Page 15 - 2022 Annual Report 2022 FINAL

Our May Board of Directors meeting
focused on updates to our Employee
Guidelines including a Paid Bereavement
Policy, Paid Parental Leave Policy, and a
Covid-19 PTO Policy. All with an eye
toward continuing to offer some of the
most competitive benefits in the market to
both attract and retain the best people.
We also received authorization to begin
establishing annual collegiate scholarships
and have subsequently established an
endowment for an Architecture
Scholarship at the University of Illinois. This
will be the first of many scholarships at
some of the fine institutions where we
recruit new graduates. The Board also
approved mid-year bonuses as a one-time thank you for all the hard work our people put in while we
navigated the first half of the fiscal year. In our Board workshop we discussed how to best lead the firm
through inflation and potential recession. We have incorporated most of these ideas into our strategic
decisions throughout the remainder of the year.

Spring and early Summer saw the Strategic Leadership Group aligning job responsibilities for many
positions throughout the firm with the way the firm currently operates. These job responsibilities will be
incorporated into the new annual review process currently being rolled out and are intended to be
reviewed individually with employees as a baseline for future performance reviews. The intent of this
initiative is to promote and monitor accountability.
The August Board meeting saw the approval of a charter for a Governance and Nominating Committee
(GNC) of the Board. The GNC charter outlines the following duties and responsibilities:

Governance Subcommittee (GSC):
1. Review the corporate governance practices and make recommendations to the Board regarding
additions and/or revisions to these practices.

2. Perform an annual review of the following:
A. Corporation By-Laws

B. Corporate or Management Actions Requiring Board Involvement

C. Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications of the Board of Directors
D. Board composition and nominating process

E. Conduct self-evaluation process of the Board

3. Review the list of selection criteria and competencies needed for membership on the Board.
4. Assess the makeup of the membership of the Board to evaluate board level skillsets and
viewpoints that may be lacking or missing.

Page | 7 Chairman’s/CEO’s Report