Mary Korthour
About Mary Korthour
Mary Korthour is Vice President, Customer Experience at Nuvera Communications (NUVR), promoted as part of a leadership transition on May 22, 2025; she now leads sales, marketing, products, and customer care . She has over 20 years with Nuvera, highlighted publicly in 2021 as Senior Director of Business Development; prior external bios list her as Vice President of Business Development . Education affiliations include Northern State University per LinkedIn; age and exact start-date are not publicly disclosed . Company performance metrics (e.g., strategic OIBITDA targets used for incentive plans and recent net losses) are disclosed at the corporate level: Nuvera targets ≥95% of budgeted OIBITDA for annual bonuses; FY2024 net loss was $4,427,810 .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuvera Communications | Vice President, Customer Experience | Promoted May 22, 2025 | Leads sales, marketing, product, customer care; aligns customer growth with fiber-forward strategy . |
| Nuvera Communications | Vice President, Business Development | Not disclosed | Leadership in business development; external profiles identify role . |
| Nuvera Communications | Senior Director, Business Development | 20 years tenure as of early 2021 | Long-tenured commercial leadership; featured internally as key employee . |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Jordan, MN (Council briefing) | Primary contact for Nuvera | 2023 | Presented Nuvera’s fiber expansion proposal; served as Business Development contact in public engagement . |
| Community Action Partnership of Scott, Carver & Dakota Counties | Volunteer (personal community involvement) | Not disclosed | Highlighted in Nuvera internal newsletter; community engagement . |
Fixed Compensation
- Mary’s specific base salary, target bonus %, and perquisites are not disclosed in public SEC filings; Nuvera’s DEF 14A reports NEO compensation only .
- Company-wide compensation philosophy: attract/retain talent, tie annual incentives to measurable corporate objectives, align incentives with shareholder value; set competitively vs similar-sized telecoms .
- Insider Trading Policy prohibits options transactions, short sales, hedging, margin purchases, and pledging of company stock—applies to directors, officers, employees (covers executive officers like Mary) .
- Clawback and Forfeiture Policy (adopted 2019, updated 2024) provides recoupment for accounting restatements and egregious misconduct for certain incentive compensation .
Performance Compensation
| Component | Metric | Target/Trigger | Payout Mechanics | Vesting/Timing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Management Incentive Plan (MIP) | OIBITDA vs budget | Plan pays only if ≥95% of budgeted OIBITDA | Board retains discretion to adjust payouts; NEO bonuses paid 50% in stock under 2015 Plan | Paid annually; executives may receive stock in lieu of cash | Applies company-wide; Mary-specific participation/targets not disclosed . |
| 2015 Employee Stock Plan | Stock payout election for incentive | Employees may receive up to 50% of earned incentive in Nuvera stock | Issued at Fair Market Value; share counting rules; plan term extended to 2027 | Subject to plan rules and insider trading policy | Amendments effective Feb 28, 2025; no share increase . |
| Long-Term Incentive (transition in 2025) | Cash-based 3-year cycles | Annual OIBITDA targets; continued service through 3-year cycle | Paid in cash at end of each 3-year period | 3 overlapping cycles; annual performance measured | Replaced NQSOs starting 2025; Mary-specific awards not disclosed . |
| Legacy Options (2017 Plan, grants through 2024) | NQSOs | Exercise price = closing price on last trading day in March | 10-year term; post-termination windows (90 days; 1 year death/disability; potential full-term at retirement ≥65; immediate expiry for cause) | Vesting: 1/3 each in years 1, 2, 3 after grant | Disclosed for NEOs; framework applies broadly; Mary-specific grants not disclosed . |
2024 NEO payouts were zero under the annual MIP due to not achieving the 95% OIBITDA threshold .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership table lists directors and NEOs; Mary is not included, and her shareholdings are not disclosed in the proxy .
- Anti-hedging and anti-pledging of Nuvera stock are prohibited for officers, which reduces misalignment risks; short sales and options transactions (outside company awards) are prohibited .
- Section 16(a) compliance: Nuvera states officers/directors satisfied filing requirements in 2025; no Mary-specific Form 4s are visible in our document search (Form 4 search returned none for NUVR).
Employment Terms
- Mary’s employment agreement terms (severance, change-of-control, non-compete/non-solicit) are not disclosed. Nuvera discloses NEO agreements with severance and change-of-control protection equal to 24 months of base salary if terminated without cause or for good reason within 12 months of a change-in-control (examples: COO 24 months; $486,450 illustrative as of 12/31/24), but these disclosures do not extend to Mary .
- Company governance emphasizes independent Board leadership, executive sessions of independent directors, and annual evaluations; succession planning is overseen by the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee .
Performance & Track Record
- Leadership scope: As VP Customer Experience (from May 22, 2025), Mary leads commercial and customer-facing functions that directly influence revenue growth, churn, ARPU, and OIBITDA alignment with incentive plans .
- Corporate performance context: Pay-versus-performance disclosure shows Nuvera’s net losses in 2023 and 2024 (e.g., $(4,427,810) in 2024), framing a higher bar for OIBITDA-based payouts; Mary’s specific performance outcomes are not separately disclosed .
Compensation Committee & Governance Context
- Compensation Committee: 2024 members—Dennis E. Miller (Chair), Wesley E. Schultz, Suzanne M. Spellacy; uses benchmarking to similar-sized telecoms and engaged Grant Thornton in 2025 for updated analysis .
- Say-on-pay: Shareholders previously approved say-on-pay (e.g., May 26, 2022); the 2025 proxy requests advisory approval and triennial frequency, indicating ongoing shareholder feedback processes .
Investment Implications
- Role leverage: Mary’s remit over sales, marketing, product, and customer care aligns directly with OIBITDA-driven incentive frameworks, placing emphasis on customer acquisition, retention, and pricing discipline crucial to annual plan attainment .
- Alignment controls: Company-wide anti-hedging and no-pledging policies reduce misalignment risks from executive equity behavior; clawback provisions mitigate misconduct or restatement risks tied to incentive pay .
- Data gaps: The absence of Mary-specific compensation, equity ownership, and employment agreement disclosures limits direct pay-for-performance calibration, severance/change-of-control modeling, and insider selling pressure analysis—investors should monitor future proxies and potential 8-K filings for any officer-specific arrangements .