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Sotera Health Co

For the period ended May 21, 2025. Filed Apr 10, 2025.

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About this filing

What shareholders are asked to vote on at a company's meeting. It is where to find what directors and top executives are paid, and who owns the most shares.

May 21, 2025 · Filed Apr 10, 2025

SHC$16.01+0.9%Stored close · as of Nov 6, 2026
See the whole filing, with its images and exhibits
Contents

Compensation Philosophy and Program

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Consideration of 2024 Say-On-Pay Result​

CEO Target Total Compensation Mix

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Non-CEO NEOs Average Total Compensation Mix

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Our executive compensation program is guided by three principles: (i) paying for performance; (ii) driving achievement of the Company’s annual and long-term business performance goals; and (iii) paying competitively to attract, retain and motivate top talent. These principles generally guide our program’s design, pay levels, and approach to total rewards. Our executive compensation program comprises three elements: base salary, short-term annual cash incentive compensation and long-term equity incentive compensation. Our NEOs are also eligible to participate in: the standard health and welfare benefit plans and retirement plans offered to our other employees; a non-qualified deferred compensation plan for which the Company has not-to-date provided matching, further described on page 47; and, upon certain qualifying terminations of employment, severance payments and benefits (as described beginning on page 58).

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We endeavor to incorporate best practices and good corporate governance policies and procedures throughout our executive compensation program. These compensation practices and governance policies include:

​​​​What We Do​​​​​What We Do Not Do​
​​​Require executives and directors to meet stock ownership levels​​​​No automatic or guaranteed salary increases​
​​​Directly align executives’ incentive opportunities with the creation of shareholder value by tying a majority of executive compensation to stock value​​​​No awards of compensation that would motivate actions that would risk the financial health of the Company​
​​​“Double-trigger” change in control equity vesting provisions​​​​No significant executive perquisites​
​​​Conduct annual assessments of potential risks associated with compensation programs​​​​No hedging or pledging of Company stock​
​​​Engage an independent compensation consultant to advise the LDC Committee​​​​No tax gross-ups (other than on customary reimbursement of relocation expenses)​
​​​Annual advisory non-binding vote to approve named executive officer compensation​​​​No repricing of underwater stock options​
​​​Include three-year performance goals in 2025 PSU awards to NEOs​​​​​​​
​​​Designed our program so that at least 50% of long-term incentives awarded to NEOs in 2025 are tied to achievement of three-year goals​​​​​​​

First Compensation Principle: Paying for Performance

Executive compensation, including merit increases and annual incentive payouts, is determined primarily by Company performance and individual performance. An individual’s annual performance can positively or negatively impact that individual’s opportunity for merit base pay increases. Earned values under our AIP are directly tied to Company-wide and business unit success. Demonstrating the link between pay and performance, while we delivered both revenue and EBITDA growth in 2024, we fell just short of our target, which resulted in an AIP payout at 94% of target for overall Company performance. Equity incentive compensation further aligns our NEOs’ compensation with long-term Company performance. Stock options are valuable only to the extent the stock price increases from the grant date, and the performance of our stock drives, by definition, the value of RSUs.

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Compensation Philosophy and Program​

Second Compensation Principle: Driving Achievement of Short- and Long-Term Business Performance Goals

We believe it is important to reward achievement of both annual and long-term business goals, and we structure our performance-based compensation accordingly. We maintain an Annual Incentive Plan, pursuant to which the LDC Committee sets performance targets to motivate NEOs to achieve our short-term financial and operational objectives, helping ensure accountability for progress toward longer-term strategic goals. Under our AIP, NEOs receive annual cash incentive opportunities tied to the achievement of both target annual EBITDA performance metrics set for the Company (and, in Mr. Rutz’s case, for the Sterigenics business and the Company) and individual performance factors, which include individual performance against Company values foundational to our Company’s culture, including our corporate responsibility initiatives. See “Annual Incentive Plan (AIP)” on page 42 for additional detail about our annual performance assessment process.

While we believe incentivizing the achievement of annual business goals is critical, we strive to reward an appropriate balance of annual and long-term financial and strategic business results. Our pay mix is designed to deliver over 50% of NEOs’ target total compensation in the form of equity awards linked to the value of our stock. We use equity awards to incentivize and reward long-term value creation and align our executives’ interests with those of our shareholders. In connection with our Initial Public Offering in 2020, the NEOs with the Company at that time (Mr. Petras and Mr. Rutz) received long-term equity incentive awards consisting of stock option awards and time-based RSUs, which vested over a four-year term beginning on the first anniversary of the grant date (the “IPO Equity Awards”). No additional long-term equity awards were granted in 2021 to recipients of the IPO Equity Awards. In 2022, we commenced an annual equity award cycle and each NEO we employed in March 2022 received a long-term equity incentive award comprising stock option awards and time-based RSUs. We continued with our annual equity award cycle in 2023 and in 2024, making a long-term equity incentive award grant comprised of stock option awards and time-based RSUs to each NEO we employed in March 2024. In direct response to input from our shareholders, our 2025 long-term incentive awards to NEOs were comprised of at least 50% PSUs, which are tied to the achievement of three-year goals. In addition, our 2025 awards of RSUs to NEOs include an incentive tied to stock price improvement, and we have not granted options to NEOs in 2025. Our policies and practices regarding stock option and RSU grants, including the timing of grants and the determination of the exercise price, are further described beginning on page 54. The stock ownership guidelines we adopted to further align the interests of our senior executive team, executive officers and directors with those of our shareholders are further described on page 49.

Third Compensation Principle: Paying Competitively to Attract and Retain Top Talent

Our compensation program is designed to attract, retain and motivate high-performing executives critical to the Company’s short- and long-term success. As described in more detail below, we seek to provide an overall level of total compensation for our executive officers that is reasonable in relation to, and competitive with, the compensation similarly situated peer leader companies in our industry pay, subject to variation for individual factors such as experience, performance, duties, scope of responsibility, prior contributions and future potential contributions to our business. With the assistance of our independent compensation consultant, the LDC Committee monitors market trends, including the prevalence of compensation delivery mechanisms, and adjusts the design and operation of our

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ContentsView on SEC.gov

The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.