Company: RNST
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0000715072-25-000057
Chunk: 14

Company: RENASANT CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 14
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 and as a result the board will have 14 members, all in a single class and with a term of office that expires at the 2026 annual meeting). The completion of the FBMS merger is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of the remaining, customary closing conditions.

The board has determined that 18 members is an appropriate number to fulfill its responsibilities in light of our size and the nature of our operations once the FBMS merger has been completed (and that 14 members is an appropriate number until the completion of the FBMS merger). At Renasant’s 2024 annual meeting, Renasant shareholders approved an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation to phase out our classified board of directors and instead provide for the annual election of directors. No director’s then-current term of office was shortened as a result of the board declassification, and, accordingly, we will complete the phase-out of our classified board of directors as of Renasant’s 2026 annual meeting. The current term of office of our former “Class 3 directors” (that is, Gary D. Butler, Rose J. Flenorl, John T. Foy and Richard L. Heyer, Jr.) expires at the 2026 annual meeting, while the current term of office for all of our other directors expires at the 2025 Annual Meeting.

Tenure. The board strives to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of tenures among the directors, as the board values both the insight that long experience on our board brings and also the fresh perspective associated with newer board members. The board has concluded that arbitrary deadlines on board service, such as tenure limitations or a mandatory retirement age, do not promote its goal of achieving its desired mix of short- and long-tenured directors. Accordingly, we do not have a formal policy governing the tenure of the members of the board of directors, nor is there any mandatory retirement age for directors.

The table below shows the average tenure of our non-employee directors as of the date of the 2025 Annual Meeting and the four prior annual meetings. The board believes that it has generally been successful in refreshing the board’s membership and maintaining an appropriate balance between short- and long-tenured directors, and the addition of four directors in connection with the FBMS merger will further reduce the average tenure of our independent directors, as the following table demonstrates (which assumes that we have completed the FBMS merger prior to the meeting).

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In the table