director-independence-standards

Director Independence Standards

The Board of Directors of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (“Pinnacle West”) has adopted the following director independence standards to comply with New York Stock Exchange corporate governance rules and to evaluate each director's independence in light of these standards.

DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE STANDARDS

  1. For purposes of these Director Independence Standards, (a) the term "Independent" has the meaning ascribed to such term in NYSE Rule 303A.02 and (b) the term “Company” means Pinnacle West and its consolidated subsidiaries.

  2. Pinnacle West will publicly disclose director independence determinations in accordance with NYSE rules and/or applicable law.

  3. No director qualifies as Independent unless the Board of Directors affirmatively determines that the director has no material relationship with the Company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder, or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the Company). The Board may make this determination upon its finding that a director does not have any of the relationships or interests described in Paragraphs 4 - 8 below.

  4. A director is not Independent who is, or has been within the last three years, an employee of the Company, or whose immediate family member is, or has been within the last three years, an executive officer, of the Company.

  5. A director is not Independent if the director or an immediate family member has received, during any twelve-month period within the last three years, more than $120,000 in direct compensation from the Company, other than director and committee fees and pension or other forms of deferred compensation for prior service (provided such compensation is not contingent in any way on continued service).

  6. A director is not Independent if (a) the director or an immediate family member is a current partner of a firm that is the Company's internal or external auditor; (b) the director is a current employee of such a firm; (c) the director has an immediate family member who is a current employee of such a firm and who personally works on the Company’s audit; or (d) the director or an immediate family member was within the last three years a partner or employee of such a firm and personally worked on the Company's audit within that time.

  7. A director is not Independent if the director or an immediate family member is, or has been within the last three years, employed as an executive officer of another company where any of the Company's present executive officers at the same time serves or served on that company's compensation committee.

  8. A director is not Independent if the director is a current employee, or an immediate family member is a current executive officer, of a company that has made payments to, or received payments from, the Company for property or services in an amount which, in any of the last three fiscal years, exceeds the greater of $1 million or 2% of such other company's consolidated gross revenues. In the case of Company contributions to tax-exempt organizations that exceed the threshold in the previous sentence, a director will not be considered Independent only if the director is a paid executive officer (exclusive of expense reimbursements) of any such organization.

  9. For purposes of Paragraphs 4 - 8 above, (a) "immediate family members" consist of a person's spouse, parents, children, siblings, mothers and fathers-in-law, sons and daughters-in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law, and anyone (other than domestic employees) who shares such person's home and (b) the term "executive officer" means Pinnacle West’s president, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer (or, if there is no such accounting officer, the controller), any Pinnacle West vice-president in charge of a principal business unit, division or function (such as sales, administration or finance), any other Pinnacle West officer who performs a policy-making function, or any other person who performs similar policy-making functions for Pinnacle West. Officers of Pinnacle West’s subsidiaries shall be deemed officers of Pinnacle West if they perform such policy-making functions for Pinnacle West.

  10. Nothing in these Director Independence Standards prohibits the Board of Directors from determining that a director is not Independent based on other relationships or transactions not specifically described in Paragraphs 4 - 8 above.

  11. Nothing in these Director Independence Standards prohibits the Board of Directors from adopting additional or different qualifications for director membership on a Board committee, it being understood that such qualifications will be separately approved by the Board and included in such Board committee's charter.

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