I. The Committee's Purpose. The Nominating Committee ("Committee")
is appointed by the Board of Directors (Board) of Eagle Bancorp
("Eagle") for the primary purpose of:
- identifying diverse individuals qualified to become members
of the Board;
- recommending to the Board the director nominees for the next
annual meeting of shareholders;
- consider nominees proposed by shareholders of Eagle; and
- evaluation of the Board and its members.
II. Committee Composition and Meetings.
The Committee shall be comprised of three or more independent
directors, all of whom must qualify as independent directors under
the listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. In addition,
each member shall be free from any relationship that, in the opinion
of the Board, would interfere with the exercise of his or her
independent judgment.
The members shall be appointed annually to one-year terms by
the Board. The Committee shall designate one member of the Committee
as Chairperson. The members shall serve until their resignation,
retirement, removal by the Board or until their successors shall
be appointed. No member of the Committee shall be removed except
by majority vote of the independent directors of the Board then
in office.
The Committee shall fix its own rules of procedure, which shall
be consistent with the Bylaws of Eagle and this Charter.
The Committee shall meet at least twice annually and more frequently
as circumstances require or dictate. The Committee Chair must
approve an agenda in advance of each meeting.
The Chairperson of the Committee or a majority of the members
of the Committee may call a special meeting of the Committee.
A majority of the members of the Committee shall constitute a
quorum.
The Committee may request that any directors, officers or employees
of Eagle, or other persons whose advice and counsel are sought
by the Committee, attend any meeting of the Committee to provide
such pertinent information as the Committee requests.
Following each of its meetings, the Committee shall deliver a
report on the meeting to the Board, including a description of
all actions taken by the Committee at the meeting.
The Committee shall keep written minutes of its meetings, which
shall be maintained with the books and records of Eagle.
III. Committee Duties and Responsibilities.
Board Vacancies. When a vacancy occurs on the Board by reason
of disqualification, resignation, retirement, death or an increase
in the size of the Board, the Committee shall nominate a replacement
director for the Board.
Assess Board Membership Needs and Nominate Directors. Determine
what types of backgrounds are needed to help strengthen and balance
the Board and to nominate appropriate candidates to fill vacancies
accordingly.
- Select, or recommend to the Board, director nominees to fill
vacancies on the Board as necessary.
- Be constantly alert to the needs of the Board and maintain
an active file of suitable candidates for consideration as nominees
to the Board, which candidates may include, if the Committee deems
it advisable, those recommended by the Chief Executive Officer
and other members of the Board. In compiling the file, the Committee
shall consider, where appropriate, the independence of each candidate.
- Consider the candidate's knowledge of the banking business
and involvement in the community, business and civic affairs,
and also consider whether the candidate would provide for adequate
representation of its market area. Any nominee for director made
by the Committee must be highly qualified with regard to some
or all these attributes. The Committee will not recommend that
the stock ownership, without the other reasons named above, be
a basis for the selection of a director or nominee. In searching
for qualified director candidates to fill vacancies in the Board,
the Committee solicits its current Board of Directors for names
of potentially qualified candidates. Additionally, the Committee
may request that members of the Board pursue their own business
contacts for the names of potentially qualified candidates. The
Committee would then consider the potential pool of director candidates,
select the candidate the Committee believes best meets the then-current
needs of the Board, and conduct an investigation of the proposed
candidate's background to ensure there is no past history, potential
conflict of interest or regulatory issue that would cause the
candidate not to be qualified to serve as a director of Eagle.
The Committee will consider director candidates recommended by
Eagle's stockholders. If a stockholder submits a proposed nominee,
the Committee would consider the proposed nominee, along with
any other proposed nominees recommended by members of Eagle's
Board of Directors, in the same manner in which the Committee
would evaluate its nominees for director.
- Conduct director evaluations upon renomination for election
every three years.
- Nominate directors to be elected by the shareholders and any
directors to be elected by the Board to fill vacancies.
- Review periodically the membership of each committee of the
Board and recommend committee assignments to the Board, including
rotation, reassignment or removal of any committee member.
Board Size. Make recommendations to the Board about exercising
the Board's authority to determine the number of its members.
Board Self-Evaluation. Conduct an annual evaluation of
the performance of the full Board and report its conclusion to
the Board. The Committee's report should generally include an
assessment of the Board's compliance with the principles set forth
in these guidelines and the Code of Ethics Policy, as well as
identification of areas in which the Board could improve its performance.
Director Removal. Recommend to the Board the removal of
a director where Appropriate.
Director Independence. Recommend to the Board the standards
for director independence, in addition to those required by Nasdaq.
Shareholder Communication. Ensure that the Board maintains
a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders
wishing to communicate with the Board should send any communication
to the Secretary, Eagle Bancorp. If an individual director or
directors receives communication from shareholders, such communication
shall be forwarded to the Secretary. Any communication must state
the number of shares beneficially owned by the shareholder making
the communication. The Secretary will forward such communication
to the Chairman of the Nominating Committee. The Secretary has
the authority to discard any communication or take appropriate
legal action with any communication that is unduly hostile, threatening,
illegal or similarly inappropriate.
Charter. To maintain and update, as appropriate, this
Charter, which will be published on Eagle's website.
IV. Authority to Retain Experts. The Committee has the
authority to retain, direct and if appropriate, terminate any
search firm used to identify candidates for Board membership (or
to establish other procedures to develop potential candidates
for consideration) as well as any such other experts as it deems
necessary in the performance of its duties. As part of this authority,
the Committee has the authority, to the extent it deems necessary
or appropriate, to retain independent legal, accounting or other
advisors. In addition, the Committee has the authority, to the
extent it deems necessary or appropriate, to ask Eagle to provide
support and funding in carrying out its duties.