FairPoint Communications 2009 Annual Report Download - page 176

Table of Contents
likely to enhance our profitability and create value for our stockholders. Within this overall compensation philosophy, the compensation committee
seeks to: (1) recognize and reward sustained superior performance by individual officers and key employees; (2) pay for performance on both an
individual and corporate level; (3) align stockholder and executive interests by placing a significant portion of executive compensation "at risk"; (4) tie
executive compensation to the achievement of certain short term and long term performance objectives of the Company; and (5) offer a total
compensation program that takes into account the compensation practices of comparable companies.
The compensation committee intends to provide our named executive officers ("NEOs") with an executive compensation program that emphasizes
performance. The program therefore combines a competitive base salary component with a significant amount of variable compensation in the form of
performance based annual and long term incentives. The compensation committee believes this emphasis on performance aligns the compensation of our
NEOs with the long term interests of our stockholders.
The compensation committee has engaged and regularly consults an independent consultant, Findley Davies, Inc., to review the competitiveness
and structure of the executive compensation program and each component of the program, and to assist the compensation committee in ensuring that the
executive compensation program achieves the compensation committee's objectives. Findley Davies also assisted the compensation committee with the
negotiation of the compensation related terms of Mr. Hauser's employment as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, which commenced on July 1,
2009.
163