Company: ATO
Filing Date: 2025-12-09
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0000731802-25-000061
Chunk: 31

Company: ATMOS ENERGY CORP
Filing Date: 2025-12-09
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 31
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 with the Company. We believe that our executive compensation program provides our named executive officers with a balanced compensation approach each year by providing a market-competitive base salary along with participation in annual and long-term incentive compensation plans that are based solely on the Company’s financial performance. These incentive plans are designed to reward our named executive officers on both an annual and long-term basis if they attain specified targets, the attainment of which does not require the taking of an unreasonable amount of risk, as discussed in “Compensation Risk Assessment,” beginning on page 44.

#### Base Salary
The payment of a base salary is intended to provide a stable, fixed amount of income to our named executive officers for their day-to-day job performance. Base salaries represent a relatively small portion of total compensation. However, the amount of base salary paid to each named executive officer is a determinant of other elements of compensation. The HR Committee reviews base salaries annually, and generally targets the 50 th percentile of the competitive market practice. Annual salary adjustments are not automatic or guaranteed, but rather based on the committee’s subjective evaluation of the performance of each named executive officer, the value of the individual in the position to the Company relative to other positions and their level of experience, the Company’s base salary increase budget and guidelines as well as current economic conditions. As a result of this evaluation and to better align with peer compensation, the HR Committee approved increases in base salaries for our named executive officers, and their 2025 base salaries are shown below.

| Name                    |     |           | Base       
 Salary ($) |
| J. Kevin Akers          |     | 1,165,000 |            |
| Christopher T. Forsythe |     |   610,000 |            |
| Jessica W. Bateman      |     |   550,000 |            |
| John S. McDill          |     |   550,000 |            |
| Karen E. Hartsfield     |     |   550,000 |            |

The HR Committee believes that the base salaries provided to each of the named executive officers are appropriate to retain and motivate them, are competitive with salaries offered for similar positions by companies in our proxy peer group and are consistent with our Total Rewards strategy.

#### Annual Incentive Compensation
Through our Incentive Plan, we provide our named executive officers an opportunity to earn an annual incentive award based upon the Company’s financial performance each year as measured by our fully diluted EPS.

#### 2025 Annual Incentive Award Target Opportunities
For fiscal