Fiscal year 2025 executive and director compensation, incentive-plan design, equity activity, and governance — every figure in this brief is traceable to its exact location in the company’s SEC filing — the document, the section, the page, and the table, linked directly.
Each company listed discloses PBHC 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 PBHC in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.
| Named executive officer | Salary | Bonus | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Pension / NQDC | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Dowd | $440,000 | $104,438 | $1,167,600 | $0 | $0 | $4,482 | $103,936 | $1,820,456 |
| President and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||
| Justin Bigham | 305,000 | 65,911 | 800,640 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,565 | 1,217,116 |
| Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
| Joseph Serbun | 245,000 | 51,107 | 533,760 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19,758 | 849,625 |
| Senior Vice President and Chief Credit 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.
| Named executive officer | FY2025 total | FY2024 total | FY2023 total | Δ FY2024→2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Dowd | $1,820,456 | $615,069 | — | +1,205,387 |
| Justin Bigham | 1,217,116 | — | — | — |
| Joseph Serbun | 849,625 | — | — | — |
Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.
Every insider equity transaction reported on Form 4 after the 2025 proxy statement — acquisitions, dispositions, exercises, and withholdings — and therefore not reflected in any table in that document.
| Insider | Role | Transaction date | Code | Shares | Price | Value | Security | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie Littlejohn | Director | 2026-05-04 | D | 8,787 | $0 | $0 | Derivative, Class A Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| William D. O'Brien | Senior Vice President | 2026-05-04 | D | 7,908 | 0 | 0 | Derivative, Class A Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| James A. Dowd | President and CEO | 2026-05-04 | A | 2,816 | 11 | 31,962 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| James A. Dowd | President and CEO | 2026-05-04 | D | 2,816 | 0 | 0 | Derivative, Class A Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| Melanie Littlejohn | Director | 2026-05-04 | A | 8,787 | 11 | 99,732 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| Melanie Littlejohn | Director | 2026-05-04 | D | 7,913 | 13 | 106,671 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| William D. O'Brien | Senior Vice President | 2026-05-04 | A | 7,908 | 11 | 89,756 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| James A. Dowd | President and CEO | 2026-06-02 | A | 1,400 | 14 | 19,159 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
| Joseph Polniak | FVP, General Counsel | 2026-06-15 | A | 1,000 | 16 | 15,881 | Common | Form 4 ↗ |
Transaction codes per Form 4: A acquisition · S open-market sale · F tax withholding · M option exercise · G gift. Value = shares × price as reported. Dividend-equivalent and fractional-share accrual rows (derivative Class A, under $10,000 and under 2,000 shares) are aggregated per date; every row appears in full below.
| Executive | Award | Grant date | Threshold | Target | Granted | Maximum | Grant-date fair value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Dowd | RSU | — | — | — | 35,000 | — | $1,167,600 |
| Justin Bigham | RSU | — | — | — | 24,000 | — | 800,640 |
| Named executive officer | Time-vested (RSU) | Performance-vested (PSU) | Options / SARs | % performance-vested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Dowd | $1,167,600 | $0 | $0 | 0.0% |
| Justin Bigham | 800,640 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.
| Executive | Award | Shares unvested | Exercise price | Market value unvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Serbun | PSU | 16,000 | — | $225,760 |
| James Dowd | PSU | 35,000 | — | 493,850 |
| James Dowd | Option | 8,816 | 11.35 | — |
| James Dowd | RSU | 35,000 | — | 493,850 |
| Justin Bigham | PSU | 24,000 | — | 338,640 |
| Joseph Serbun | RSU | 16,000 | — | 225,760 |
| Justin Bigham | RSU | 24,000 | — | 338,640 |
The Company seeks to provide fair, transparent, and competitive compensation to its employees (including the Named Executive Officers described below) by providing the type and amount of compensation consistent with our peers. We also seek to drive performance through short-term incentive compensation and to align our executives interest with shareholders with appropriate equity awards.
| CEO STI target (% of salary) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO LTI target (% of salary) | — |
| Independent consultant | Blanchard Consulting Group |
| Clawback policy | true |
| Anti-hedging | true |
| Anti-pledging | true |
| Meeting year | Meeting date | For | Against | Abstain | Support | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024-06-06 | 3,116,755 | 139,488 | 42,848 | 95.72% | Passed |
| 2021 | 2021-06-04 | 2,786,489 | 69,795 | 40,132 | 97.56% | Passed |
| 2018 | 2018-05-09 | 2,254,793 | 75,592 | 51,360 | 96.76% | 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.
| Meeting year | Meeting date | Approval — company's computation |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2024-06-06 | 95.72%a |
| 2021 | 2021-06-04 | 97.56%b |
| 2018 | 2018-05-09 | 96.76%c |
a. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will not be counted as votes FOR or AGAINST this proposal and will have no effect on the outcome of this proposal.”.
c. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
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.
| Ratio (CEO : median employee) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO total compensation | — |
| Median employee compensation | — |
| Director | Cash fees | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William A. BarclayIndependent · Board Chair · Audit · Compensation · Nominating and Governance | $56,350 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $5,825 | $62,175 |
| David A. AyoubIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Compensation · Audit Committee Member (Chair) | 49,933 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,350 | 58,283 |
| Lloyd "Buddy" StempleIndependent · Compensation · Nominating and Governance | 35,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11,762 | 47,262 |
| John P. FunicielloIndependent | 37,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,350 | 45,850 |
| John F. Sharkey, IIIIndependent · Audit | 33,300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6,036 | 39,336 |
| Adam C. GagasIndependent · Compensation (Chair) · Nominating and Governance · Compensation Committee Member (Chair) | 37,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37,000 |
| Melanie LittlejohnIndependent · Audit · Nominating and Governance (Chair) · Nominating and Governance Committee Member (Chair) | 36,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36,500 |
| Eric AllynIndependent · Audit · Compensation · Nominating and Governance | 35,300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,300 |
| Tony ScavuzzoIndependent · Compensation | 32,400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,400 |
| Meghan Crawford-HamlinIndependent | 30,400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,400 |
| James A. DowdEmployee director | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Annual cash retainer | $20,000 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | — |
| Per board meeting fee | $800 |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | 4,100 / 10,100 |
| Stock ownership guideline | — |
| Component | FY2025 |
|---|---|
| Cash retainers and fees | $384,183 |
| Equity awards (grant-date value) | $0 |
| All other compensation | $40,323 |
| Total cost of the board | $424,506 |
Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.
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 | Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. | 2025 | James Dowd | $440,000 | $1,167,600 | $0 | $0 | $1,820,456 |
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.
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.
Each figure's location is given both for the eye (section · page · table · row · column) and for a script (table/row/column index and exact character span in the filed document). Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.
| # | Supports | Document | Filed | Accession | Location in document |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Section 01, James Dowd | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS”. As printed: 1,820,456. Filing ↗machine: r4 · c14 · span 460062–460071 |
| 2 | Section 01, Justin Bigham | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS”. As printed: 1,217,116. Filing ↗machine: r7 · c14 · span 478335–478344 |
| 3 | Section 01, Joseph Serbun | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS”. As printed: 849,625. Filing ↗machine: r10 · c14 · span 496524–496531 |
| 4 | Section 03, James Dowd RSU | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “A. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION &” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: t6 · r4 · c8 · span 457920–457929 |
| 5 | Section 03, Justin Bigham RSU | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “A. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION &” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: t6 · r7 · c8 · span 476200–476207 |
| 6 | Section 07, pay ratio | 10-K | 2026-03-30 | 0001193125-26-132075 | Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: —. Filing ↗ |
| 7 | Section 08, William A. Barclay | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 62,175. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r5 · c8 · span 765930–765936 |
| 8 | Section 08, David A. Ayoub | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 58,283. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r4 · c8 · span 761833–761839 |
| 9 | Section 08, Lloyd "Buddy" Stemple | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 47,262. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r12 · c8 · span 795069–795075 |
| 10 | Section 08, John P. Funiciello | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 45,850. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r7 · c8 · span 774130–774136 |
| 11 | Section 08, John F. Sharkey, III | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 39,336. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r11 · c8 · span 790968–790974 |
| 12 | Section 08, Adam C. Gagas | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 37,000. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r8 · c2 · span 776028–776034 |
| 13 | Section 08, Melanie Littlejohn | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 36,500. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r9 · c2 · span 780276–780282 |
| 14 | Section 08, Eric Allyn | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 35,300. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r3 · c2 · span 755246–755252 |
| 15 | Section 08, Tony Scavuzzo | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 32,400. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r10 · c2 · span 784524–784530 |
| 16 | Section 08, Meghan Crawford-Hamlin | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 30,400. Filing ↗machine: t12 · r6 · c2 · span 767688–767694 |
| 17 | Section 08, James A. Dowd | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗ |
| 18 | Section 02, Melanie Littlejohn 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-209029 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 19 | Section 02, William D. O'Brien 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-208985 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 20 | Section 02, James A. Dowd 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-208964 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 21 | Section 02, James A. Dowd 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-208964 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 22 | Section 02, Melanie Littlejohn 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-209029 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 23 | Section 02, Melanie Littlejohn 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-209029 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 24 | Section 02, William D. O'Brien 2026-05-04 | Form 4 | 2026-05-06 | 0001193125-26-208985 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 25 | Section 02, James A. Dowd 2026-06-02 | Form 4 | 2026-06-04 | 0001193125-26-257073 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 26 | Section 02, Joseph Polniak 2026-06-15 | Form 4 | 2026-06-16 | 0001193125-26-272266 | Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗ |
| 27 | Section 06, 2024 vote | Form 8-K | 2024-06-07 | 0000950170-24-070377 | Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 95.72% (votes for as printed: 3,116,755). Filing ↗ |
| 28 | Section 06, 2021 vote | Form 8-K | 2021-06-10 | 0001564590-21-032363 | Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 97.56%. Filing ↗ |
| 29 | Section 06, 2018 vote | Form 8-K | 2018-05-09 | 0001564590-18-012352 | Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 96.76%. Filing ↗ |
| 30 | Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed) | Computed | — | computed | Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.machine: formula: Δ = FY(n) − FY(n−1) |
| 31 | Section 03b vehicle mix (computed) | Computed | — | computed | RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).machine: formula: sums + PSU ratio |
| 32 | Section 09b board cost (computed) | Computed | — | computed | Cash 384,183 + equity 0 + all other 40,323 = 424,506, summed across the director compensation table rows.machine: formula: Σ = 424,506 |
| 33 | Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. (subject), Section 10b CEO total | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0001193125-26-169428 | CEO total compensation as printed in Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 1,820,456. Filing ↗machine: r4 · c14 · span 460062–460071 |