Forward Air (FWRD): executive pay, fiscal 2025

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CEO total pay$5,561,309CEO Shawn Stewart · source

Say-on-pay support95.64%Latest vote · source

CEO vs. named peers33rd pct.Against its disclosed peer group

CEO pay ratio140.2:1To the median employee · source

CEO pay, last three years

$4,564,259FY2024
$5,561,309FY2025

CEO total pay was $5,561,309 in fiscal 2025, up from $4,564,259 in fiscal 2024.

FY2025: salary $900,000 · bonus $0 · stock awards $4,037,990 · option awards $0

Executives and directors

Eric Brandt · CCO Jamie Pierson · CFO Jerome Lorrain · Executive Chairman Michael Hance · General Counsel Shawn Stewart · CEO Ana Amicarella · Former director (through FY2025)Charles L. Anderson · Independent Director Christine M. Gorjanc · Independent Director Dale W. Boyles · Independent Director George S. Mayes, Jr · Former director (through FY2025)Javier Polit · Former director (through FY2025)Laurie A. Tucker · Former director (through FY2025)Michael B. Hodge · Former director (through FY2025)Paul Svindland · Lead Independent Director Robert L. Edwards, Jr · Independent Director Valerie Bonebrake · Former director (through FY2025)

Frequently asked questions

Who was the highest-paid executive at Forward Air in fiscal 2025?

As disclosed, Shawn Stewart (Chief Executive Officer) was the highest-paid executive at Forward Air in fiscal 2025, with total compensation of $5,561,309.

How does Forward Air's chief executive pay compare to its disclosed peer group?

As disclosed, Shawn Stewart's total compensation ranked at the 33rd percentile of Forward Air's disclosed peer group.

What is Forward Air's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio?

As disclosed, Forward Air's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 140.2:1.

How did shareholders vote on Forward Air's executive compensation?

As disclosed, 95.64% of shareholders supported Forward Air's executive compensation in the latest say-on-pay vote.

How much does Forward Air spend in total on board compensation for fiscal 2025?

As disclosed, Forward Air reported total board compensation of $1,632,668 for fiscal 2025.

Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.

Full detail

Every table from the filing. Open any section.

Summary compensation table

Named executive officer	Salary	Bonus	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension / NQDC	All other	Total
Shawn Stewart	$900,000	$0	$4,037,990	$0	$617,400	$0	$5,919	$5,561,309
Chief Executive Officer
Jamie Pierson	625,000	0	2,187,990	0	321,563	0	5,413	3,139,966
Chief Financial Officer
Jerome Lorrain	234,176	0	1,184,250	0	0	0	48,336	1,466,762
Executive Chairman
Michael Hance	500,000	0	600,000	0	257,250	0	6,269	1,363,519
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Eric Brandt	525,000	0	500,000	0	261,226	0	0	1,286,226
Chief Commercial Officer

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officer	FY2025 total	FY2024 total	FY2023 total	Δ FY2024→2025
Shawn Stewart	$5,561,309	$4,564,259	—	↑ +997,050
Jamie Pierson	3,139,966	1,708,716	—	↑ +1,431,250
Jerome Lorrain	1,466,762	—	—	—
Michael Hance	1,363,519	1,995,886	1,044,012	↓ −632,367
Eric Brandt	1,286,226	—	—	—

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

The Compensation Committee has designed our executive compensation program to attract, develop, reward and retain key talent to facilitate achievement of our annual, long-term and strategic goals. One of the Committee's objectives is to align executives' interests with stockholders' interests by creating a pay-for-performance culture at the executive level, with the ultimate goal of increasing stockholder value.

CEO STI target (% of salary)	100%
CEO LTI target (% of salary)	—
Independent consultant	Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC
Clawback policy	True
Anti-hedging	True
Anti-pledging	True

Equity grants and outstanding awards

Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025

Executive	Award	Grant date	Threshold	Target	Granted	Maximum	Grant-date fair value
Michael Hance	PSU	2025-02-19	3,780	7,560	—	15,120	$299,981
Eric Brandt	RSU	2025-02-19	—	—	8,028	—	249,984
Eric Brandt	PSU	2025-02-19	3,150	6,300	—	12,600	249,984
Jamie Pierson	RSU	2025-02-19	—	—	18,465	—	575,000
Jamie Pierson	PSU	2025-02-19	33,333	33,333	—	33,333	1,037,990
Shawn Stewart	RSU	2025-02-19	—	—	38,536	—	1,200,011
Jamie Pierson	PSU	2025-02-19	7,246	14,491	—	28,982	575,003
Shawn Stewart	PSU	2025-02-19	33,333	33,333	—	33,333	1,037,990
Michael Hance	RSU	2025-02-19	—	—	9,634	—	300,003
Shawn Stewart	PSU	2025-02-19	22,682	45,363	—	90,726	1,800,004
Jerome Lorrain	PSU	2025-07-11	3,523	7,046	—	14,092	300,019
Jerome Lorrain	PSU	2025-07-11	25,000	25,000	—	25,000	684,250
Jerome Lorrain	RSU	2025-07-11	—	—	7,307	—	199,993

Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type

Named executive officer	Time-vested (RSU)	Performance-vested (PSU)	Options / SARs	% performance-vested
Michael Hance	$300,003	$299,981	$0	50.0%
Eric Brandt	249,984	249,984	0	50.0%
Jamie Pierson	575,000	1,612,993	0	73.7%
Shawn Stewart	1,200,011	2,837,994	0	70.3%
Jerome Lorrain	199,993	984,269	0	83.1%

% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.

Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025

Executive	Award	Shares unvested	Exercise price	Market value unvested
Michael Hance	Option	1,101	115.42	—
Eric Brandt	PSU	6,300	—	157,500
Jerome Lorrain	RSU	7,307	—	182,675
Eric Brandt	RSU	8,028	—	200,700
Jamie Pierson	RSU	31,427	—	785,675
Jerome Lorrain	PSU	32,046	—	801,150
Michael Hance	RSU	37,525	—	938,125
Michael Hance	PSU	46,930	—	1,173,250
Jamie Pierson	PSU	62,917	—	1,572,925
Shawn Stewart	RSU	72,506	—	1,812,650
Shawn Stewart	PSU	155,129	—	3,878,225

Director compensation

Director	Cash fees	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	All other	Total
Christine M. GorjancIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Compensation · Corporate Governance and Nominating	$110,549	$130,000	$0	$0	$0	$240,549
Dale W. BoylesIndependent · Audit · Corporate Governance and Nominating	110,000	130,000	0	0	0	240,000
Robert L. Edwards, JrIndependent · Compensation (Chair) · Not standing for re-election	100,549	130,000	0	0	0	230,549
Charles L. AndersonIndependent · Compensation · Not standing for re-election	95,000	130,000	0	0	0	225,000
Paul SvindlandIndependent · Lead Independent Director · Audit · Compensation (Chair) · Corporate Governance and Nominating · Newly elected	91,566	130,000	0	0	0	221,566
Michael B. HodgeIndependent · Departed during FY	69,070	130,000	0	0	0	199,070
George S. Mayes, JrIndependent · Departed during FY	97,912	0	0	0	0	97,912
Ana AmicarellaIndependent · Departed during FY	46,731	0	0	0	0	46,731
Laurie A. TuckerIndependent · Departed during FY	46,731	0	0	0	0	46,731
Valerie BonebrakeIndependent · Departed during FY	42,280	0	0	0	0	42,280
Javier PolitIndependent · Departed during FY	42,280	0	0	0	0	42,280
Jerome LorrainEmployee director · Board Chair · Executive (Chair)	0	0	0	—	0	0
Shawn StewartEmployee director · Executive	0	0	0	—	0	0

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer	$85,000
Annual equity retainer	$130,000
Per board meeting fee	—
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)	20,000 / 20,000 / 20,000
Stock ownership guideline	5x annual cash retainer ($425,000)

Total cost of the board

Component	FY2025
Cash retainers and fees	$852,668
Equity awards (grant-date value)	$780,000
All other compensation	$0
Total cost of the board	$1,632,668

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

Peer group, and who names Forward Air as a peer

Companies that benchmark against FWRD

13 companies name FWRD as a compensation peer

AramarkARMKFY2025
ARCBEST CORP /TX/ARCBFY2025
COVENANT LOGISTICS GROUP, INC.CVLGFY2025
Hub Group, Inc.HUBGFY2024
HUNT J B TRANSPORT SERVICES INCJBHTFY2025
KIRBY CORPKEXFY2025
Matson, Inc.MATXFY2025
RADIANT LOGISTICS, INCRLGTFY2026
REPUBLIC AIRWAYS HOLDINGS INC.RJETFY2025
RYDER SYSTEM INCRFY2025
SAIA INCSAIAFY2025
SKYWEST INCSKYWFY2025

Each company listed discloses FWRD in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named FWRD in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.

Rank	Company	FY	Chief executive	Salary	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Total
1	Forward Air	2025	Shawn Stewart	$900,000	$4,037,990	$0	$617,400	$5,561,309

Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

Say-on-pay history and pay ratio

Meeting year	Meeting date	For	Against	Abstain	Support	Outcome
2026	2026-06-17	24,784,242	1,130,305	136,740	95.64%	Passed
2024	2024-06-03	18,037,475	4,696,943	1,349,003	79.34%	Passed
2023	2023-05-09	22,571,858	1,913,388	7,908	92.19%	Passed
2022	2022-05-10	24,603,827	213,267	7,075	99.11%	Passed
2021	2021-05-19	25,519,673	146,658	23,782	99.34%	Passed
2020	2020-05-12	25,180,432	249,489	11,576	99.02%	Passed

Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.

Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation

Meeting year	Meeting date	Approval — company’s computation
2026	2026-06-17	95.64%^a
2024	2024-06-03	79.34%^b
2023	2023-05-09	92.19%^c

a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes are not considered as votes cast and will have no effect on the approval of these proposals, other than for purposes of determining if a quorum is present.”.

b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the vote on these proposals.”.

c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the vote.”.

Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.

CEO pay ratio

Ratio (CEO : median employee)	140.2 : 1
CEO total compensation	$5,561,309
Median employee compensation	$39,663

Insider trades since the proxy

No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.

Sources (39 citations)

Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

Section 01, Shawn Stewart. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 42. As printed: 5,561,309. View filing ↗
Section 01, Jamie Pierson. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 3,139,966. View filing ↗
Section 01, Jerome Lorrain. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 1,466,762. View filing ↗
Section 01, Michael Hance. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 1,363,519. View filing ↗
Section 01, Eric Brandt. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 1,286,226. View filing ↗
Section 03, Michael Hance PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Eric Brandt RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Eric Brandt PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jamie Pierson RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jamie Pierson PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Shawn Stewart RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jamie Pierson PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Shawn Stewart PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Michael Hance RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Shawn Stewart PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jerome Lorrain PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jerome Lorrain PSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 03, Jerome Lorrain RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
Section 07, pay ratio. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 140.2 : 1. View filing ↗
Section 08, Christine M. Gorjanc. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 240,549. View filing ↗
Section 08, Dale W. Boyles. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 240,000. View filing ↗
Section 08, Robert L. Edwards, Jr. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 230,549. View filing ↗
Section 08, Charles L. Anderson. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 225,000. View filing ↗
Section 08, Paul Svindland. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 221,566. View filing ↗
Section 08, Michael B. Hodge. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 199,070. View filing ↗
Section 08, George S. Mayes, Jr. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 97,912. View filing ↗
Section 08, Ana Amicarella. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 46,731. View filing ↗
Section 08, Laurie A. Tucker. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 46,731. View filing ↗
Section 08, Valerie Bonebrake. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 42,280. View filing ↗
Section 08, Javier Polit. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 42,280. View filing ↗
Section 08, Jerome Lorrain. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
Section 08, Shawn Stewart. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
Section 06, 2026 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2026-06-17. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 95.64% (votes for as printed: 24,784,242). View filing ↗
Section 06, 2024 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2024-06-04. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 79.34% (votes for as printed: 18,037,475). View filing ↗
Section 06, 2023 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2023-05-11. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 92.19% (votes for as printed: 22,571,858). View filing ↗
Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
Section 03b vehicle mix (computed). Computed. RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).
Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 852,668 + equity 780,000 + all other 0 = 1,632,668, summed across the director compensation table rows.
Forward Air (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. CEO total compensation as printed in Forward Air's own proxy. As printed: 5,561,309. View filing ↗