Company: ASB
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000007789-25-000025
Chunk: 45

Company: ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 45
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UTIVE SUMMARY |

Our executive compensation program is designed to be primarily performance-based and aligned with the interests of our shareholders. The majority of the total compensation provided to the CEO and other NEOs is at risk and delivered primarily in the form of long-term equity. We also consider our strategic objectives along with industry trends when developing our executive compensation program. Our goal is to offer an executive compensation program that allows us to attract, retain, motivate and reward highly qualified and talented executives; supporting our strategic priorities, outperforming our competitors through goal execution and driving long-term shareholder value with strong risk management discipline. 2024 Components of Executive Compensation The key components of our executive compensation program support the Committee’s pay-for-performance philosophy. We provide our NEOs and ELT members with total direct compensation using a mix of both short- and long-term pay. In 2024, multiple components of pay were used including base salary, short-term cash incentive awards and long-term equity-based incentive awards to provide a balanced program that targets market-competitive compensation levels.

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The following chart depicts the Committee’s design decisions to create our competitive executive pay program.

2024 Target NEO Compensation Mix

A sizable portion of our ELT’s target total direct compensation is comprised of short- and long-term variable performance-

based, or at risk, compensation to link their pay to performance. Generally, higher level ELT positions have a greater portion of

pay that is performance-based. For 2024:

• 80% of the target total direct compensation for our President and CEO was performance-based; and

• 65% of the average target total direct compensation for our other NEOs was performance-based

**Highlights of Executive Compensation Practices**

We believe our pay practices demonstrate our commitment to and alignment with shareholders’ interests and our dedication to

maintaining a compensation program supported by strong corporate governance. The Committee meets regularly and receives

guidance on best practices and market trends from the Committee’s independent compensation consultant to supplement each

member’s own business knowledge.

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Our executive compensation program incorporates many strong governance features as exemplified in the chart below.

| What we do: |                                                                                                                                                                 |     | What we do not do: |                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|             | Pay for performanceby having a significant portionof executives’ compensation tied to Companyperformance and weighted toward the long term.                     |     | X                  | Have excess perquisitesfor our executives.Perquisites are limited to include only financialplanning services, executive physicals, relocationbenefits and access to clubs for business