The following excerpts represent a small sampling of recent mentions of Equilar in corporate proxy filings. We are proud to find that an increasing number of companies cite Equilar as a valuable resource in their compensation benchmarking process. To learn more about how Equilar can assist you with your compensation research efforts, request a demo, or call 1-877-441-6090.
Equilar in Proxy Filings
AMERICAN PACIFIC CORP A specialty chemicals company with annual revenues of $184 million
DEF 14A filed on January 28, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“During fiscal 2007, the Human Resources Department utilized Equilar’s ExecutiveInsight research database, a resource for benchmarking executive compensation and analyzing CEO and executive pay trends, to aid the Corporate Governance Committee in the identification of a peer group of publicly-traded companies so that the Corporate Governance Committee could benchmark our fiscal 2007 compensation program and compensation levels. The Corporate Governance Committee evaluated the compensation practices of a broad range of companies in the aerospace, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals industries, with annual revenues ranging from $100 million to $260 million.”
AMGEN INC A biotechnology company with annual revenues of $14.7 billion
DEF 14A filed on April 1, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“Our primary data sources for evaluating CEO and other Named Executive Officer compensation in 2007 against the peer group companies were the Towers Perrin PHRA Executive Compensation Survey and the available proxy data from filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the peer group companies listed above as compiled and provided to the Company by Equilar. We gathered available information for all elements of direct compensation, including base salary, bonuses and long-term incentives. Not every peer group company reports information for executive positions that are similar to ours.”
AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING INC A business software & services company with annual revenues of $7.8 billion
DEF 14A filed on September 26, 2007 - Open SEC Filing
“In determining the competitiveness of our chief executive officer’s compensation, the compensation committee, at its April 2006 meeting, considered an internally prepared study of chief executive officer compensation that contained a peer group comparison of 175 publicly traded companies with annual revenues between $5 billion and $15 billion. We obtained the data for this study from Equilar, Inc., a provider of executive compensation proxy data, and Mercer Human Resources Consulting, and excluded utility companies because of the regulatory environment in which these companies operate. This CEO compensation study indicated that peer group chief executive officers had an annual median base salary of $983,300, a median annual bonus of $1,500,000, a median long-term incentive compensation value of $4,018,800, and median total cash and equity-based compensation of $6,913,100. At its August 2006 meeting, the compensation committee considered the findings of the CEO compensation study when it determined Mr. Butler’s compensation for fiscal year 2007.”
CINCINNATI FINANCIAL CORP An insurance company with annual revenues of $4.3 billion
DEF 14A filed on March 20, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“The committee does not employ compensation consultants for recommendations concerning executive compensation. Historically, our chief executive officer has provided the committee with peer group performance and compensation data collected by the chief financial officer from publicly available proxy statements and Form 10-K filings. In 2006 and 2007, similar data was obtained from Equilar, an independent subscription service that automates the collection of such information.”
CORNING INC A communications equipment company with annual revenues of $5.9 billion
DEF 14A filed on March 10, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“The Company currently participates in and uses three general executive compensation surveys for its Executive Group positions: Mercer 2007 S&P 500 Executive Survey; 2007 Towers Perrin Executive Survey; and 2007 Radford Executive Survey.
In addition to the three general surveys, we also use proxy data obtained from service providers, such as Equilar, Inc., to review the actual compensation levels for the Named Executive Officers in a variety of manufacturing and service industries that are similar in size or have similar financial characteristics (looking at many factors such as revenues, net income, number of employees, market capitalization) to the Company (the “Comparison Companies” listed above).”
CTS CORP A diversified electronics company with annual revenues of $656 million
DEF 14A filed on May 24, 2007 - Open SEC Filing
“For the annual executive compensation review, management provides the Compensation Committee with benchmark data for base salary, perquisites, annual incentives and equity awards. Management uses the web-based Equilar compensation database as a source for benchmark data primarily for the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer positions. Equilar draws data from proxy statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
CYTEC INDUSTRIES INC A specialty chemicals company with annual revenues of $3.5 billion
DEF 14A filed on March 10, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“The Compensation Committee does not believe it is necessary to evaluate competitive benchmark standards in such a rigorous manner every year since it believes competitive standards take more than one year to change significantly. Accordingly, for the compensation cycle ended January 2007 the Committee used a database from Equilar, Inc. to update the analysis for the Peer Group on the basis of the most recent proxy statement disclosure available, generally for the year ended 2005, and also continued to rely on the benchmark data provided by Hay the previous year, adjusted upwards in each case by 4.5% to reflect estimated overall executive pay movement to bring the data current to estimated 2007 levels.”
FLIR SYSTEMS INC A scientific & technical instruments manufacturer with annual revenues of $779 million
DEF 14A filed on March 13, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“In general, we expect to utilize the services of outside compensation consultants approximately every other year, because we have not found the additional cost of annual third party reviews to be justified. In years where we do not use a consultant, we will utilize information on executive compensation available from third party sources, such as Equilar, to assist us in evaluating our compensation levels.”
GTX INC A biotechnology company with annual revenues of $7 million
DEF 14A filed on March 12, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“In October 2007, the Compensation Committee began its evaluation of executive compensation for the current fiscal year. The Compensation Committee reviewed compensation data developed by Equilar, Inc., or Equilar, a web-based independent executive compensation firm, which compensation data included base salary, bonus compensation and equity and/or stock option awards received by the chief executive officer, president and other executive officers of many of the same pharmaceutical and biotech companies selected by the Compensation Committee for its review of comparable industry data by Mercer in 2006.
The compensation data developed by Equilar for the Compensation Committee was derived from 18 of the original peer group companies established through the Mercer engagement in 2006. The Compensation Committee refined the original Mercer peer group list to adjust for mergers and acquisitions and selected 18 companies from the 2006 Mercer list to request current compensation data from Equilar’s database.
During a series of meetings in late 2007, the Compensation Committee utilized the data from Equilar for the peer group companies listed above to evaluate the base salaries, target bonus levels and stock option awards for each of GTx’s executive officers. The Compensation Committee adjusted the compensation amounts in Equilar’s data by a reasonable inflation factor to project peer compensation levels for calendar year 2008, and then established compensation for GTx’s executive officers for 2008 which are projected to fall within the median salary ranges identified in our competitive analysis.”
INVESTORS FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP A credit services company with annual revenues of $559 million
10-K/A filed on May 29, 2007 - Open SEC Filing
“Each year, we conduct a benchmark study of compensation in the financial services industry. In 2006, we relied primarily on a database provided by Equilar, Inc. which aggregates information from proxy statements and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, we used data from third party compensation surveys, including Mercer Human Resources Consulting and McLagan Partners. Reports generated from the Equilar database and relevant surveys allowed the compensation committee to review and compare base salary, bonus, total cash compensation, equity compensation and other long term compensation at 21 companies in the financial services industry and financial services technology industry.”
KONA GRILL INC A restaurants company with annual revenues of $51 million
DEF 14A filed on March 18, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“The committee obtains comparative data to assess competitiveness from a variety of resources. The committee reviewed proxy data obtained from Equilar Inc., a market leader in benchmarking executive compensation, to review each element of total compensation for executive officers for similar sized restaurant companies in terms of market capitalization and revenue.”
MDU RESOURCES GROUP INC A general building materials company with annual revenues of $4.2 billion DEF 14A filed on March 7, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“Each year we compare our named executive officers’ pay for performance ratios to the pay for performance ratios of the named executive officers in the performance graph peer group. This analysis looks at the relationship between our compensation levels and our average annual total stockholder return in comparison to the peer group over a five-year period. All data used in the analysis, including the valuation of long-term incentives and calculation of stockholder return, were compiled by Equilar, Inc., an independent service provider, which uses each company’s annual filings as a basis of its data collection.”
RYDER SYSTEM INC A rental & leasing services company with annual revenues of $6.6 billion
DEF 14A filed on March 21, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“During 2007, our Compensation Committee conducted a comprehensive review and evaluation of our compensation package for non-employee directors based on information gathered and provided by management, Equilar, Steven Hall & Partners and Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc. (Cook). Cook provided a competitive director compensation analysis using the same 18 company peer group used to benchmark CEO compensation in 2006 and 2007.”
SUPERIOR WELL SERVICES INC An oil & gas equipment services company with annual revenues of $351 million
DEF 14A filed on March 27, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
"As part of this process, the Compensation Committee reviews the mix of the compensation elements for executive officers against comparable companies in the Peer Group, utilizing data provided by Equilar Inc. The size and mix of each element in a compensation package is based on the officer's job performance, market practice and overall company performance. The level of incentive compensation typically increases in relation to an executive officer's level of responsibility."
SYNOPSYS INC A business software & services company with annual revenues of $76 million
DEF 14A filed on March 4, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“The Compensation Committee uses two sources of executive compensation market data: Radford Executive Compensation Survey data and information available through Equilar, a compensation benchmark firm. Our human resources group summarizes the information from these surveys for the Committee. The Radford Executive Compensation Survey data alone is used to establish salary and incentive cash levels; the Radford Executive Compensation Survey data and the Equilar data are both used to establish equity compensation amounts.”
TRUMP ENTERTAINMENT RESORTS INC A consumer services company with annual revenues of $988 million
DEF 14A filed on March 21, 2008 - Open SEC Filing
“Commensurate with the compensation methodology utilized by the Company’s independent consultant and the recommendations provided, the Company’s compensation program was adjusted to reflect a more competitive-based system which translated to lower base salaries and more emphasis on variable compensation components including annual and long term incentive plans consistent with competitive market data and performance of the Company. The Company has continued to utilize this performance based compensation model and has continued through the auspices of the Compensation Committee to review and monitor progress. In addition to regular engagements with Towers Perrin, management engaged Equilar Incorporated in 2007, a leading data provider for benchmarking executive and director compensation.”
US CONCRETE INC An industrial goods company with annual revenues of $790 million
DEF 14A filed on April 25, 2007 - Open SEC Filing
“Compensation data is obtained from Equilar, a proxy compensation database resource, and from Towers Perrin, a nationally recognized executive compensation consulting firm. We obtain information to ascertain the median target level for the performance-based components of our compensation program annually from both Equilar and Towers Perrin. Upon the recommendation of our senior executive officers, the compensation committee engaged Towers Perrin in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 to provide us with data regarding the median target level for the performance-based components with respect to bonus and equity expressed in terms of "a percent of base pay" for various salary levels for domestic companies with revenues between $500 million and $1 billion. Equilar provides us with the peer group proxy data necessary to determine available median levels for base salaries. The Towers Perrin data is then used in conjunction with data from Equilar to determine performance-based compensation. We have used Towers Perrin for the last three years and Equilar for the past year for this purpose. We decided to use Equilar this past year because the compensation committee determined Equilar is more efficient and comprehensive than other available services.”
VSE CORP A technical services company with annual revenues of $653 million
DEF 14A filed on March 24, 2009 - Open SEC Filing
“During 2007 the Committee met with representatives of Equilar, Inc. who demonstrated the capabilities and potential uses of its executive compensation database product and analytic tools. [...] During 2008 the Committee interviewed three compensation consultant and advisory firms having nationwide experience. In the Committee's judgment, at this time it will be better served to utilize (a) the compensation and best practices information provided by the Equilar databases, (b) other compensation survey data related to specific compensation questions, analyses and recommendations, and (c) the use of outside consultants on an as required basis, than to retain an outside compensation consultant and advisory firm.”
