Company: VEEV
Filing Date: 2025-06-04
Form Type: DEFA14A
Source: 0001393052-25-000047
Chunk: 2

Company: VEEVA SYSTEMS INC
Filing Date: 2025-06-04
Form: DEFA14A
Chunk 2
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. Gassner’s leadership, the company has added approximately $35 billion in market capitalization for the benefits of shareholders. Mr. Gassner’s tenure as CEO has been a success by all measures and the board believes that continuity in the CEO position during the company’s next phase of growth through 2030 and entry into horizontal software markets outside of the company’s traditional markets is essential. Our board believes that long-term incentive compensation in the form of stock options is thus necessary and appropriate to retain Mr. Gassner and align his long-term interests with those of our shareholders. Our board further believes this long-term approach (with premium-priced stock options as the only equity vehicle) continues to incentivize Mr. Gassner to continue to lead our business and drive our success, which is consistent with the long-term interests of our shareholders and other key stakeholders, our vision to build a durable cloud company, and our PBC purpose.

As ISS and Glass Lewis recognized, given the 2024 Performance Options are intended to be Mr. Gassner’s only equity-based compensation until at least 2030, shareholders should consider the fair value allocated for each year

of the five-year vesting period, which would be approximately $34.4 million 1 . Yet ISS’ pay-for-performance analysis uses the total grant value instead of the annualized amount, which results in an outsized impact on fiscal year 2025 and no impact in the other vesting years. In the peer review our board undertook, they found that the calculated annualized amount of the 2024 Performance Options ($34.4 million) was within the range of annualized CEO pay amongst our peers, with the annualized CEO total target direct compensation of our peers ranging from approximately $9 million to $97 million. The board also noted that five peer CEOs (only one of whom was a newly hired CEO in 2024) had annualized target direct compensation greater than the annualized value of Mr. Gassner’s 2024 Performance Options. Our peer group, which was comprised of 19 companies at the time the 2024 Performance Options were granted, had been recommended by our independent compensation consultant and approved by the Compensation Committee in September 2023, nine months before the grant. ISS’ peer analysis is also flawed because it uses companies (such as Teradata Corporation and Evolent Health, Inc.) that are significantly smaller than Veeva in size and market capitalization.

Moreover, Mr. Gassner does not participate in an annual