Symantec 2015 Annual Report Download - page 41

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND RELATED INFORMATION
COMPENSATION DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS (CD&A)
This compensation discussion and analysis describes the material elements of Symantec’s executive compen-
sation program for fiscal 2015. For fiscal 2015, our named executive officers (“NEOs”) include the following
current officers:
‰Michael A. Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer
‰Thomas J. Seifert, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
‰Balaji Yelamanchili, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Security
‰Scott C. Taylor, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
‰Francis C. Rosch, Executive Vice President, Norton Business Unit
Our NEOs also include, pursuant to applicable SEC rules, the following former executive officer:
‰Stephen E. Gillett, former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Our Compensation Philosophy and Practices
The overriding principle driving our compensation programs continues to be our belief that it benefits our
employees, customers, partners and stockholders to have management’s compensation tied to our current and
long-term performance. The following factors demonstrate our continued commitment to pay-for-performance
and to corporate governance best practices:
‰We reward performance that meets our predetermined goals. Our compensation plans do not have guaran-
teed payout levels, and our named executive officers do not receive any payouts under performance-based
cash or equity awards if the goals are not met. Our compensation plans are also capped to discourage
excessive or inappropriate risk-taking by our executive officers.
‰We continue to grant performance-based restricted stock units (“PRUs”) to our named executive officers
as a regular part of our annual executive compensation program. We do not award any stock options to
our executives.
‰Our various incentive plans use multiple, non-duplicative measures that correlate to stockholder value,
such that no single metric is overly emphasized in determining payouts.
‰Our peer group consists primarily of businesses with a focus on software development, or software and
engineering-driven companies that compete with us for talent. Our peer group companies are comparable
to us in terms of complexity, global reach, revenue and market capitalization.
‰We have long-standing stock ownership guidelines for our named executive officers, requiring them to
hold a minimum value in shares so that they have an even greater financial stake in our company, thereby
further aligning the interests of our executive officers with those of our stockholders. We also prohibit the
sale of any shares (except to meet tax withholding obligations) if doing so would cause them to fall below
the required ownership levels.
‰We do not provide for gross-ups of excise tax values under Section 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code.
‰We limit any potential cash severance payments to not more than 3x our executive officers’ total target
cash compensation.
‰We have clawback provisions in all of our executive compensation plans (providing for the return of any
excess compensation received by an executive officer if our financial statements are the subject of a
restatement due to error or misconduct).
‰Our executive officers are prohibited from short-selling Symantec stock or engaging in transactions involv-
ing Symantec-based derivative securities, and are also prohibited from pledging their Symantec stock.
‰Our equity incentive plan prohibits the repricing or exchange of equity awards without stockholder appro-
val.
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