Joe Perkins, senior vice president and general counsel for Citizens Energy Group, summarized the organization's results from the Gartner 2024 governance scorecard and board management report during the annual meeting, saying the board scored “very highly” in several governance and board-management areas while the survey flagged a small number of outliers for review.

Perkins said the survey is self-reported and tailored to non‑public companies. He told directors the 84‑page report compares Citizens to peer companies and calls out areas “to look at” rather than labeling items as good or bad. “Our board governance practices scored very highly,” Perkins said, adding that the Gartner adviser who reviewed the report “was very complimentary on Citizens and how our board functions and how our board operates.”

The report highlighted strengths including director independence, board composition and diversity, and the board’s use of third‑party benchmarking for executive compensation (Willis Towers Watson). It also noted strong skill sets among directors — including financial and accounting expertise, corporate governance, cyber security, human resources and legal — and praised Citizens’ director onboarding and annual board‑member evaluations.

Perkins identified two areas flagged by Gartner for review. First, Citizens’ mandatory retirement age of 72 (in the organization’s bylaws) is an outlier compared with survey peers: 19% of non‑public companies reported a mandatory retirement age, while 81% did not; among publicly traded companies 43% reported a retirement age and the average retirement age was 75. “It’s worth the board having a discussion about the mandatory retirement age,” Perkins said.

Second, Gartner raised the number of annual board meetings as an outlier. Perkins noted the organization has adjusted its 2025 schedule to reduce board meetings to five and to collocate committee meetings on the same day; he said that change should address the flagged concern.

On board management and effectiveness, Perkins said Gartner evaluates director quality and social dynamics, information access and quality, and meeting coordination. Perkins said Citizens scored in the “excellent” category on many management items, citing executive accountability, agenda quality, committee preparation (management meets with committee chairs ahead of meetings) and useful board education.

Perkins also noted one observation that agency‑level or sector experience is limited: “Our board members don’t come from the utility industry,” he said, and added that statutory requirements to recruit from Marion County factor into recruiting decisions.

Board members asked follow-up questions during the presentation: one asked whether Gartner suggested missing skill sets; Perkins said the report did not highlight critical missing skills but noted a possible gap in broad international experience among directors. Another asked whether the board self‑evaluation and onboarding materials were provided to Gartner; Perkins said he factored the board’s self‑evaluation materials into his responses to the survey.

Perkins told the board the Gartner survey is offered annually and encouraged participation in the next round; he said the 2025 survey had just opened. The presentation concluded with Perkins inviting questions from directors.

What the transcript does not show: The transcript records Perkins’ summary and the board’s discussion but does not include the full 84‑page report text, the Gartner adviser’s detailed comments, nor any board decision to change bylaws regarding retirement age. Perkins presented the retirement‑age item as a topic for future discussion rather than a board action during the meeting.

Source: Presentation by Joe Perkins, senior vice president and general counsel, and subsequent board Q&A recorded in meeting transcript.