 20172020 Annual Report to Stockholders, are being furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors of proxies to be used at the meeting and any adjournment of the meeting, and are first being made available to our stockholders on or around April 10, 2018.19, 2021. We will refer to your company in this Proxy Statement as “we”, “us”, the “Company” or “Gartner.” The threefour proposals to be considered and acted upon at the Annual Meeting, which are described in more detail in this Proxy Statement, are:

Management does not intend to present any other items of business and is not aware of any matters other than those set forth in this Proxy Statement for action at the 20182021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. However, if any other matters properly come before the Annual Meeting, the persons designated by the Company as proxies may vote the shares of common stock (“Common StockStock”) they represent in their discretion.

The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held in a virtual meeting format only, on the above date and time, via live audio webcast. Stockholders or their legal proxy holders can participate, submit questions, vote, and examine our stockholder list at the Virtual Annual Meeting by visiting Informationwww.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/IT2021 and using a valid control number. For more information about how to attend the Annual Meeting online, please see “Information Concerning Proxy Materials and the Voting of Proxies

– Why is it Important to Vote?

Voting your shares is important to ensure that you have a sayHow Can I Participate in the governance2021 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting?” on page 57 of the Company. Additionally, repeated failure to vote may subject your shares to risk of escheatment. For more information on escheatment laws, please visitwww.investor.gartner.com.Please review the proxy materials and follow the relevant instructionsProxy Statement. As always, we encourage you to vote your shares. We hope you will exercise your rights and fully participate as a stockholder inshares prior to the future of Gartner.Annual Meeting.

Why Did You Receive a Notice Regarding Availability of Proxy Materials?

Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) rules allow companies to furnish proxy materials to their stockholders viaThis document includes forward-looking statements within the Internet. This “e-proxy” process expedites stockholders’ receipt of proxy materials, while significantly lowering the costs and reducing the environmental impact of our annual meeting. Accordingly, on April 10, 2018, we mailed to our stockholders (other than those who previously have requested printed proxy materials) a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”). If you received a Notice, you will not receive a printed copymeaning of the proxy materials unless you request one. The Notice provides instructions on how to accessPrivate Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical or current facts, including statements regarding our proxy materials for the Annual Meeting on a website, how to request a printed copy of the proxy materialsplans and how to vote your shares.goals, made in this document are forward-looking. We will mail printed copies of our proxy materials to those stockholders who have already elected to receive printed proxy materials.

If Your Shares Are Held in “Street Name,” How Are Your Shares Voted?

If you are the beneficial owner of shares (meaning that your shares are held in the name of a bank, brokerage or other nominee; i.e., “street name” accounts), you may receive a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials from that firm containing instructions you must follow in order for your shares to be voted. Additionally, under applicable New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) rules relating to the discretionary voting of proxies, banks, brokers and other nominees are not permitted to vote shares with respect to “non-routine” matters,use words such as the electionanticipates, believes, expects, future, intends, and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of directorsreasons. Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ significantly from management’s expectations are described in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Website references throughout this document are provided for convenience only, and the saycontent on pay proposal presented this year without instructions from the beneficial owner, except they are able to vote without instructions on “routine” matters, such as the ratification of the appointment of an independent registered public accounting firm. Therefore, beneficial holders are advised that, if they do not timely provide instructions to their bank, broker or other nominee, their shares will not be voted in connection with Proposals One and Two, but may be voted in connection with Proposal Three. Generally, broker non-votes occur on a matter when a brokerreferenced websites is not permitted to vote on that matter without instructions from the beneficial owner and instructions are not given.

If You Are the Holder of Record of Your Shares, How Are Your Shares Voted?

If you are the holder of record of your shares, you will either receive a Notice or printed proxy materials if you have already elected to receive printed materials. The Notice will contain instructions you must follow to vote your shares. If you received proxy materials in paper form, the materials include a proxy card instructing the holder of record how to vote the shares.

How Can You Get Electronic Access to Proxy Materials?

The Notice provides instructions regarding how to view our proxy materials for the Annual Meeting online. Additionally, materials are available onwww.proxyvote.comand have available your 12-digit Control number(s) located on your Notice.

How Can You Request Paper or Email Copies of Proxy Materials?

If you received a Noticeincorporated by mail, you will not receive a printed copy of the proxy materials. If you want to receive paper or email copies of the proxy materials, you must request them. There is no charge for requesting a copy. To facilitate timely delivery, please make your request on or before May 10, 2018. To request paper or email copies, stockholders can go to www.proxyvote.com, call 1-800-579-1639 or send an email to sendmaterial@proxyvote.com. Please note that if you request materials by email, send a blank email with your 12-digit Control number(s) (located on your Notice) in the subject line.

How Can You Sign Up to Receive Future Proxy Materials Electronically?

You have the option to receive all future proxy statements, proxy cards and annual reports electronically via email or the Internet. If you electreference into this option, the Company will only mail printed materials to you in the future if you request that we do so. To sign up for electronic delivery, please follow the instructions below underHow Can You Votedocument. to vote using the Internet and vote your shares. After submitting your vote, follow the prompts to sign up for electronic delivery.

What is “Householding”?

We have adopted “householding” procedures that allow us to deliver proxy materials more cost-effectively. If you are a beneficial owner of shares and you and other residents at your mailing address share the same last name and also own shares of common stock in an account at the same bank, brokerage, or other nominee, your nominee delivered a single Notice or set of proxy materials to your address. This method of delivery is known as householding. Householding reduces the number of mailings you receive, saves on printing and postage costs and helps the environment. Stockholders participating in householding continue to receive separate proxy cards and control numbers for voting electronically.

We will deliver promptly a separate copy of the Notice or proxy materials to a stockholder at a shared address to which a single copy was delivered. A stockholder who received a single Notice or set of proxy materials to a shared address may request a separate copy of the Notice or proxy materials be sent to him or her by contacting in writing Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (“Broadridge”), Householding Department at 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, New York, 11717, or calling 1-800-542-1061. If you would like to opt out of householding for future deliveries of proxy materials, please contact your broker, bank or other nominee.

Beneficial owners of shares who share an address and receive multiple copies of the proxy materials but want to receive only a single copy of these materials in the future should contact their bank, brokerage or other nominee and make this request.

Who Can Vote at the Annual Meeting?

Only stockholders of record at the close of business on March 29, 2018 (the “Record Date”) may vote at the Annual Meeting. As of the Record Date, there were 91,040,171 shares of our common stock, par value $.0005 per share (“Common Stock”) outstanding and eligible to be voted. This amount does not include treasury shares which are not voted.

How Can You Vote?

You may vote using one of the following methods:

All shares that have been voted properly by an unrevoked proxy will be voted at the Annual Meeting in accordance with your instructions. If you sign and submit your proxy card, but do not give voting instructions, the shares represented by that proxy will be voted for each proposal as our Board recommends.

How to Revoke Your Proxy or Change Your Vote

A later vote by any means will cancel an earlier vote. You can revoke your proxy or change your vote before your proxy is voted at the Annual Meeting by giving written notice of revocation to: Corporate Secretary, Gartner, Inc., 56 Top Gallant Road, P.O. Box 10212, Stamford, Connecticut 06904-2212; or submitting another timely proxy by the Internet, telephone or mail; or attending the Annual Meeting to vote in person. If your shares are held in the name of a bank, broker or other holder of record, to vote at the Annual Meeting you must obtain a proxy executed in your favor from your bank, broker or other holder of record and bring it to the Annual Meeting in order to vote. Attendance at the Annual Meeting will not, by itself, revoke your prior proxy.

How Many Votes You Have

Each stockholder has one vote for each share of our Common Stock owned on the Record Date for all matters being voted on.

Quorum

A quorum is constituted by the presence, in person or by proxy, of holders of our Common Stock representing a majority of the number of shares of Common Stock entitled to vote. Abstentions and broker non-votes (described above) will be considered present to determine a quorum.

Votes Required

Proposals Two and Three: The affirmative “FOR” vote of a majority of the votes cast is required to approve Proposal Two - the advisory (non-binding) approval of the Company’s executive compensation; and Proposal Three - the ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018. For Proposals Two and Three, abstentions have the same effect as “AGAINST” votes. Broker non-votes, if any, will have no effect on the outcome of these matters.

If any other matters are brought properly before the Annual Meeting, the persons named as proxies in the accompanying proxy card will have the discretion to vote on those matters for you. If for any reason any of the nominees is not available as a candidate for director at the Annual Meeting, the persons named as proxies will vote your proxy for such other candidate or candidates as may be nominated by the Board of Directors. As of the date of this Proxy Statement, we were unaware of any other matter to be raised at the Annual Meeting.

What Are the Recommendations of the Board?

The Board of Directors recommends that you vote:

Who Is Distributing Proxy Materials and Bearing the Cost of the Solicitation?

This solicitation of proxies is being made by the Board of Directors and we will bear the entire cost of this solicitation, including costs associated with mailing the Notice and related Internet access to proxy materials, the preparation, assembly, printing, and mailing of this Proxy Statement, the proxy card, and any additional solicitation material that we may provide to stockholders. Gartner will request brokerage firms, fiduciaries and custodians holding shares in their names that are beneficially owned by others to solicit proxies from these persons and will pay the costs associated with such activities. The original solicitation of proxies may be supplemented by solicitation by telephone, electronic mail and other means by our directors, officers and employees. No additional compensation will be paid to these individuals for any such services. We have also retained Georgeson LLC to assist with the solicitation of proxies at an anticipated cost of $6,500, which will be paid by the Company.

Where can I find the voting results of the Annual Meeting?

We will disclose voting results on a Form 8-K that will be filed with the SEC within four business days after the Annual Meeting, which will also be available on our investor relations website –www.investor.gartner.com.

Who Can Answer Your Questions?

If you have questions about this Proxy Statement or the Annual Meeting, please call our Investor Relations Department at (203) 316-6537.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

General Information about our Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors of Gartner, Inc. (the “Board”) currently has eleventen directors who serve for annual terms. Our CEO, Eugene A. Hall, has an employment agreement with the Company that obligates the Company to include him on the slate of nominees to be elected to our Board during the term of the agreement. SeeExecutive Compensation – Certain Employment Agreements with Executive Officers – Mr. Hall below. There are no other arrangements between any director or nominee and any other person pursuant to which the director or nominee was selected. None of our directors or executive officers is related to another director or executive officer by blood, marriage or adoption.

Each member of our Board has been nominated for re-election at the 20182021 Annual Meeting. SeeProposal One – Election of Directors on page 15. In October 2017, Eileen Serra was appointed to the Board for a term expiring at the 2018 Annual Meeting and has been recommended for election. Set forth below are the name, age, principal occupation for the last five years, public company board experience, selected additional biographical information and period of service as a director of the Company of each director, as well as a summary of each director’s experience, qualifications and background which, among other factors, support their respective qualifications to continue to serve on our Board.

Director Skills, Experience and Expertise

The matrix below summarizes what our Board believes are desirable types of experience, qualifications, attributes and skills possessed by one or more of Gartner’s directors, because of their particular relevance to the Company’s business and structure. The following matrix does not encompass all the experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of our directors.

Majority Vote Standard

The Company has adopted a majority vote standard for the election of directors which provides that a nominee must receive more FOR votes than AGAINST votes for election as a director. Should a nominee fail to achieve this threshold, the nominee must immediately tender his or her resignation to the Chairman. The Board, in its discretion, can determine whether or not to accept the resignation.

Compensation of Directors

The Compensation Committee, in consultation with the Governance Committee, reviews all forms of independent director compensation and recommendsapproves changes, when appropriate. The Compensation and Governance Committees

are supported in this review by Exequity, LLP. The review examines director compensation in relation to two comparator groups: Peer Group and General Industry Reference Group. The Peer Group includes the same companies used to benchmark executive pay. The General Industry Reference Group includes 100 companies with median revenues similar to that of Gartner. Regular review of the director compensation program ensures that the director compensation is reasonable and reflects a mainstream approach to the structure of the compensation components and the method of delivery. Director compensation is primarily reviewed in relation to the Peer Group. Gartner last raised directorDirector compensation in 2013; all pay elements were increased at that time2020 was determined to close an identified shortfall fromapproximate the median. Based on the director compensation review conducted in January 2018, Gartner’s director compensation trailedmedian of the Peer Group’s 25th percentile. As a result, an increase in the director annual equity grant from $200,000 to $240,000 was approved, effectiveGroup, and as of the 2018 Annual Meeting. An increase in equity compensation was the only changesuch, no changes were made to director compensation in following with Gartner’s philosophy to provide more value in equity compensation than cash.compensation. The section that follows describes the current director compensation program and components after this change.

components.

Directors who are also employees receive no fees for their services as directors. Non-management directors are reimbursed for their meeting attendance expenses and receive the following compensation for their service as director:

After analysis and recommendation by the Governance Committee, the Board determined that:

Board Leadership Structure

The leadership of our Board of Directors rests with our independent Chairman of the Board, Mr. James C. Smith. Gartner believes that the separation of functions between the CEO and Chairman of the Board provides independent leadership of the Board in the exercise of its management oversight responsibilities, increases the accountability of the CEO and creates transparency intoin the relationship among executive management, the Board of Directors and the stockholders. Additionally, in view of Mr. Smith’s extensive experience as a chief executive officer of a major corporation, he is able to provide an independent point of view to our CEO on important management and operational issues.

Risk Oversight

The Board of Directors, together with management, oversees risk (including cybersecurity risk) at Gartner. The Company’s strategic objectives and activities are presented by executive management to the Board and approved annually and more frequently as necessary. The Audit Committee regularlyBoard receives quarterly updates on cybersecurity matters from the Company’s Chief Information OfficerOfficer. In addition, the Board of Directors annually reviews Gartner’s approach and discusses issues identified at its meetings.

progress on ESG matters. The Risk (Internal Audit) function reports directly to the Audit Committee and provides quarterly reports to the committee. The committee reviews the results of the internal audit annual risk assessment and the proposed internal audit plan. Subsequent quarterly meetings include an update on ongoing internal audit activities, including results of audits and any changes to the audit plan. Risk also meets with the Audit Committee in executive session on a quarterly basis.

The General Counsel, who serves as Chief Compliance Officer, also reports directly to the Audit Committee on a quarterly basis concerning the effectiveness and status of the Company’s legal and ethical compliance program and initiatives, hotline activities and litigation matters.

The Company maintains internal controls and procedures over financial reporting, as well as enterprise wide internal controls, which are updated and tested annually by management and our independent registered public accounting firm. Any internal control deficiencies and the status of remediation efforts as well as any findings of the Disclosure Controls Committee are reported to the Audit Committee on a quarterly basis.

COVID-19 Risk Oversight

Our Board has been actively overseeing the Company’s critical work in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including regular updates from and discussions with the Company’s executives on the impact to the Company’s associates, operations and clients. The Board’s review and discussion around this ongoing crisis spans a broad

range of matters, including protecting the health and safety of our employees and clients, providing COVID-related research to our clients and evaluating the impact of the pandemic on strategy, operations, liquidity and financial matters. This Board oversight also included additional Board meetings and COVID updates at regular meetings.

Risk Assessment of Compensation Policies and Practices

Management conducts an annual risk assessment of the Company’s compensation policies and practices, including all executive, non-executive and business unit compensation policies and practices, as well as the variable compensation policies applicable to our global sales force. The results of this assessment are reported to the Compensation Committee. In 2017,For 2020, management concluded, and the Compensation Committee agreed, that no Company compensation policies and practices created risks that were reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Management Succession Planning

Succession planning is one of the Board’s most critical functions—to develop leaders who will successfully build the Company’s business. The Board and its Committees regularly review and discuss management development and succession plans for the Chief Executive Officer and his direct reports. This review includes an assessment of senior executives and their potential as successor to the Chief Executive Officer.

Human Capital Management

Further, the Board and its Committees review and discuss with management matters related to human capital management, including our commitments and progress on inclusion and diversity and employee engagement. During 2020, the Board and its Committees also reviewed and discussed with management the impact of COVID-19 on Gartner’s employees, clients, and business, and management’s strategies and initiatives designed to protect the health and safety of our employees, clients and the communities in which we operate.

Board and Committee Meetings and Annual Meeting Attendance

Our Board held seveneight meetings during 2017.in 2020. During 2017,2020, all of our directors attended at least 75% of the Board and committee meetings held during the periods in which such director served as a director and/or committee member. At each regular quarterly Board and committee meeting, time is set aside for the non-management directors to meet in executive session without management present. Mr. James C. Smith, our non-executive Chairman of the Board, presides over the executive sessions at the Board meetings, and each committee chairperson presides over the executive sessions at their respective committee meetings. Directors are not required, but are invited, to attend the Annual Meeting of Stockholders. In 2017,2020, Mr. Hall and other executive officers of the Company attended the 20172020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The Compensation Committee has assessed the independence of Exequity and has concluded that Exequity is independent and that its retention presents no conflicts of interest either to the Committee or the Company.

Final decisions with respect to determining the amount or form of executive compensation under the Company’s executive compensation programs are made by the Compensation Committee alone and may reflect factors and considerations other than the information and advice provided by its consultants. Please refer to theCompensation Discussion & Analysis beginning on page 1718 for a more detailed discussion of the Compensation Committee’s activities with respect to executive compensation.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation. During 2017,2020, no member of the Compensation Committee served as an officer or employee of the Company, was formerly an officer of the Company or had any

relationship with the Company required to be disclosed underTransactions Withwith Related Persons below. Additionally, during 2017,2020, no executive officer of the Company: (i) served as a member of the compensation committee (or full board in the absence of such a committee) or as a director of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our Compensation Committee; or (ii) served as a member of the compensation committee (or full board in the absence of such a committee) of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our Board.

Governance/Nominating Committee

While the Governance Committee has not specified minimum qualifications for candidates it recommends, it will consider the qualifications, skills, expertise, qualities, diversity, age, gender, availability and experience of all candidates that are presented for consideration. At the present time, three of our eleventen directors are women.women, and one of our ten directors identifies as a racial/ethnic minority. The Board utilizes a concept of diversity that extends beyond race, gender and national origin to encompass the viewpoints, professional experience and other individual qualities and attributes of candidates that will enable the Board to select candidates who are best able to carry out the Board’s responsibilities and complement the mix of talent and experience represented on the Board. In connection with its annual evaluation, the Board considers the appropriateness of the qualifications of existing directors given then current needs.

Candidates for Board nomination may be brought to the attention of the Governance Committee by current Board members, management, stockholders or other persons. All potential new candidates are fully evaluated by the Governance Committee using the criteria described above, and then considered by the entire Board for nomination. The appointment of Ms. Serra to the Board resulted from a search, led by members of the Governance Committee, to identify a potential independent candidate who also satisfied certain other criteria for Board membership discussed above. The Committee received suggestions from a variety of sources, including a third-party search firm.

Director Candidates submitted by Stockholders: Stockholders wishing to recommend director candidates for consideration by the Governance Committee may do so by writing to the Chairman of the Governance/Nominating Committee, c/o Corporate Secretary, Gartner, Inc., 56 Top Gallant Road, P.O. Box 10212, Stamford, CT 06904-2212, and indicating the recommended candidate’s name, biographical data, professional experience and any other qualifications. In addition, stockholders wishing to propose candidates for election must follow our advance notice provisions. SeeProcess for Submission of Stockholder Proposals for our 20192022 Annual Meeting on page 52.61.

Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct

Gartner has adopted a CEO & CFO Code of Ethics which applies to our CEO, CFO, controller and other financial managers, and a Global Code of Conduct, which applies to all Gartner officers, directors and employees, wherever located. Annually, each officer, director and employee affirms compliance with the Global Code of Conduct. SeeMiscellaneous—Proxy and Voting Information—Available Information below.

Our resultsConferences business had great momentum coming out of 2019, but, because it relied on these two main objectives were strong. In fact,in-person events, was hard hit in 2020 by the global pandemic. To replace our traditional in-person conferences, we exceeded both objectives:pivoted to virtual conferences. With several months’ experience under our belt, we believe we have developed a set of best practices that we will continue to refine. Beyond virtual conferences, operationally, we are preparing to return to in-person conferences in the second half of 2021.

In addition, heritage CEB contract value grew nearly 2% in 2017, faster than in recent years, and wallet retention improvedOur Consulting business was also impacted by six percentage points, a remarkable improvement in a single year.

In parallel, the heritage Gartner subscription-based research segment grew at an accelerated pace of more than 15%pandemic, with revenues down 4% for 2020 on an FX neutral basis. Overall,Over the past several years, we have made great progress in our abilityConsulting business and we believe it will continue to closeserve as an important complement to our IT Research business.

Due to a combination of improving top-line growth in the second half of 2020 and integrate a substantial acquisition,strong focus on cost control measures, we generated significant EBITDA and free cash flow in 2020. We accomplished these strong results while also maintaining our investment in our most important asset, our people. We fully funded our non-executive bonus plan and we invested in enhanced sales performance incentives to keep our sales teams motivated and engaged during an otherwise challenging year. While we had made the difficult decision to pause certain critical employee benefits at the same time maintaining focusoutset of the pandemic, including our 401(k) company match, we reinstated these benefits at the end of the year, including a retro-active reinstatement of the 401(k) match.

Our strategy has always been to create an environment where our associates are empowered to thrive and accelerating growthreach their full potential. We win as a team. Like any team, we cannot realize our full potential unless our associates reflect a wide range of skills, experience and backgrounds. We embrace diversity and actively work to create a culture of inclusion, belonging, well-being and growth. In 2020, we continued to strengthen our heritagestance against racism and discrimination. We appointed a new leader of diversity, equity and inclusion. We also established a Center of Excellence dedicated to improving in this area, and we strengthened our employee resource groups, which helped remove barriers for diverse populations and supported associate engagement.

Sustainability is an important factor in how we manage our business. For example, we have signed contracts for our Stamford headquarters and our UK hub to be powered by 100% renewable energy. We will be eliminating single-use plastics across our offices. We are also benchmarking our environmental footprint and development programs to minimize it over time.

Overall, despite the negative effect of COVID-19 on the economy, we are proud that we were able to continue with our product innovation programs, grow our subscription-based research business, was extraordinary.and maintain our investment in our associates. All of this has helped to position us for a strong 2021 performance year, and we expect to return to double-digit Contract Value growth over time.

Contract Value–A Unique Key Performance Metric for Gartner

Unique to Gartner, Contract ValueCV is oursingle most important performance metric. It focuses all of our executives on driving bothshort-term andactions that result in long-term success for our business and stockholders. We believe that CV growth is our best, most informed and leading indicator of long-term Research revenue growth.

Comparing CV year over year measures the short-term growthOur Research business comprised 88% of our business. More importantly, CVoverall revenue in 2020 (79% in 2019) and is also an appropriate measure of long–term performance due to the natureour highest contribution margin business (72% for 2020 and 70% for 2019). Further, many of our Research subscription business. Our Research business iscontracts are multi-year agreements, and our largest business segment (75% of 2017 gross revenues) with our highest contribution margins (67% for 2017). Our Research enterprise client retention and retained contract value (or wallet retention) are consistently very high. The combination of annual contracts and high renewal rates areAs a result, CV is predictive of revenuehighly likely to recur over a 3 – 5 year period.

The acquisition, and a high CV growth rate translates to high, long-term revenue and profit growth. In addition, many of CEB does not change this focus onour clients pay us upfront when they purchase our research subscription services, which drives strong cash flow. For all these reasons, the Board believes that CV but rather reinforces its importance.

growth, which translates to Research revenue growth, is the most important driver of the Company’s profit growth.

Accordingly, growing CV drives bothshort-termandlong-term corporate performance and shareholderstockholder value. As such, all Gartner executives and associates are focused at all times on growing CV. This, coupled with the fact that our investors are also focused on this metric, ensures that we are aligned on the long-term success of the Company.

Our strong results have fuelled stock price growth which lead comparison groups as shown below.

Key Attributes of our Executive Compensation Program – Pay for Performance

How the Company Determines Executive Compensation

In General

TheIn planning 2020 executive compensation, the Company set aggressive performance goals based on the macroeconomic conditions in planning 2017 executive compensation. In order forearly 2020. We established our executives to earn target compensation,plan targets before the onset of the pandemic. At that time, we believed that the overall economy would grow in 2020 and that Gartner would grow at a rate that would exceed market norms. Our plan targets assumed that the Company neededwould need to exceed double digit growth in two key performance metrics in order to earn target compensation, as discussed below.

The Compensation Committee established performance objectives for short-term (bonus) and long-term (equity) incentive awards at levels that it believed would motivate performance and be adequately challenging.

The targetCompensation Committee believes that using a one-year performance objectives were intended to compelperiod for our long-term incentive awards helps accelerate growth and sustain performance. If we have a strong year, the levelgoals for the following year are established on top of the high bar that was already set. If we had a three-year performance necessary to enableperiod and the Company overachieved in the first year, the bar would be set lower in years 2 and 3 and might demotivate our executives. A three-year performance period may also be less aggressive if business cycle risks are factored into long-term goals, while a one-year performance period allows us more readily to achieve its operating planfactor in changes in market conditions, including, for 2017.example, an unexpected shift in the economy resulting from a pandemic.

As in prior years, theThe short-term and long-term incentive compensation elements providedobjectives provide executives with opportunitiesan opportunity to increase their total compensation package based upon the over-achievement of corporate performance objectives;Company performance; similarly, in the case of under-achievement of corporate performance, objectives, the value of these incentive elements wouldawards will fall below their target value, (withdecreasing the possibility of total forfeiture of the short-term element and 70% of the long-term element), and total compensation would decrease correspondingly. We assignedopportunity. In addition, we assign a greater weightweighting to the long-term incentive compensation element, as compared to the salary andincentives than short-term elements,awards in order to promote long-term decision-making that wouldto deliver top corporate performance, align management to stockholder interests and retain executives. We believe that long-term equity-based awards with vesting terms that are based on the achievement of pre-set financial targets serve as a strong retention incentive.

Determining Awards

Salary, short-term and long-term incentive compensation levels for executive officers (other than the CEO) are recommended by the CEO and are subject to approval by the Compensation Committee. In formulating his recommendation to the Compensation Committee, the CEO undertakes a performance review of these executives and considers input from human resources personnel at the Company, as well as benchmarking data from the compensation consultant and external market data (discussed below).

Salary, short-term and long-term incentive compensation levels for the CEO’s compensation are established by the Compensation Committee within the parameters of Mr. Hall’s employment agreement with the Company. In making its determination with respect to Mr. Hall’s compensation, the Compensation Committee evaluates his performance in conjunction with the Governance Committee and after soliciting additional input from the Chairman of the Board and other directors; considers input from the Committee’s compensation consultant; and reviews benchmarking data pertaining to CEO compensation practices at our peer companies and general trends. SeeCertain Employment Agreements with Executive Officers – Mr. Hall below for a detailed discussion of Mr. Hall’s agreement.

Effect of Stockholder Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation, or Say on Pay

The Board has resolved to present Say on Pay proposals to stockholders on an annual basis, respecting the sentiment of our stockholders as expressed in 2017. The Company and the Compensation Committee will consider the results on this year’s advisory Say on Pay proposal in future executive compensation planning activities. Over the past several years, stockholders have consistently strongly supported our executive compensation program. As such, no specific changes were made to the compensation program as a result of the 2017 Say of Pay vote.

Benchmarking and Peer Group

Executive compensation planning for 20172020 began mid-year in 2016. Our2019. The Compensation Committee commissioned Exequity, an independent compensation consultant, to perform a competitive analysis of our executive compensation practices (the “Compensation Study”). Exequity’s findings were considered byapproved the Compensation Committee and by management in planning our 2017 executive compensation program. The Compensation Study utilized market data provided by Aon Hewitt pertaining to compensation paid to individuals occupying senior executive positions at Gartner’s selected peer group of companies to be used for executive compensation benchmarking purposes and other relevant analyses (the “Peer Group”), for pay decisions effective as of January 1, 2017.

for 2020.

The Compensation Committee reviews the Peer Group annually to ensure comparability based on Gartner’s operating characteristics, labor market relevance and defensibility. The 2017 competitive analysis compared Gartner’s target compensationrevenue scope. In 2019, the Compensation Committee added five new companies to the 2020 Peer Group.Group in recognition of Gartner’s enhanced capabilities and revenues, while two of the companies were eliminated because they had been acquired. The Peer Group comprised 1719 publicly-traded companies that resemble Gartner in size (in terms of revenues and number of employees), have a similar business model and with whom Gartner competes

for executive talent. GartnerGartner’s revenue ranked at the 43rd50^th percentile in revenues relative to the Peer Group.

The Peer Group companies included: