SEI INVESTMENTS (SEIC)
Sector: Financials
2026 Annual Meeting Analysis
SEI INVESTMENTS · Meeting: May 27, 2026
Directors FOR
3
Directors AGAINST
0
Say on Pay
FOR
Auditor
FOR
Director Elections
Election of Directors for terms expiring at the 2029 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
SEI's 3-year price return of 44.5% is strongly positive and trails the XLF ETF by only 20.1 percentage points, well below the 65-percentage-point gap required to trigger a vote against under the strong-positive TSR policy tier; no overboarding, attendance, or independence concerns apply to this executive director.
No TSR trigger fires (20.1pp gap vs. XLF falls far short of the 65pp threshold for strong-positive absolute TSR); no overboarding, attendance, independence, or familial relationship concerns are present, and Ms. McCarthy brings extensive wealth management and financial advisory expertise relevant to SEI's business.
Mr. Naratil joined the board in July 2025, which is less than 24 months before the meeting date, so he is exempt from the TSR trigger under the new-director exemption; his 39-year UBS career in wealth management and financial services is directly relevant to SEI's business.
All three nominees — CEO Ryan Hicke, independent director Kathryn McCarthy, and newly appointed independent director Thomas Naratil — receive FOR votes. The company's 3-year total return of 44.5% is solidly positive and the gap versus the XLF financial-sector ETF benchmark is only 20.1 percentage points, far below the 65-percentage-point threshold required to trigger a vote against at the strong-positive TSR tier. No overboarding, attendance, independence, or familial-relationship concerns are identified for any nominee.
Say on Pay
✓ FORCEO
Ryan P. Hicke
Total Comp
$11,819,204
Prior Support
88.4%%
CEO Ryan Hicke received total compensation of approximately $11.8 million in 2025, which is within a reasonable range for a CEO of a $9.8 billion financial technology and asset management firm delivering record revenue, earnings per share of $5.63 (up 28% year-over-year), and approximately $740 million returned to shareholders. Pay structure is heavily weighted toward variable, performance-linked pay — approximately 93% of the CEO's compensation and 83% of other named executive officers' compensation was variable — with stock options requiring meaningful earnings-per-share growth targets before vesting, which aligns executive rewards with shareholder outcomes. Last year's Say on Pay vote received 88.4% support, the company has a formal clawback policy and stock ownership requirements in place, and no red flags around pay mix, equity dilution, or pay-for-performance alignment are identified.
Auditor Ratification
✓ FORAuditor
KPMG LLP
Tenure
N/A
Audit Fees
$7,020,765
Non-Audit Fees
$2,148,367
Non-audit fees (audit-related fees of $1,726,208 plus tax fees of $170,299 plus all other fees of $251,860, totaling approximately $2,148,367) represent about 30.6% of core audit fees of $7,020,765, which is comfortably below the 50% threshold that would raise independence concerns; KPMG is a Big 4 firm appropriate for a company of SEI's size and complexity, auditor tenure is not disclosed so the tenure trigger cannot fire, and no material restatements are noted.
Overall Assessment
SEI Investments' 2026 annual meeting ballot presents three straightforward proposals — director elections, auditor ratification, and Say on Pay — all of which receive FOR votes under this policy. The company delivered strong financial performance in 2025 (record revenue, 28% EPS growth, $740 million returned to shareholders), TSR underperformance versus the XLF ETF is modest and well below the policy trigger threshold, executive pay is heavily performance-linked with meaningful vesting conditions, and KPMG's fee structure raises no independence concerns.