Benjamin Lindquist

About Benjamin Lindquist

Benjamin Lindquist is Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary of Leslie’s, Inc. (LESL). He is 39, has served as SVP since April 2024, and has progressed through the company’s legal department since joining in August 2013; prior roles include Vice President & Corporate Counsel (Nov 2018–Dec 2022) and Vice President & Associate General Counsel (Dec 2022–Apr 2024). He holds a B.S. in Finance and Information Systems from the University of Utah and a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law . As Corporate Secretary, he is the named author and proxy signatory on company proxy materials and SEC filings, evidencing central governance responsibility .

Company performance context during and prior to his tenure:

Notably, fiscal 2024 performance against incentive metrics was below threshold; NEOs received no cash bonuses, forfeited the second tranche of FY2023 PSUs (2023–2024), and FY2024 PSUs (2024–2025) are tracking below target .

Past Roles

External Roles

No external directorships or public-company board roles disclosed for Lindquist .

Fixed Compensation

• Lindquist is an executive officer but not disclosed as a Named Executive Officer (NEO) in the company’s proxy; therefore, specific base salary, target bonus, and actual bonus amounts are not disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table .

Performance Compensation

Program structure (company-wide design relevant to executive officers/NEOs):

• Annual cash bonus opportunities (ACBO) are based on Adjusted EBITDA targets; payouts were $0 in FY2024 due to below-threshold performance .
• RSUs generally vest 25% annually on each of the four anniversaries following grant, subject to continued service .
• FY2023 PSUs second tranche (2023–2024) was forfeited; remaining FY2023 PSUs are not currently anticipated to be earned; FY2024 PSUs (2024–2025) are tracking below target .

Note: Individual grant details (share counts, fair value, or strike prices) for Lindquist are not disclosed; RSU/PSU figures in the proxy relate to NEOs .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Stock ownership guidelines for executives require minimum holdings based on salary multiples: CEO 6x; CFO/COO 3x; Other designated officers 2x. Executives must retain 50% of net shares from option exercises/RSU vesting until guidelines are met; unearned PSUs and unexercised options do not count toward compliance .
• Hedging and pledging are prohibited; executives and directors may not hold company stock in margin accounts or pledge as collateral, nor engage in short sales or derivative hedges .
• Beneficial ownership tables list NEOs, directors, and group totals; Lindquist is not individually enumerated. As of Dec 31, 2024: “All current directors and executive officers as a group (13 individuals)” held 782,603 shares (0.4% of 185,208,018 shares outstanding) . As of Jul 14, 2025: group total was 1,290,799 shares (less than 1%) of 185,578,489 shares .

Employment Terms

• Executive officer status: Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary since April 2024 .
• Prior internal appointments: VP & Associate GC (Dec 2022–Apr 2024), VP & Corporate Counsel (Nov 2018–Dec 2022), legal roles since Aug 2013 .
• No specific employment agreement, severance, change-of-control, or non-compete terms for Lindquist are disclosed in the available filings. CEO and other NEO severance/change-of-control terms are disclosed separately, but not applicable to Lindquist’s disclosed materials .

Compensation Peer Group (Benchmarking)

Used by the Compensation Committee (with FW Cook) for FY2024 NEO benchmarking; Leslie’s market cap and trailing four-quarter revenues were just below peer median when approved (May 2023). Peer group reviewed annually .

Governance & Compliance Signals

• Corporate governance: Lindquist is Corporate Secretary and formal signatory of proxy and SEC filings, indicating direct involvement in governance, shareholder communications, and legal compliance .
• Program safeguards: independent compensation consultant (FW Cook), robust recoupment policy, prohibition on single-trigger change-in-control payments, no option repricing without shareholder approval .
• Related-party transactions: Policy requires Audit Committee approval; no transactions disclosed relating to Lindquist. A director’s family employment is disclosed separately (unrelated to Lindquist) .

Insider Trading & Selling Pressure

• Hedging/pledging prohibited; margin accounts and pledges are banned for executives/directors, materially reducing forced-selling/pledging risk .
• Section 16 compliance: all officers/directors timely filed in FY2024; no delinquent reports noted .
• Form 4 inventory: No individual Form 4 filings for Lindquist found in the available corpus; thus, no disclosed insider sales/buys to analyze from these sources [ListDocuments result—none for type 4].

Investment Implications

• Alignment: Strong structural alignment via stock ownership guidelines and mandatory 50% share retention, plus strict hedging/pledging prohibitions, reduces misalignment and collateral-driven selling risks .
• Performance sensitivity: Incentive design ties payouts to Adjusted EBITDA; FY2024 underperformance led to zero annual bonuses and PSU forfeitures—signals discipline and reduced windfall risk; however, it may also increase retention risk for some executives if equity remains out-of-the-money or unearned .
• Disclosure limits: As a non-NEO executive, Lindquist’s detailed compensation, severance, and individual ownership are not disclosed; this constrains precise pay-for-performance and skin-in-the-game analysis for him specifically .
• Governance role: His central role as Corporate Secretary and filer/signatory enhances visibility into governance execution; from an investor perspective, this supports confidence in process integrity around proxies, charter amendments, and SEC communications .