Companies ESS Tech, Inc.
ESS Tech (GWHT): executive pay, fiscal 2025
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CEO pay, last three years
- $883,202FY2025
CEO total pay was $883,202 in fiscal 2025; the brief holds no earlier figure for this CEO.
FY2025: salary $402,432 · bonus $338,000 · stock awards $142,770 · option awards $0
Frequently asked questions
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly Goodman | $402,432 | $338,000 | $142,770 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $883,202 |
| Former Interim Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||
| Eric Dresselhuys | 62,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 687,188 | 749,688 |
| Former Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||||||
| Jigish Trivedi | 140,625 | 50,000 | 442,750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,250 | 634,625 |
| Former Chief Operating Officer | ||||||||
| Kate Suhadolnik | 259,791 | 150,000 | 44,468 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,499 | 464,758 |
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
| Anthony Rabb | 250,965 | 0 | 102,850 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,818 | 366,633 |
| Former Chief Financial 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly Goodman | $883,202 | — | — | — |
| Eric Dresselhuys | 749,688 | 1,073,653 | — | ↓ −323,965 |
| Jigish Trivedi | 634,625 | — | — | — |
| Kate Suhadolnik | 464,758 | — | — | — |
| Anthony Rabb | 366,633 | 1,172,414 | — | ↓ −805,781 |
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 company designs its compensation program to attract, retain, incentivize, and reward talented executives who share the company's philosophy, aiming to promote success and align executive incentives with the long-term interests of shareholders. The program consists primarily of salary, cash bonuses, and stock awards.
| CEO STI target (% of salary) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO LTI target (% of salary) | — |
| Independent consultant | Pearl Meyer |
| Clawback policy | true |
| Anti-hedging | true |
| Anti-pledging | true |
Equity grants and outstanding awards
No plan-based awards are on file for this fiscal year.
Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025
| Executive | Award | Shares unvested | Exercise price | Market value unvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kate Suhadolnik | RSU | 1,002 | — | $1,884 |
| Kelly Goodman | RSU | 1,607 | — | 3,021 |
| Kate Suhadolnik | RSU | 2,564 | — | 4,820 |
| Kelly Goodman | RSU | 3,822 | — | 7,185 |
| Kelly Goodman | RSU | 6,250 | — | 11,750 |
| Kelly Goodman | RSU | 8,750 | — | 16,450 |
| Kate Suhadolnik | RSU | 12,630 | — | 23,744 |
| Kelly Goodman | RSU | 25,385 | — | 47,724 |
| Jigish Trivedi | RSU | 275,000 | — | 517,000 |
Director compensation
| Director | Cash fees | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael R. NiggliIndependent · Audit · Nominating and Corporate Governance · Not standing for re-election · Departed during FY | $0 | $122,293 | — | — | — | $122,293 |
| Sandeep NijhawanIndependent · Nominating and Corporate Governance (Chair) | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Harry QuarlsIndependent · Board Chair · Lead Independent Director · Compensation (Chair) | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Kyle TeameyIndependent · Compensation · Not standing for re-election | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Raffi GarabedianIndependent · Compensation | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Rich HossfeldIndependent · Audit | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Alexi WellmanIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Nominating and Corporate Governance | 0 | 122,293 | — | — | — | 122,293 |
| Drew BuckleyEmployee director | — | — | — | — | — | 0 |
Board fee structure and ownership guideline
| Annual cash retainer | $50,000 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | $200,000 |
| Per board meeting fee | — |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | 20,000 / 15,000 / 10,000 |
| Stock ownership guideline | — |
Total cost of the board
| Component | FY2025 |
|---|---|
| Cash retainers and fees | $0 |
| Equity awards (grant-date value) | $856,051 |
| All other compensation | $0 |
| Total cost of the board | $856,051 |
Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.
Peer group, and who names ESS Tech as a peer
Companies that benchmark against GWHT
No companies currently name GWHT as a compensation peer in their most recent disclosure.
This is the complete answer, not a partial one — the list is never padded.
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 | ESS Tech, Inc. | 2025 | Kelly Goodman | $402,432 | $142,770 | $0 | $0 | $883,202 |
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
No say-on-pay vote is on file for this company.
Insider trades since the proxy
No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.
Sources (16 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, Kelly Goodman. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 25. As printed: 883,202. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Eric Dresselhuys. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 25. As printed: 749,688. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Jigish Trivedi. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 25. As printed: 634,625. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Kate Suhadolnik. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 25. As printed: 464,758. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Anthony Rabb. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 25. As printed: 366,633. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Michael R. Niggli. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Sandeep Nijhawan. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Harry Quarls. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Kyle Teamey. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Raffi Garabedian. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Rich Hossfeld. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Alexi Wellman. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 122,293. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Drew Buckley. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
- Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 0 + equity 856,051 + all other 0 = 856,051, summed across the director compensation table rows.
- ESS Tech, Inc. (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-15. CEO total compensation as printed in ESS Tech, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 883,202. View filing ↗