Company: ACIW
Filing Date: 2025-04-21
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-086263
Chunk: 52

Company: ACI WORLDWIDE, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-21
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 52
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 grants typically made in March after the announcement of the prior year’s financial results. Each fiscal quarter, the Compensation Committee tracks our financial and operational performance and the corresponding projected payments under the STIP, as well as the then-current performance of the rTSR PSUs previously granted to our executive officers, as applicable. Role of Our CEO and Management Team In discharging its responsibilities, the Compensation Committee works with members of our management team, including our CEO. Our CEO evaluates the performance and development of each executive officer (other than himself) and based on these evaluations, provides recommendations to the Compensation Committee for any adjustments for the other executive officers to base salaries, target annual incentive compensation opportunities, long-term incentive compensation opportunities, and other compensation-related matters (such as discretionary cash bonuses and supplemental equity awards). Our management team assists the Compensation Committee by providing information on corporate and individual performance as well as our CEO’s perspective and recommendations on compensation matters. In addition, our management team recommends to the Compensation Committee the performance measures and related target levels for the STIP program, which are typically based on our annual operating plan. The management team also recommends the forms of equity awards for our long-term incentive compensation program.

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The Compensation Committee first reviews and discusses the CEO’s recommendations and then considers a range of other factors (as described below) before approving compensation for our Named Executive Officers. Our CEO is not present for any Compensation Committee discussions about and does not make any recommendations regarding his own compensation.

Factors Considered in Compensation Deliberation

The Compensation Committee considers and discusses changes to our Named Executive Officer compensation based largely on the factors listed below, which are the same factors that the CEO uses in making recommendations to the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee does not use a single method or measure in approving the target total direct compensation opportunities or individual compensation elements for our executive officers and does not assign specific weightings to any of the factors it considers. These factors simply provide a framework for the Compensation Committee’s decision-making.

Role of the Compensation Consultant

As permitted under its charter, the Compensation Committee engages an external compensation consultant to assist it by providing information, analysis and other advice relating to our executive compensation program and the decisions resulting from its annual executive compensation review. The Compensation Committee directly engages the compensation consultant, which serves at the discretion of the Compensation Committee, and reviews the terms of the engagement annually.

For 2024, the Compensation Committee continued to retain Compensia, Inc., a national independent compensation consulting firm, to serve as its compensation consultant. Compensia reported