Company: COST
Filing Date: 2025-12-04
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000909832-25-000159
Chunk: 15

Company: COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW
Filing Date: 2025-12-04
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 15
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 that the Company benefits from having directors with a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences. Currently, of the ten directors on the Board and Board nominee, five are women and one is African American. In addition, as discussed above, our directors bring a diversity of viewpoints and experiences as established leaders in important areas of business, government and non-profit service that we believe strengthens the Board’s ability to guide our Company. The Nominating and Governance Committee oversees a self-assessment of the Board’s or its committees performance every year. The assessment seeks to identify specific areas, if any, in need of improvement or strengthening, including with respect to the diversity of our Board in terms of viewpoints, backgrounds and experiences. Since 2014, the Board, led by the Nominating and Governance Committee, has been engaged in a process to refresh its membership; five new independent directors have been added and, as of the 2026 Annual Meeting, ten members have ceased to serve. The refreshment process has also resulted in the nomination of Ms. Raimondo for election to the Board.

Our bylaws provide for proxy access shareholder nominations for director candidates by eligible shareholders. Shareholder nominations require compliance with section 2.1 of the bylaws. A shareholder who wishes to formally nominate a candidate, whether or not for inclusion in the Company's proxy statement, must follow the procedures described in our bylaws (which includes information required under SEC Rule 14a-19). There is otherwise no formal process prescribed for identifying and evaluating nominees, except as described in the Corporate Governance Guidelines, which may be viewed at https://investor.costco.com.

Board Structure . The Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that the Board does not require the separation of the offices of the Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer and shall be free to choose its Chairman in any way that it deems best for the Company at any given point in time. Currently the positions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are filled separately. Our Chief Executive Officer has primary responsibility for the operational leadership and strategic direction of the Company, while our non-executive Chairman facilitates our Board’s independent oversight of management, promotes communication between management and the Board, and leads the Board’s consideration of key governance matters. The Board believes that this leadership structure is appropriate for the Company at this time.

The Role of the Board in Risk Oversight . The Board seeks to ensure that management has processes for dealing appropriately with risk. It is the responsibility of the Company’s senior management to develop and implement the Company’s short- and long