ACADIAN ASSET MANAGEMENT INC (AAMI)
Sector: Financials
2026 Annual Meeting Analysis
ACADIAN ASSET MANAGEMENT INC · Meeting: June 11, 2026
Directors FOR
5
Directors AGAINST
0
Say on Pay
FOR
Auditor
FOR
Director Elections
Election of Directors
Chersi is an independent director with strong financial expertise (former CFO at Fidelity, CPA background, current audit committee chair), no attendance issues, no overboarding concerns, and AAMI's 3-year price return of +192.4% outpaces the peer group median by +132.5 percentage points — far exceeding the 65-point threshold needed to trigger a negative vote.
Kim is classified as independent by the board, has no attendance issues, holds no other public board seats that would trigger overboarding concerns, and AAMI's strong TSR far exceeds the peer benchmark, so the TSR trigger does not apply.
Paulson serves as Board Chairman with deep financial services experience; while he also serves on two other public company boards (Bausch Health and Bausch + Lomb), this does not exceed the four-board threshold for non-executive directors, and AAMI's outstanding TSR performance — +132.5 percentage points above the peer median over three years — means the TSR trigger does not apply.
Trebbi is an independent director and compensation committee chair with over 30 years of international investment experience, no attendance issues, no overboarding, and AAMI's strong TSR performance means the TSR trigger does not apply.
Young joined the board in January 2025 — fewer than 24 months ago — making her exempt from the TSR underperformance trigger under policy, and her qualifications as a seasoned asset management executive with CFA and CAIA credentials are directly relevant to AAMI's business.
All five director nominees pass the policy screens. AAMI's 3-year price return of +192.4% outperforms the company-disclosed peer group median by +132.5 percentage points, well above the 65-point threshold required to trigger a negative vote for strong-positive-TSR companies. No directors are overboarded, no attendance issues were disclosed, and no familial or independence concerns were identified. Kelly Young, the newest board member (joined January 2025), is within the 24-month new-director exemption window.
Say on Pay
✓ FORCEO
Kelly Young
Total Comp
$10,519,228
Prior Support
99%%
CEO Kelly Young received total reported compensation of $10,519,228 for 2025, which includes significant amounts tied to legacy Acadian LLC deferred compensation and profits interest distributions from prior service — the Compensation Committee-approved 2025 compensation for her CEO role was $10,850,000 in total (salary plus incentive awards), and the proxy clearly explains that legacy payouts inflate the reported figure. The pay mix is strong: 50% of the annual incentive was deferred into equity (including performance-based restricted stock awards tied to 3-year relative TSR and net client cash flow goals), and the company delivered exceptional performance in 2025 with assets under management up 51%, record net client flows, and stock price performance exceeding all asset management industry peers. The prior year say-on-pay vote received over 99% support, robust clawback policies are in place, and pay-for-performance alignment is well-supported by the company's outstanding TSR results.
Auditor Ratification
✓ FORAuditor
KPMG LLP
Tenure
12 yrs
Audit Fees
$1,590,429
Non-Audit Fees
$82,700
KPMG's non-audit fees (audit-related fees of $77,200 plus tax fees of $5,500, totaling $82,700) represent approximately 5.2% of core audit fees of $1,590,429 — well below the 50% threshold that would raise independence concerns. KPMG has served as auditor since 2014 (approximately 12 years), comfortably below the 25-year tenure threshold. No material financial restatements were disclosed, and KPMG is a Big 4 firm appropriate for a $2.3 billion company.
Overall Assessment
AAMI's 2026 annual meeting ballot is straightforward and presents no material governance concerns. All five director nominees pass policy screens, KPMG's audit fees and tenure are well within acceptable ranges, and the executive compensation program demonstrates strong pay-for-performance alignment backed by exceptional company performance and over 99% prior shareholder support — resulting in FOR votes across all three standard proposals. The 2026 Equity Incentive Plan (Proposal 4) is a housekeeping measure that adds no new shares and includes robust governance features, but falls outside the current scope of the voting policy's formal framework.
Compensation Peer Group
12 companies disclosed in 2026 proxy filing