Company: AOS
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-037641
Chunk: 36

Company: SMITH A O CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 36
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vi) any business or personal relationships between our executive officers and WTW or the individual representatives. We paid WTW $90,592 in fees in 2024 for consulting services provided to the PCC regarding executive compensation matters and to the NGC regarding director compensation benchmarking. Management subscribes to various WTW compensation databases. Additionally, management utilizes WTW in various consulting capacities related to employee benefits programs and nonexecutive salaried employee compensation. The following table sets forth the fees we paid to WTW in 2024 for services other than those provided to the PCC.

| Service                                          |     |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Fees |
| Management Compensation Surveys and Benchmarking |     |                                                                                                                                                                                                                             $19,205 |
| Benefits Consulting Services                     |     |     $366,892 in U.S. and Canadian health and welfare plan consulting paid through credits against commissions earned as broker for life and disability group insurance plans; $15,642 for retirement benefits consulting in Canada. |
| Health Plan program fees                         |     | $115,000 for participation in Rx Collaborative, WTW’s pharmacy purchasing coalition and $97,380 for the Custom Care Management Unit, which provides personalized care for families with a member having a serious health condition. |

2025 Proxy Statement 29

Executive Compensation

WTW has informed us that the WTW personnel who provide advice to us on executive and director compensation matters are separate from and do not provide other compensation services to our company, nor do they serve as our account manager. The PCC does not approve the services provided by WTW outside the executive compensation advisory role to the PCC but is aware these services are provided.

The PCC concluded, based on the evaluation described above and recommendation from the NGC, that these nonexecutive compensation services performed by WTW did not raise a conflict of interest or impair WTW’s ability to provide independent advice to the PCC regarding executive compensation matters. The PCC’s conclusion was based on a representation letter provided by WTW, the limited scope of the other services provided to us by WTW, the small percentage of WTW’s revenues represented by the fees paid by us, the separation within WTW between its compensation consulting business and its other businesses, the absence of any conflicting relationships between the individual representatives of WTW who provided advice to the PCC or WTW, on the one hand, and members of the PCC or our executive officers, on the other, and review of director and executive officer responses to our annual Directors’ and Officers