Company: GWW
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-015730
Chunk: 22

Company: W.W. GRAINGER, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 22
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 Board evaluation; (b) Committee evaluations; and (c) Director self-assessments. To help make sure the evaluations are useful, we routinely review the evaluation process with an external governance expert. 2024 Evaluation Process As in prior years, the Lead Director conducted the Board evaluation and individual Director self-evaluations, while the Committee Chairs conducted evaluations for their respective Committees. Management’s feedback on the Board’s operation and engagement was provided to the Board. The Board also engages in an “after action” process that reviews routine matters such as information flow, meeting content and management interaction following each meeting in executive session. The Board believes that this open-ended question/interview approach helps elicit thoughtful and useful responses that encourage valuable conversations and actionable insights. Supplementing the annual surveys is a continuous feedback loop that prevents reliance solely on a single, formal event at the end of the year. The results of the evaluations and interviews were compiled anonymously. The Lead Director then discussed with the Board the results of the Board evaluations, individual Director self-assessments, and the management leadership team feedback, while the Committee Chairs discussed the results of the Committee evaluations with their respective Committees. Below is an overview of the key steps in the annual evaluation process:

| ​ | CORPORATEGOVERNANCE | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 1:ELECTION OFDIRECTORS | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 2:RATIFY THEINDEPENDENTAUDITOR | ​ | ​ | EXECUTIVECOMPENSATION | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 3:SAY ON PAY | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 4: APPROVALAND ADOPTION | ​ | ​ | QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS | ​ | ​ | APPENDICES | ​ |

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| ​ | invest.grainger.com | ​ | ​ | 23 | ​ | ​ | ● | ​ |

DIRECTOR EVALUATIONS: A MULTI-STEP PROCESS The information gained through this process helps shape the content of educational presentations to the Board and identify the skill sets desirable in Director searches conducted from time to time by the Board.

| ​ | CORPORATEGOVERNANCE | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 1:ELECTION OFDIRECTORS | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 2:RATIFY THEINDEPENDENTAUDITOR | ​ | ​ | EXECUTIVECOMPENSATION | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 3:SAY ON PAY | ​ | ​ | PROPOSAL 4: APPROVALAND ADO