Company: FWRG
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001789940-25-000031
Chunk: 9

Company: First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 9
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 Stockholders thereafter, the successors to the class of directors whose terms expire at that meeting will be elected for a term of office to expire at the third succeeding Annual Meeting of Stockholders after their election, or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified. In 2024, our Board underwent refreshment, with one director, Julie M.B. Bradley, resigning, and two new directors, Charles Jemley and Michael Fleisher, joining the Board.

#### Our Board of Directors: Independence and Nominees
The business and affairs of the Company are managed by or under the direction of the Board. The Board is currently composed of ten members. Other than Christopher A. Tomasso, our President and CEO, our Board is entirely composed of independent directors.

Our Board has affirmatively determined that each of Ralph Alvarez, Irene Chang Britt, Michael Fleisher, Tricia Glynn, Charles Jemley, Stephanie Lilak, William Kussell, David Paresky and Jostein Solheim are independent directors under the applicable rules of Nasdaq. In reviewing the independence of Ralph Alvarez and William Kussell, our Board considered their service as operating partners of Advent International, L.P. (“Advent”), our largest stockholder. In reviewing the independence of Tricia Glynn and David Paresky, our Board considered that each of them is an employee of Advent. Our Board determined that these relationships with Advent did not impair the independence of such directors. Each of our board committees consist entirely of independent directors. The Board has affirmatively determined that the directors that serve on our Audit Committee, Mr. Alvarez, Mr. Jemley and Mr. Solheim, each meet the heightened independence requirements for the purposes of serving on the Audit Committee under the applicable rules of Nasdaq and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and that the directors that serve on our Compensation Committee, Mr. Alvarez, Mr. Fleisher, Ms. Glynn and Ms. Lilak, are independent for the purposes of serving on such committee under the applicable rules of Nasdaq.

Our Class I directors are Michael Fleisher, William Kussell, Stephanie Lilak and Jostein Solheim; our Class II directors are Irene Chang Britt, Charles Jemley and David Paresky; and our Class III directors are Ralph Alvarez, Tricia Glynn and Christopher A. Tomasso.

The Board recommends that Michael Fleisher, William Kussell, Stephanie Lilak and Jostein Solheim,