Company: AOS
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-037641
Chunk: 26

Company: SMITH A O CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 26
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, the role of Presiding Director rotates among committee chairs every two years, to provide continuity in director oversight. We believe this structure provides consistent and effective oversight of our management and our company.

Our directors bring a broad range of leadership experience to the boardroom and regularly contribute to the thoughtful discussion involved in overseeing the affairs of our company. We believe all Board members are well-engaged in their responsibilities, and all Board members express their views and are open to the opinions expressed by other directors. We conduct a robust evaluation of our Board annually to help ensure that the Board is open and well-functioning and to identify and address any director concerns. We do not believe that appointing an independent board chairman, or a permanent Presiding Director, would improve the performance of the Board.

2025 Proxy Statement19

Governance of Our Company

Consideration of Risk Our Board is actively involved in overseeing our risk management. In 2024, areas of particular focus for the Board included oversight of the company’s assessment of the risk of doing business in China, including marketplace, operational and geopolitical considerations, as well as oversight of the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance program and information and cybersecurity matters. We seek to identify and address significant and material risks through our Enterprise Risk Management (“ERM”) process. Our ERM process assesses, manages and monitors risks consistent with the integrated risk framework in the Enterprise Risk Management – Integrated Framework (2017)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). We believe that risk-taking is an inherent aspect of the pursuit of our strategy. Our goal is to avoid risks and, if not, to prudently manage such risks. Senior management prioritizes identified risks and assigns an executive to address each major identified risk area and lead action plans to manage risks. Senior management presents on these risks to the Board at a majority of meetings each year. Our Board of Directors provides oversight of the ERM process and reviews and actively engages in discussion of significant identified risks to the company. In addition, each of our Board Committees considers risk within its area of responsibility. For instance, our Audit Committee asks management to address a specific critical accounting issue at most of its meetings and considers the overall impact that the issue has on our financial position and risk profile. In addition, they discuss legal and compliance matters and assess the adequacy of our risk-related internal controls. The Audit Committee oversees the frequency and creation of surveys by management of ERM matters and reviews with the Board and management the company’s ERM