2018 Guide to Effective Proxies

6 TH EDITION | GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE PROXIES 176 CENTERPOINT ENERGY, INC. CHURCH & DWIGHT CO. CIENA CORPORATION CITRIX SYSTEMS, INC. 2018ProxyStatement Item1:ElectionofDirectors(continued) BoardOrganizationandCommittees TheBoardoverseesthemanagementoftheCompany’sbusinessandaffairs.TheBoardappointscommitteestohelp carryoutitsduties.Messrs.CarrollandProchazkadonotserveonanystandingcommittees.Thefollowingtablesets forththestandingcommitteesoftheBoardandtheirmembersasofthedateofthisproxystatement,aswellasthe numberofmeetingseachcommitteeheldduring2017: Director Audit Committee Compensation Committee Finance Committee Governance Committee MichaelP.Johnson* ✓ ✓ JanieceM.Longoria* ✓ ✓ ScottJ.McLean ✓ ✓ TheodoreF.Pound ✓ Chair SusanO.Rheney Chair ✓ PhillipR.Smith Chair;FinancialExpert ✓ JohnW.SomerhalderII ✓ ✓ PeterS.Wareing Chair ✓ NumberofMeetingsHeldin2017 5 4 4 4 * WillcontinuetoserveontheBoarduntilthe2018AnnualMeeting. AUDIT COMMITTEE The primary responsibilities of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board in fulfillingitsoversightresponsibilityfor: • theintegrityofourfinancialstatements; • thequalifications,independenceandperformanceofourindependentauditors; • theperformanceofourinternalauditfunction;and • compliancewithlegalandregulatoryrequirementsandoursystemsofdisclosure controlsandinternalcontrols. The Audit Committee has sole responsibility to appoint and, where appropriate, replace our independent auditors and to approve all audit engagement fees and terms.Pleasereferto“ReportoftheAuditCommittee”forfurtherdetails. The Board of Directors has determined that Mr. Smith, the Chairman of our Audit Committee, is an audit committee financial expert within the meaning of the regulationsoftheSecuritiesandExchangeCommission. COMPENSATION COMMITTEE TheprimaryresponsibilitiesoftheCompensationCommitteeareto: • oversee compensation for our senior executive officers, including salary and short-termandlong-termincentiveawards; • administerincentivecompensationplans; • evaluateChiefExecutiveOfficerperformance; • reviewmanagementsuccessionplanninganddevelopment; • reviewandmonitortheCompany’sdiversityandinclusionpractices;and • select,retainandoverseetheCompany’scompensationconsultant. For information concerning policies and procedures relating to the consideration and determination of executive compensation, including the role of the Compensation Committee and its report concerning Compensation Discussion and Analysis, see “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” and “Report of the Compensation Committee,”respectively. 14 CenterPointEnergy CORPORATEGOVERNANCE BOARDOFDIRECTORSMEETINGSANDCOMMITTEES CommitteesoftheBoardofDirectors The Board has four standing committees as set forth in the table below. During 2017, each incumbent director attended at least 75 percent of the aggregate number of meetings held by our Board and all Board committees on which such director served. If elected, Ms. Yoler would be nominated to serve on the Governance&NominatingCommitteeandtheCompensation&OrganizationCommittee. Director Board Audit Compensation and Organization Governance and Nominating Executive T.RosieAlbright ✓ ✓ ✓ JamesR.Craigie Chair ✓ MatthewT.Farrell ✓ ✓ BradleyC.Irwin ✓ ✓ ✓ RobertD.LeBlanc LeadDirector Chair ✓ PenryW.Price ✓ ✓ ✓ RavichandraK.Saligram ✓ ✓ RobertK.Shearer ✓ Chair ✓ JanetS.Vergis ✓ ✓ ✓ ArthurB.Winkleblack ✓ Chair ✓ NumberofMeetingsin2017 5 5 4 4 0 Although we do not have a formal policy requiring attendance of directors at our Annual Meetings, we expect all directors to attend the Annual Meeting absent exceptional circumstances. All incumbent directors attendedthe2017AnnualMeeting. Audit Committee. Under its Charter, the Audit Committee, among other responsibilities, (i) has sole authority to retain, set compensation and retention terms for, terminate, and oversee and evaluate the activities of, our independent registered public accounting firm; (ii) reviews and approves in advance the performance of all audit and permitted non-audit services, subject to the pre-approval policy discussed below under “Pre-Approval of Audit and Permissible Non-Audit Services”; (iii) reviews and discusses with management and our independent registered public accounting firm the annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements and certain other disclosures included in our filings with the SEC; (iv) reviews and discusses with management earnings press releases prior to their release; (v) discusses with management, internal audit personnel, and our independent registered public accounting firm, our risk assessment and risk management policies, including our major financialrisk exposures and thesecurityof theCompany’scomputerizedinformationsystems; (vi) oversees the internal audit function; (vii) discusses with management, internal audit personnel, and our independent registered public accounting firm the adequacy and effectiveness of our financial reporting processes, internal control over financial reporting, and disclosure controls and procedures; and (viii) oversees the adoption, periodic review, and oversight of policies and procedures regarding business conduct and oversees our compliance and ethicsprogram. Our Board of Directors has determined that each of Mr. Shearer and Mr. Winkleblack is an “audit committeefinancialexpert”withinthemeaningofSECregulations. The Audit Committee has established procedures for the receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints regarding accounting, internal accounting controls and auditing matters and the receipt of confidential, anonymous submissions by our employees with respect to concerns regarding potential violations of our Church&DwightCo. | 2018ProxyStatement 19 ‰ feedbackfromshareholders; ‰ prosandconsofadoptingproxyaccess; ‰ thevotingpoliciesofproxyadvisoryfirms; ‰ consultationwithoutsideadvisors;and ‰ alternativeconstructionofproxyaccessbylawprovisions. Our Board of Directors Thefollowingtableprovidessummaryinformationabouteachdirectornomineeandthestandingcommitteesonwhichthey willserveeffectiveimmediatelyfollowingour2018AnnualMeeting.Eachdirectorwillbeelectedforaone-yearterm.Aspart ofourregularBoardevolution,asannouncedinApril2018,GodfreyR.SullivanandGrahamV.Smithwillnotbestandingfor re-electionatthe2018AnnualMeeting.Mr.SullivanandMr.Smitheachadvisedthecompanythatthedecisiontonotstand forre-electiondidnotinvolveanydisagreementwiththecompany.OurNominatingandCorporateGovernanceCommitteeis activelyconductingadirectorsearch.Followingtheappointmentofanewdirector,ourCommitteeswillbereconstitutedto reflectthenewboardcomposition. RobertM.Calderoni ExecutiveChairman FormerChairman&CEO,Ariba FormerEVP&CMO,PeopleSoft Partner,ElliottManagement RetiredViceChairman, EVP&CFO,ThomsonReuters EVP&CFO,Rubrik FormerCFO,Atlassion CEO,ANSYS FormerEVP,CFO&COO,Citrix Chairman,EmeritusandPartner, McDermottWill&Emery NanciE.Caldwell Independent JesseA.Cohn Independent RobertD.Daleo Independent Murray J.Demo Independent Ajei S.Gopal Independent David J.Henshall President&CEO Peter J. Sacripanti Independent 3 4 1 1 0 1 2 1 Name Audit Finance Compensation (2) Experience CommitteeMemberships Other Public Company Boards Nominating &Corporate Governance (1) Chair Member (1) Currently,Mr.SullivanservesastheChairmanofourNominatingandCorporateGovernanceCommittee.Mr.Sullivanisnot standingforre-electionatthe2018AnnualMeeting. (2) Currently,GrahamV.SmithandGodfreyR.SullivanserveasmembersofourCompensationCommittee.Mr.Smithand Mr.Sullivanarenotstandingforre-electionatthe2018AnnualMeeting. 2018ProxyStatement 9 CompositionandMeetingsoftheBoardofDirectorsanditsCommittees ThetablebelowdetailsthecompositionofCiena’sstandingBoardcommitteesasoftheendoffiscal2017andthenumberof Boardandcommitteemeetingsheld.Mr.SmithandDr.NettlesdonotserveonstandingcommitteesoftheBoardofDirectors. Director Board Audit Committee Compensation Committee Governance and Nominations Committee HarveyB.Cash ✓ ✓ ✓ BruceL.Claflin ✓ ✓ ✓ WilliamD.Fathers ✓ ✓ ✓ LawtonW.Fitt ✓ Chair PatrickT.Gallagher LeadIndependentDirector ✓ Chair PatrickH.Nettles,Ph.D. ExecutiveChairman T.MichaelNevens ✓ ✓ JudithM.O’Brien ✓ Chair ✓ MichaelJ.Rowny ✓ ✓ GaryB.Smith ✓ Fiscal2017Meetings 10 8 7 5 ExceptforMr.Cash,eachofourdirectorsattendedatleast75%intheaggregateofthetotalnumberofmeetingsoftheBoard ofDirectorsandthecommitteesonwhichheorsheservedduringfiscal2017.Mr.Cashwasunabletoattendseveralmeetings duringfiscal2017duetohealth-relatedreasons.Cienaencourages,butdoesnotrequire,membersoftheBoardofDirectorsto attendtheAnnualMeeting,andsevenofCiena’sthenninedirectorsparticipatedinthevirtualAnnualMeetinglastyear. AuditCommittee TheAuditCommitteefallswithinthedefinitionof“auditcommittee”underSection3(a)(58)(A)oftheSecuritiesExchangeAct of1934(the“ExchangeAct”).TheBoardofDirectorshasdeterminedthateachmemberoftheAuditCommitteemeetsthe independencecriteriaestablishedbytheSECunderRule10A-3undertheExchangeActandqualifiesundertheindependence standardsofTheNewYorkStockExchange.TheBoardofDirectorshasdeterminedthateachmemberoftheAuditCommitteeis financiallyliterate,asinterpretedbytheBoardinitsbusinessjudgment.TheBoardhasalsodeterminedthatMr.Rownyisan “auditcommitteefinancialexpert”asdefinedinItem407(d)(5)ofRegulationS-KoftheExchangeActandan“independent director”asindependenceforauditcommitteemembersisdefinedinTheNewYorkStockExchangelistingstandards. Amongitsresponsibilities,theAuditCommitteeappointsandestablishesthecompensationforCiena’sindependent registeredpublicaccountingfirm,approvesinadvanceallengagementswithCiena’sindependentregisteredpublicaccounting firmtoperformauditandnon-auditservices,reviewsandapprovestheproceduresusedbyCienatoprepareitsperiodicreports, reviewsandapprovesCiena’scriticalaccountingpolicies,discussesauditplansandreviewsresultsoftheauditengagementwith Ciena’sindependentregisteredpublicaccountingfirm,obtainsandreviewsareportofCiena’sindependentregisteredpublic accountingfirmdescribingcertainmattersrequiredbythelistingstandardsofTheNewYorkStockExchange,reviewsthe independenceofCiena’sindependentregisteredpublicaccountingfirm,overseesCiena’sinternalauditfunctionandCiena’s accountingprocesses,includingtheadequacyofitsinternalcontrolsoverfinancialreportingand,whereitdeterminestodoso, makesrecommendationstotheBoardofDirectorswithrespecttorotationoftheleadpartnerortheindependentregisteredpublic accountingfirm.Ciena’sindependentregisteredpublicaccountingfirmandinternalauditdepartmentreportdirectlytotheAudit Committee.TheAuditCommitteealsoreviewsandconsidersanyrelatedpersontransactionsinaccordancewithourPolicyon RelatedPersonTransactionsandapplicablerulesofTheNewYorkStockExchange. TheAuditCommitteeisalsoresponsibleforavarietyofotherfunctions,includingoversightofCiena’sfinancialandbusiness processsystems,includingcompletionoftheupgradeofCiena’scorporateenterpriseresourceplanningplatform,andoversight ofITsecuritymatters. GovernanceandNominationsCommittee TheGovernanceandNominationsCommitteereviews,developsandmakesrecommendationsregardingvariousmatters relatedtotheBoardofDirectors,includingitssize,composition,standingcommitteesandpractices.TheGovernanceand NominationsCommitteealsoreviewsandimplementscorporategovernancepolicies,practicesandprocedures.TheGovernance andNominationsCommitteeconductsanannualreviewoftheperformanceandeffectivenessoftheBoardofDirectors,its standingcommittees,anditsindividualmembers.TheGovernanceandNominationsCommitteeisalsoresponsibleformaking 18 2018ProxyStatement