Company: PENG
Filing Date: 2025-12-19
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001616533-25-000073
Chunk: 58

Company: Penguin Solutions, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-12-19
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 58
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. This evaluation takes several factors into account, including the criteria listed above as well as overall actual Company performance relative to Company performance goals for the fiscal year. The Compensation Committee also considers the CEO’s individual contributions to Company performance, including his leadership and stewardship in achieving the Company’s actual performance. They then consider these evaluations in conjunction with any input they receive from other directors in order to arrive at an overall evaluation of the CEO’s performance. The Compensation Committee also considers whether any changes to the CEO’s compensation are warranted and presents any such changes to the Board.

#### Guidance from Independent Compensation Consultant
During fiscal 2025, Semler Brossy Consulting Group (“Semler” or the “Compensation Consultant”) provided executive and director compensation consulting services to the Compensation Committee.

The Compensation Committee’s independent Compensation Consultant reports directly to and is accountable to the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Consultant was engaged to provide advice, information, and recommendations relating to the compensation of our executive officers and directors, including base salary, cash incentive and equity incentive levels, and program structures and other retention incentives, and assessed how this compensation compares to compensation for executive officers and directors of members of our peer group and comparably sized technology companies. In addition, the Compensation Consultant assisted the Compensation Committee with the development of a peer group and the design and refinement of our compensation philosophy. The Compensation Consultant also advised the Compensation Committee regarding compensation disclosures, compensation risk assessments, stock ownership guidelines, clawback provisions, stockholder proposals, and trends and best practices in executive and director pay.

In the course of its work, the Compensation Consultant interacts with management to understand existing Company programs and policies, collects current pay program data, reviews competitive compensation data, obtains feedback on industry trends and best practices, and provides input on the CD&A disclosure in our proxies. Semler does not provide and has not been retained to provide any services to us outside of the work assigned by the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee has assessed the independence of the Compensation Consultant pursuant to the Nasdaq listing standards and concluded that the Compensation Consultant’s work for the Compensation Committee did not raise any conflict of interest.

#### Comparison to Relevant Peer Group
In determining actual pay, the Compensation Committee considers compensation levels at peer group and other comparably sized companies. However, it is only one factor among the following five:

• Company and individual performance;

• Scope of the relevant role;

• Experience;

• Qualifications; and

• Competitive c ompensation data from our peer group and other comparably sized companies.

Comparative Framework

Each year, the