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A. O. Smith Executive Compensation (FY25)

AOS · Executive and director compensation, fiscal 2025 only

The paid brief on A. O. Smith

Positioning against its disclosed peers, the governance read, incentive design, and the CD&A alignment analysis; the full peer table; a committee-ready PDF.
From $1,200 for the board report; $2,400 for both.
Data as of September 7, 2026Latest filing (8-K): April 17, 2026
12 filings cited on this page
A report that fails to generate is refunded in full
Published by Velarion Company Intelligence
A. O. Smith brief$1,500Get the executive brief
215 figures on this page: 204 cited to the filing that reported them, 11 calculated from figures it prints. See the citations
Chief executive, fiscal 2025
◇
Stephen Shafer
Median of the other named officers
$2,827,341
5 officers, excluding the chief executive
Latest say-on-pay support
=
April 13, 2026
Chief executive pay ratio
◇
To the median employee

More on A. O. Smith

Five data products on this company. Each one is requested through the developer setup page.

Frequently asked questions

Answers drawn from the data on this page.
Who is A. O. Smith's chief executive and what were they paid?
Stephen Shafer, President and Chief Executive Officer, received $4,960,450 in total compensation for fiscal 2025.
What was A. O. Smith's say-on-pay result?
Shareholders supported the say-on-pay proposal with 97.0% of votes cast including abstentions in favor at the meeting held April 13, 2026 for fiscal 2025.
What is A. O. Smith's chief executive pay ratio?
The disclosed chief executive pay ratio for fiscal 2025 is 110.3:1, against median employee compensation of $44,976.

Executive compensation

Every element reported for each named executive officer, by fiscal year.
Fiscal 2025
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Kevin Wheeler
Executive Chairman
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Stephen Shafer
President and Chief Executive Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
James Stern
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, Strategy, and Secretary
◇—◇—◇◇◇◇
Charles Lauber
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Ming Cheng
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
◇◇◇—◇—◇◇
Christopher Howe
Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. A negative change in pension value is shown but, as the company reports it, not included in the total.

Equity awards granted

Individual awards as disclosed: type, date, unit counts at each level, and grant date value.
Fiscal 2025
OfficerAwardGrant dateThreshold unitsTarget unitsUnits grantedMaximum unitsExercise priceGrant date fair value
Charles T. LauberPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Charles T. LauberRSU◇——◇——◇
Christopher T. HoweRSU◇——◇——◇
Christopher T. HowePSU◇—◇—◇—◇
James F. SternRSU◇——◇——◇
James F. SternPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Kevin J. WheelerRSU◇——◇——◇
Kevin J. WheelerPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Ming ChengRSU◇——◇——◇
Ming ChengPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Stephen M. ShaferRSU◇——◇——◇
Stephen M. ShaferPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Stephen M. ShaferRSU◇——◇——◇
Stephen M. ShaferPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. Threshold, target and maximum apply only to performance awards and are never shown for time-based or option awards.

Outstanding awards

Awards still held at fiscal year end.
As disclosed at fiscal 2025 year end
OfficerAwardUnvested unitsMarket value of unvested unitsExercise priceExpires
Charles LauberPSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
Stephen ShaferPSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Kevin WheelerRSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Christopher HoweRSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
Ming ChengRSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
James SternRSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
PSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director compensation

What each non-employee director was paid.
Fiscal 2025
DirectorFees earned in cashStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Ronald D. Brown
◇◇————◇
Michael M. Larsen
◇◇————◇
Victoria M. Holt
◇◇————◇
Dr. Ilham Kadri
◇◇————◇
Christopher L. Mapes
◇◇————◇
Mark D. Smith
◇◇————◇
Lois M. Martin
◇◇————◇
Todd W. Fister
◇◇————◇
Ajita G. Rajendra
◇—————◇
Kevin J. Wheeler, Stephen M. Shafer and Aaron W. Saak served on the board in fiscal 2025 and received no compensation for board service. Executive directors are typically paid through their executive roles, shown above.
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director fee schedule

The standing retainers and premiums the board pays, as published.
Board cash retainer◇
Board equity retainer◇
Total board retainer◇
Compensation committee member◇
Nominating and governance member◇

Disclosed peer group

The companies this board named as its compensation comparison group. The list is disclosure; the comparison is analysis.

Say-on-pay history

Shareholder support for the compensation program, by year.
YearMeetingSupportVotes forVotes againstAbstentions
2025April 13, 2026=◇◇◇
2024April 8, 2025=◇◇◇
2023April 9, 2024=◇◇◇
2022April 11, 2023=◇◇◇
2021April 12, 2022=◇◇◇
2020April 13, 2021=◇◇◇
2019April 15, 2020=◇◇◇
2018April 9, 2019=◇◇◇
2017April 9, 2018=◇◇◇
2016April 13, 2017=◇◇◇
2015April 11, 2016=◇◇◇

Chief executive pay ratio

As calculated and reported by the company.
Ratio
◇
Median employee compensation
◇
Chief executive total compensation
◇
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What this page does not include

Everything above is a fact A. O. Smith disclosed, and it is free. Everything below is our analysis of those facts, and it is not.
Written compensation analysis
A read of the pay program as designed and as paid: incentive structure, goal rigor, the alignment between the committee's stated philosophy and what the numbers show.
Executive Compensation Report — $1,500
Board and governance analysis
Committee composition, independence, director pay positioning, and the governance provisions read together rather than listed.
Board Governance Report — $1,200
Realizable pay
What the awards above are actually worth today against what they were valued at on grant, and what the gap says about the pay-for-performance link.
Velarion Intelligence
Adviser switching and vote outcomes
Two datasets covering compensation-adviser changes and what followed a contested vote. Both are part of the Velarion platform.
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Citations

Every figure on this page is cited to the document that reported it. Select any figure to see its citation.
215 figures on this page: 204 cited to the filing that reported them, 11 calculated from figures it prints.
204 cited to the filing
11 calculated from the filing

Documents cited

  1. 0000091142-26-000078
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  2. 0001193125-26-089938
    DIRECTOR COMPENSATION · Director Compensation · Grants of Plan-Based Awards · Outstanding Equity Awards at December 31, 2025 · and 3 more sections
  3. 0000091142-25-000069
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  4. 0000091142-24-000128
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  5. 0000091142-23-000056
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  6. 0000091142-22-000059
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  7. 0000091142-21-000075
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  8. 0001193125-20-111628
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  9. 0001193125-19-102206
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  10. 0001193125-18-113618
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  11. 0001193125-17-125424
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  12. 0001193125-16-542287
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
Cite this data
This page is free to cite. Attribution we ask for:
Velarion, “A. O. Smith executive compensation, FY2025.” https://intel.velarion.ai/comp/AOS (accessed 2026).
Short form: data: Velarion

The paid brief for A. O. Smith

Positioning against its disclosed peers, the governance read, incentive design, and the CD&A alignment analysis; the full peer table; a committee-ready PDF.
From $1,200 for the board report; $2,400 for both.
Get the executive briefGet the board briefNo account needed.
12 filings cited on this page
Method: intel.velarion.ai/methodology
A report that fails to generate is refunded in full
Published by Velarion Company Intelligence
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Cite this data
APA
Velarion Company Intelligence. (2026). Velarion database: executive and board compensation data (Version 2026Q3) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854
BibTeX
@misc{velarionData2026,
  author = {{Velarion Company Intelligence}},
  title = {Velarion database: executive and board compensation data},
  year = {2026},
  version = {2026Q3},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22283854},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854}
}
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