New Directors
Generally, once a need to add a new member to the Board of Directors is identified, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will initiate a search by working with staff support, seeking input from members of the Board of Directors and senior management, and hiring a consultant or search firm, if necessary.
After a slate of possible candidates is identified, certain members of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, other members of the Board of Directors, and senior management have the opportunity to interview the prospective candidate(s). The remaining members of the Board of Directors who do not interview the prospective candidate(s) are kept informed. After completing its selection process, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee ultimately determines and recommends the best candidate(s) for approval by the full Board of Directors.
A description of the procedure to be followed by security holders in submitting director recommendations is set forth in the “Shareholder Recommendations for Membership on our Board of Directors” in this Amendment. The director candidate selection criteria will be equally applied to both continuing directors and shareholder-submitted director candidates.
Director Compensation
Our Compensation Committee periodically seeks input from independent compensation consultants on a range of external market factors, including evolving compensation trends, appropriate peer companies, and market survey data. The Compensation Committee reviews non-employee director compensation every two years. In August 2023, our Compensation Committee retained Semler Brossy Consulting Group (“Semler Brossy”) to conduct a review and analysis of the non-employee director compensation program to be considered by the Compensation Committee in establishing the 2024 compensation review cycle remuneration levels for our non-employee directors.
The 2023 compensation described below was approved by the Board of Directors based on the previous compensation consultant, Pearl Meyer & Partners, LLC’s (“Pearl Meyer”) analysis and recommendations of the Compensation Committee. For a more complete description of the methodologies used by our compensation consultants and the Compensation Committee, please refer to “Compensation Consultant and Peer Group Selection” in this Amendment.
For 2023, each non-employee director of the Company was compensated for his or her services as a director with an annual retainer of $85,000. In addition to the annual retainers, the Chairs of the Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee received additional annual retainers of $75,000, $25,000, $18,500, and $10,000, respectively. Each other member of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee received annual retainers of $10,000, $7,500, and $5,500, respectively. Members of the Board of Directors do not receive additional compensation for attending Board or committee meetings. All non-employee directors are reimbursed for expenses incurred in connection with attending Board of Directors or committee meetings. Mr. Hanna received no additional compensation for his service as a director. These annual retainers are included in the “2023 Non-Employee Director Compensation Table” below.
For fiscal year 2024, based on Semler Brossy’s November 2023 analysis, the Compensation Committee recommended, and the Board of Directors approved, no increase to the non-employee director annual retainer. For fiscal year 2024, each non-employee director of the Company will receive an annual retainer of $85,000. In addition, to the annual retainer the Chairs of the Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will receive additional annual retainers of $75,000, $25,000, $18,500, and $10,000, respectively. Each other member of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee will receive annual retainers of $10,000, $7,500, and $5,500, respectively. Any non-employee director not serving on the Board of Directors for the full calendar year will receive prorated compensation based on that portion of the year in which he or she served. Mr. Hanna will not receive any additional compensation for his services as a director.
In addition to cash compensation, each of the non-employee directors of the Company has historically received an annual Restricted Stock Unit (“RSU”) equity grant denominated as a fair value and then converted to shares rounded to the nearest 100 at the date of grant. Based on Pearl Meyer’s analysis conducted in 2022, the Compensation Committee recommended, and the Board of Directors approved, the fair value of the 2023 equity grant of approximately $120,000. On February 24, 2023, the Board of Directors granted each non-employee director RSUs under the 2016 Plan 1,200 shares of the Company’s Common Stock with a vesting date of April 1, 2024. Each of these grants represented an equivalent total equity compensation of $125,112, based on the NASDAQ Stock Market close price of $104.26 on February 24, 2023. The total equity compensation values can fluctuate slightly each year due to rounding. These 2023 RSU grants are included in the “2023 Non-Employee Director Compensation Table” in this Amendment.
Based on Semler Brossy’s analysis, the Compensation Committee recommended, and the Board of Directors approved, no change to the fair value of the 2024 equity grant of approximately $120,000. On February 23, 2024, the Board of Directors granted each non-employee director RSUs under the 2016 Plan 1,000 shares of the Company’s common stock with a vesting date of April 1, 2025. Each of these grants represented an equivalent total equity compensation of $124,900, based on the NASDAQ Stock Market closing price of $124.90 on February 23, 2024. The total equity compensation values can fluctuate slightly each year due to rounding.
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