FIRST BUSINESS FINANCIAL SERVICES (FBIZ)

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2026 Annual Meeting Analysis

FIRST BUSINESS FINANCIAL SERVICES · Meeting: April 24, 2026

Policy v0.9medium confidenceView Filing ↗
For informational purposes only. This AI-generated analysis applies a published voting policy to publicly available proxy filings. It does not constitute investment advice, proxy voting advice, or a solicitation of any kind. AI analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate — always review the actual filing and make your own independent decision.

Directors FOR

3

Directors AGAINST

0

Say on Pay

FOR

Auditor

FOR

Director Elections

Election of Three Class I Director Nominees

3 FOR
✓ FOR
Carla C. Chavarria

Independent director since 2017 with relevant human resources and executive compensation expertise; no overboarding, attendance, or TSR concerns — FBIZ's 3-year return of +74.8% outpaces the community bank benchmark (QABA) by +39.9 percentage points, well below the 65-point trigger for a no vote.

✓ FOR
Jerry L. Kilcoyne

Board Chair since 2018 with deep financial services and governance experience; no overboarding or attendance concerns — FBIZ's strong 3-year TSR (+74.8%) versus QABA (+34.9%) results in a +39.9pp gap, far below the 65pp threshold required to trigger a no vote for a director with strong positive absolute returns.

✓ FOR
Daniel P. Olszewski

Independent director since 2018 with strategy, finance, and entrepreneurship expertise; no attendance, overboarding, or TSR trigger concerns — the company's 3-year outperformance versus QABA (+39.9pp) and versus the disclosed peer group median (+38.8pp) both fall well below the applicable thresholds.

All three Class I nominees pass the policy screens: no overboarding, all directors attended at least 75% of meetings, no familial relationships with management, and FBIZ's strong 3-year total shareholder return of +74.8% outperforms both the QABA community bank ETF benchmark by +39.9 percentage points and the company-disclosed peer group median by +38.8 percentage points — neither of which triggers the TSR no-vote threshold for a company with strong positive absolute returns. Recommend FOR on all three nominees.

Say on Pay

✓ FOR

CEO

Corey A. Chambas

Total Comp

$1,236,169

Prior Support

97%%

CEO Corey Chambas received total compensation of $1,236,169 in 2025, which is well within reasonable benchmarks for a CEO at a ~$439M market cap community bank — this level does not trigger the >20% above benchmark threshold for a no vote. The pay program structure is sound: approximately 50% of CEO pay is variable and at risk, with long-term equity awards split between performance stock awards (60%) measured on relative TSR and return on average tangible common equity over a three-year period, and time-vesting restricted stock units (40%) — well above the 50-60% variable pay threshold required by policy. Prior-year say-on-pay support was 97%, signaling very strong shareholder endorsement, and the company has a robust clawback policy adopted in 2023 that complies with Nasdaq/SEC requirements. The pay-for-performance alignment is confirmed by the 2022-2024 performance stock awards vesting at 200% of target, reflecting FBIZ's 96th percentile TSR and 88th percentile return on average equity versus its peer group — squarely consistent with the company's exceptional stock performance over the same period.

Auditor Ratification

✓ FOR

Auditor

Crowe LLP

Tenure

N/A

Audit Fees

N/A

Non-Audit Fees

N/A

The proxy filing does not include a fee table disclosing audit and non-audit fees, so the non-audit fee ratio trigger cannot be assessed — per policy, the absence of confirmed fee data does not support a no vote. Auditor tenure is also not disclosed, so the tenure trigger does not apply. Crowe LLP is a large national firm appropriate for a company of FBIZ's size (~$439M market cap). No material restatements are disclosed. The default vote is FOR.

Overall Assessment

The 2026 FBIZ annual meeting presents a straightforward ballot: all three director nominees are recommended FOR based on strong TSR outperformance versus both the QABA community bank benchmark and the company's disclosed peer group, with no governance red flags; Say on Pay earns a FOR given reasonable CEO pay levels, a well-structured performance-oriented pay program with 97% prior-year shareholder support, and confirmed pay-for-performance alignment. The auditor ratification also earns a FOR as the default, with no fee data or tenure data available to trigger a no vote, and Crowe LLP is an appropriately sized national firm for this company.

Filing date: March 5, 2026·Policy v0.9·medium confidence

Compensation Peer Group

24 companies disclosed in 2026 proxy filing

BWFGBankwell Financial Group, Inc.
BWBBridgewater Bancshares, Inc.
BFSTBusiness First Bancshares, Inc.
CZFSCitizens Financial Services
CZNCCitizens & Northern Corporation
CIVBCivista Bancshares, Inc.
CBANColony Bankcorp, Inc.
CFBCrossFirst Bankshares, Inc.
EBTCEnterprise Bancorp, Inc.
EQBKEquity Bancshares, Inc.
FMAOFarmers & Merchants Bancorp
FRBAFirstBank
GSBCGreat Southern Bancorp, Inc.
HFWAHeritage Financial Corporation
HBCPHome Bancorp, Inc.
HTBIHomeTrust Bancshares, Inc.
LKFNLakeland Financial Corporation
MCBCMacatawa Bank Corporation
MBWMMercantile Bank Corporation
MPBMid Penn Bancorp, Inc.
MOFGMidWestOne Financial Group, Inc.
NBNNortheast Bank
OBTOrange County Bancorp, Inc.
SMBKSmartFinancial, Inc.