EXHIBIT 99.4
GOVERNANCE AND NOMINATING COMMITTEE CHARTER
The ServiceMaster Company
(as adopted by the Board of Directors on July 19, 2002,
revised October 24, 2003)
The Board of Directors of the Company has considered and approved this Charter
in order to set forth the purpose, membership requirements, duties and
responsibilities of the Governance and Nominating Committee.
Purpose and Responsibilities
The purpose and responsibilities of the Committee are to (1) develop and
recommend to the Board a set of corporate governance principles applicable to
the Company, (2) identify individuals qualified to become Board members,
consistent with criteria approved by the Board, and to select, or to recommend
that the Board select, the director nominees for the next annual meeting of
shareholders and (3) oversee the evaluation of the Board and management.
Number of Members and Independence Requirements
The members of the Committee are nominated and appointed as provided in the
Bylaws and this Charter. The Committee shall have at least three directors.
After considering the recommendation of the Committee, the Board will designate
one person to serve as Chairman of the Committee.
In accordance with the New York Stock Exchange listing standards, no Committee
member may:
(1) have a material relationship with the Company (as affirmatively
determined by the Board), either directly or indirectly as a partner,
shareholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with
the Company; provided, that a director will not be considered to have
a material relationship with the Company if (i) the director is a
partner, principal, counsel or advisor to, shareholder, director or
officer of another company that does business with the Company and the
annual sales to, or purchases from, the Company are less than 1% of
the annual revenues of the other company and the director does not
receive any compensation (paid, deferred or otherwise) as a direct
result of such business with the Company and (ii) the director is an
officer, director or trustee of a charitable organization, and the
Company's discretionary charitable contributions to the organization
are less than 1% (and no more than $50,000) of that organization's
total annual charitable receipts (the Company's automatic matching of
employee charitable contributions will not be included in the amount
of the Company's contributions for this purpose); provided, further,
that a director will be considered to have a material relationship
with the Company if the director is an officer of another company that
is not a charitable organization and any of the Company's present
executives serves on that other company's board of directors;
(2) be an employee, or have an immediate family member who is an executive
officer, of the Company;
(3) receive, or have an immediate family member who receives, more than
$100,000 per year in direct compensation from the Company, other than
director and committee fees and pension or other forms of deferred
compensation for prior service (provided such compensation is not
contingent in any way on continued service);
(4) be affiliated with or employed by, or have an immediate family member
who is affiliated with or employed in a professional capacity by, a
present or former internal or external auditor of the Company;
(5) be employed, or have an immediate family member who is employed, as an
executive officer of another company where any of the Company's
present executives serve on that other company's compensation
committee; or
(6) be an executive officer or an employee, or have an immediate family
member who is an executive officer, of a company that makes payments
to, or receives payments from, the Company for property or services in
an amount which, in any single fiscal year, exceeds the greater of $1
million, or 2% of such other company's consolidated gross revenues.
An immediate family member includes a director's spouse, parents, children,
siblings, mothers and fathers-in-law, sons and daughters-in-law, brothers and
sisters-in-law and anyone (other than domestic employees) who shares the
director's home.
No Committee member will be considered independent until a period of three years
(or any shorter period provided under the New York Stock Exchange listing
standards) has elapsed from the end of the relationships described in
subsections (2)-(6) above.
The Company will disclose in its proxy statement the Board's determinations
regarding the independence of each Committee member.
Process for Considering Director Candidates Recommended by Shareholders
As set forth in Section 4.5 of the Bylaws, only qualified candidates may be
elected to the Board. The Committee will review the nomination by a shareholder
of the Company of a qualified candidate for election to the Board if all of the
requirements set forth in Section 4.5 of the Bylaws are satisfied. Section 4.5
of the Bylaws is attached as Exhibit A to this Charter.
Meetings
The Committee will meet at least four times annually, or more frequently as
circumstances may warrant. Generally, and as appropriate, the Committee will
meet with, and receive reports from management. The Committee may hold executive
sessions without management to discuss any matters that the Committee believes
should be discussed privately.
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Duties
The Committee has the following duties:
1. develop and recommend to the Board a set of corporate governance
principles applicable to the Company, and periodically review the
adequacy of such principles;
2. recommend to the Board guidelines and criteria to determine the
qualifications to serve and continue to serve as a director;
3. identify and review the qualifications of, and recommend to the Board,
(i) individuals to be nominated by the Board for election to the Board
by shareholders at each annual meeting of shareholders and (ii)
individuals to be elected to any vacancy on the Board which shall
occur for any reason;
4. review the nomination by a shareholder of the Company of a qualified
candidate for election to the Board if such nomination is submitted
within the time limits and in the manner prescribed in this Charter
and the Bylaws;
5. recommend to the Board appointments to committees of the Board;
6. periodically review the size, composition and organization of the
Board and its committees and recommend policies, changes or other
action it deems necessary or appropriate, including recommendations to
the Board regarding retirement age, resignation or removal of a
director, stock ownership guidelines, independence requirements,
frequency of Board meetings and terms of directors;
7. oversee the evaluation of the performance of the Board, its committees
and of members of the Board who are not employees of the Company;
8. review other corporate governance and similar matters relevant to the
Company, including, without limitation, the Charters of other
committees of the Board and the independence of directors, and
recommend policies, changes or other action it deems necessary or
appropriate;
9. review the Company's charitable contributions budget;
10. review and periodically assess the adequacy of the Company's code of
conduct, including compliance with (i) the New York Stock Exchange
listing standards which requires a code of conduct for the Board,
officers and employees that addresses (1) conflicts of interest; (2)
corporate opportunities; (3) confidentiality; (4) fair dealing; (5)
protection and proper use of Company assets; (6) compliance with laws,
rules, and regulations (including insider trading laws); and (7)
encouraging the reporting of any illegal or unethical behavior and
(ii) Item 406 of Regulation S-K which requires the disclosure of
whether the Company has adopted a code of conduct that applies to the
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Controller or
persons performing
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similar functions that addresses (1) honest and
ethical conduct; (2) full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable
disclosure in Securities and Exchange Commission reports and other
public communications; (3) compliance with applicable governmental
laws, rules and regulations; (4) prompt internal reporting of any
violation of the code of conduct to an appropriate person identified
in the code of conduct; and (5) accountability for adherence to the
code of conduct;
11. review transactions or arrangements (financial or otherwise) between
the Company and one or more directors or corporate officers, other
than compensation decisions, and make recommendations to the Board
with respect thereto;
12. engage independent counsel and other advisers, as it determines
necessary or appropriate to carry out its duties;
13. the Committee has sole authority to retain and terminate any search
firm to be used to identify director candidates, including sole
authority to approve the search firm's fees and other retention terms;
14. evaluate the Committee's performance at least annually;
15. make regular reports to the Board regarding its activities;
16. determine through its Chairman the agenda of its meetings;
17. periodically review the adequacy of this Charter and submit this
Charter to the Board for its approval; and
18. perform any other activities consistent with this Charter, the
Company's Bylaws and applicable laws as the Committee or Board deems
necessary or appropriate.
The Committee shall have the authority to delegate any of its responsibilities
to subcommittees as the Committee deems appropriate.
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EXHIBIT A
Section 4.5 Election of Directors by Stockholders.
(a) Election by Plurality Vote. Qualified candidates (as hereinafter
defined) for election as directors at any meeting of the stockholders of the
Company shall be elected by plurality vote. Accordingly, if votes are cast for
more individuals than the number of positions to be filled at that meeting, then
a qualified candidate shall be deemed elected to one of those positions if the
number of qualified candidates who received more votes than that individual are
less than the number of positions on the Board which are to be filled at that
meeting. (For example, if five positions on the Board were up for election at
any particular stockholders meeting, then the five qualified candidates who
receive more votes than any other qualified candidates shall be deemed elected
at that meeting). Without limiting by implication the generality of the
preceding provision, it shall not be necessary for election to the Board that a
candidate receive a majority of the votes comprising the quorum for the meeting
so long as the individual receives a number of votes sufficient for election
under the terms of this paragraph (a).
(b) Number of Votes Cast by a Stockholder. Each stockholder shall be
entitled to cast with respect to each position on the Board to be elected by
stockholders at that meeting a number of votes attributable to the record shares
in the common voting class held of record by that stockholder at the relevant
record date and such stockholder may distribute those votes among qualified
candidates for election to that position in such manner as such stockholder may
wish.
(c) No Cumulative Voting. Voting for directors shall not be cumulative.
Accordingly, the maximum number of votes a stockholder shall be entitled to cast
for any particular qualified candidate shall not exceed the number of votes
attributable to the record shares in the common voting class held of record by
that stockholder at the relevant record date.
(d) Effective Voting Limited to Qualified Candidates. Only qualified
candidates may be elected to the Board at any particular stockholders meeting.
Votes cast in favor of an individual who is not a qualified candidate shall not
be effective to elect that individual to the Board regardless of whether (i)
that individual receives a greater number of votes than qualified candidates who
are elected to the Board under the preceding provisions of this section or (ii)
no other individual receives any votes at that meeting (which might be the case
if an individual were proposed for election to a vacant position on the Board at
a special meeting which was not called by the Board for the purpose of electing
directors or for which no qualified candidate was nominated).
(e) Identification of Qualified Candidates. An individual shall be deemed a
qualified candidate for election to the Board at any particular stockholders
meeting if that individual (i) is younger than age 70 at the date he or she is
to be elected and (ii) shall have been nominated for election by the Board or
shall have been nominated for election in a manner which satisfies all of the
requirements specified in paragraph (g) of this Section 4.5.
(f) Status of Non-Independent Candidates. As used in this paragraph (f),
the term "non-independent candidate" as applied to any particular election of
directors means an individual
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who satisfies the conditions of clauses (i) and
(ii) of paragraph (e) above but who is not an "independent director" under the
standard prescribed in Section 7.5.2 of the Certificate of Incorporation. In the
event that in any particular election of directors Section 7.5.1 of the
Certificate of Incorporation would permit some but not all of the
non-independent candidates for director at that election to be elected to the
Board, then paragraph (d) of this Section 4.5 shall be applied to fill positions
on the Board as if all of the non-independent candidates were qualified
candidates until all positions available for non-independent candidates at that
election under Section 7.5.1 of the Certificate of Incorporation are filled. The
remaining non-independent candidates shall, in accordance paragraph (d) of this
Section 4.5, be deemed to be not qualified candidates.
(g) Candidates Not Nominated by the Board. In order for an individual not
nominated by the Board to be a "qualified candidate" for election to the Board
at any particular meeting of stockholders, all of the following requirements
must be satisfied:
(1) The nomination must be made for an election to be held at an annual
meeting of stockholders or a special meeting of stockholders in which
the Board has determined that candidates will be elected by the common
voting class to one or more positions on the Board;
(2) The individual must be nominated by a stockholder who shall be the
record owner on the record date for that meeting and at that meeting
of shares entitled to be voted at that meeting for the election of
directors (a "nominating stockholder");
(3) The nominating stockholder must deliver a timely written nomination
notice to the office of the Company's Corporate Secretary at the
Company's principal executive office which provides the information
required by these Bylaws;
(4) To be timely for an annual meeting, a stockholder's notice must be
actually delivered to the Corporate Secretary's office not later than
the close of business on the 75th day nor earlier than the close of
business on the 105th day prior to the first anniversary of the
preceding year's annual meeting; provided, however, that:
(i) if the date of the annual meeting is more than 30 days
before or more than 60 days after such anniversary date,
notice by the stockholder to be timely must be so delivered
not earlier than the close of business on the 105th day
prior to such annual meeting and not later than the close of
business on the later of the 75th day prior to such annual
meeting or the 10th day following the day on which public
announcement of the date of such meeting is first made by
the Company, and
(ii) if the number of directors to be elected to the Board is
increased and there in no public announcement by the Company
naming all of the nominees for director or specifying the
size of the increased Board at least 115 days prior to the
first anniversary of the preceding year's annual meeting, a
stockholder's nominating notice required by this Bylaw shall
also be
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considered timely, but only with respect to nominees
for any new positions created by such increase, if (x) the
stockholder shall have nominated candidates in accordance
with the requirements in these Bylaws for all Board
positions not covered by such increase and (y) the
nomination notice for candidates to fill the expanded
positions shall be actually delivered to the Corporate
Secretary at the Company's principal executive office not
later than the close of business on the 10th day following
the day on which such public announcement is first made by
Company;
(5) If the election is to be held at a special stockholders meeting, a
stockholder's nominating notice required by this Bylaw shall be
considered timely for that meeting if it shall be actually delivered
to the Corporate Secretary's office at the Company's principal
executive office not later than the close of business on the 10th day
following the day on which the Company shall first publicly announce
the date of the special meeting and that a vote by stockholders will
be taken at that meeting to elect a director or directors;
(6) In no event shall the public announcement of an adjournment of an
annual meeting commence a new time period for the giving of a
stockholder's notice as described above. For purposes of these Bylaws,
"public announcement" shall mean disclosure in a press release
reported by the Dow Jones News Service, Associated Press or comparable
national news service or in a document publicly filed by the Company
with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Section 13, 14
or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;
(7) Such stockholder's nomination notice shall --
(i) set forth as to each person whom the stockholder proposes to
nominate for election or re-election as a director all
information relating to such person that is required to be
disclosed in solicitations of proxies for election of
directors in an election contest, or is otherwise required,
in each case pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange
Act and Rule 14a-11 thereunder;
(ii) be accompanied by each nominee's written consent to being
named in the proxy statement as a nominee and to serving as
a director if elected;
(iii)set forth the name and address of the stockholder giving
the notice and the beneficial owner of the shares owned of
record by the beneficial owner, and the telephone number at
which the Company will be able to reach the stockholder, the
beneficial owner and each nominee during usual business
hours during the period through the meeting at which the
nomination is to take place;
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(iv) set forth the class and number of shares of the Company
which are owned beneficially and of record by such
stockholder and such beneficial owner; and
(v) be accompanied by each nominee's undertaking to affirm, at
the time of his or her election to the Board, his or her
independence under the standard prescribed in Section 7.5 of
the Certificate of Incorporation, or if the nominee cannot
affirm his or her independence, then the nominee shall
explain in reasonable detail why he or she is unable to do
so; and
(8) The nominating stockholder, the beneficial owner and each nominee
shall provide such other information as any Executive Officer shall
reasonably deem relevant within such time limits as any Executive
Officer shall reasonably impose for such information.
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