We have received a range of responses from survey participants that have been provided in full detail to the Compensation and Management Development Committee of our Board of Directors. Based on the reporting by the survey participants, participants hold shares representing less than 1% of the Company’s shares of common stock outstanding.

Of the comments expressing concern around our compensation policies and practices, some participants questioned the disparity in compensation between executives and our other employees and whether we were factoring our stock performance in our executive compensation decisions effectively.

The Compensation and Management Development Committee has reviewed and seriously considered these comments. The Committee’s actions are intended to support the Company’s business strategy and are guided by the executive compensation objectives described in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of our annual proxy statement. We consider the Company’s other employees when designing our executive compensation programs and the Committee has done this by ensuring that all of our employees have attractive compensation opportunities which include annual bonus programs and equity awards. Another of our stated objectives is to pay executives for performance in a manner that aligns with stockholder interests. The Committee has worked to accomplish this objective by rewarding executives upon the achievement of financial and operational goals and growth in the Company’s stock price. This approach, coupled with the requirement that executives own significant amounts of the Company’s stock, creates a balance that the Committee believes effectively factors the Company’s stock performance into our compensation programs.

Of the comments that were supportive of the Company’s compensation policies and practices, some participants expressed that the compensation plan is performance-based, the plan’s metrics, goals and hurdles are clearly and specifically disclosed, understandable and make sense, and the Company’s executive compensation practices are appropriate. The Compensation and Management Development Committee appreciates these comments, and will strive to continue to make progress in these areas.

Both Company management and the Compensation and Management Development Committee value highly the input we receive from stockholders on our compensation policies and practices. We will continue to ask for our stockholders input in the future, and as always, will fully and carefully consider stockholder perspectives on the topic.