Company: NWBI
Filing Date: 2025-03-07
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-049104
Chunk: 35

Company: Northwest Bancshares, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-07
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 35
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 management input, transparency, and oversight. Approvals of NEO compensation other than CEO compensation are made by the Compensation Committee. The CEO does not participate in the deliberations of the Compensation Committee regarding his own compensation. Independent members of the Board make all final determinations regarding CEO compensation. The Role of the Independent Consultant.During 2024, the Compensation Committee retained Pearl Meyer, an independent executive compensation consulting firm, to provide comprehensive consulting services to the Compensation Committee, including to:

| • |     | provide information regarding base salary ranges and recommendations for the Executive Vice Presidents; |

| • |     | review the CD&A section of the proxy statement; |

| • |     | assist in developing goals for the short- and long-term incentive plans; |

| • |     | update the Compensation Committee about regulatory matters and trends; |

| • |     | assist with the development of 2024 executive compensation decisions; |

| • |     | attend Compensation Committee meetings; and |

| • |     | provide relevant peer compensation reporting and analysis. |

Pearl Meyer reports directly to the Compensation Committee and does not provide any other services to the Company. The Compensation Committee analyzed whether the work of Pearl Meyer raised any conflicts of interest, taking into consideration the following factors, among others: (i) the provision of other services to the Company by Pearl Meyer; (ii) the amount of fees the Company paid to Pearl Meyer as a percentage of Pearl Meyer’s total revenues; (iii) Pearl Meyer’s policies and procedures that are designed to prevent conflicts of interest; (iv) any business or personal relationship of Pearl Meyer or the individual compensation advisors employed by Pearl Meyer with any executive officer of the Company; (v) any business or personal relationship of the individual compensation advisors with any member of the Compensation Committee; and (vi) any stock of the Company owned by Pearl Meyer or the individual compensation advisors employed by Pearl Meyer. The Compensation Committee determined, based on its analysis of the above factors, among others, that the work of Pearl Meyer and the individual compensation advisors employed by Pearl Meyer as compensation consultants to the Company have not created any conflicts of interest. The Role of Peer Group Companies.The Compensation Committee strives to set a competitive level of total compensation for each NEO as compared with executive officers in similar positions at peer companies. In evaluating NEO compensation, we utilize market information which is supported by benchmark data from our peer group, as well as Pearl Meyer and McLagan, an Aon Hewitt company (“McLagan”), both nationally recognized compensation consulting firms. We