Keith Correia

About Keith Correia

Keith Correia is Portillo’s Chief Information Officer, appointed in April 2024 (age 53), with a background in restaurant operations and enterprise IT, including CIO roles at Steak ‘n Shake and leadership across operations, retail technology, and innovation at Dairy Queen . He holds a BA in Geology from Union College . During his tenure-to-date, Portillo’s reported FY2024 revenues of $710.6M, adjusted EBITDA of $104.8M, net income of $35.1M, and restaurant-level adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.7% . In “Pay vs Performance,” a $100 investment in PTLO since IPO stood at $30.86 at FY2024, versus $100.21 for the S&P 600 Restaurants Index peer group, highlighting TSR headwinds .

Past Roles

Organization	Role	Years	Strategic Impact
Steak ‘n Shake	Chief Information Officer	2019–2024	Led technology to drive efficiencies and improve guest/team experiences
Dairy Queen	Operations/IT leadership (field ops turnaround; project management; equipment innovation; training; retail tech; ops efficiency)	Various	Led operational turnarounds; later advanced to leading IT and innovation

Performance Compensation

Company Short-Term Incentive (STI) Design (applies to Executive Officers)

Metric	Weighting	Target	Actual	Payout	Vesting
Adjusted EBITDA (FY2024)	75%	$110.7M	$104.760M	70.5% of component	Annual cash
Individual goals (FY2024)	25%	Objectives aligned to strategic pillars	Assessed by CEO/Comp Committee	0–200% based on performance	Annual cash

Notes: 2024 STI outcome for the financial component was 70.5%; overall NEO payouts reflected this with individual goal adjustments . Design emphasizes pay-for-performance and shareholder alignment .

Equity Awards – Keith Correia (granted at appointment)

Grant Date	Instrument	Shares/Units	Exercise Price	Vesting Schedule	Conditions
04/22/2024	RSUs	6,162	n/a	Time-based: 1/3 on each of the first three anniversaries of grant	Continued service; award agreement terms
04/22/2024	Stock Options	625,000	$12.17	1/3 potentially on 10/21/2024; 1/3 on 10/21/2025; 1/3 on 10/21/2026; expire 04/22/2034	Performance-vesting hurdles: 20-Day VWAP ≥ $30 (2024), ≥ $40 (2025), ≥ $50 (2026), subject to adjustment/acceleration/forfeiture

Equity Ownership & Alignment

Initial beneficial holdings at appointment: 6,162 time-vested RSUs and options on 625,000 shares (exercise price $12.17) with VWAP hurdles; options expire in 2034 .
Stock ownership guidelines: CIOs (other C-suite officers) are expected to hold 3x annual base salary; five-year grace period; compliance monitored using 90-day average price, with sale restrictions if below thresholds .
Hedging/pledging: Company prohibits hedging and pledging of Company securities for executives and Directors under the Insider Trading Compliance Policy .
Clawbacks: Incentive-Based Compensation Recovery Policy adopted in Oct 2023 per Nasdaq Listing Rule 5608; no recoveries to date .

Employment Terms

Provision	Key Terms
Senior Executive Severance Plan (SESP)	For SVP+ (covers C-suite other than CEO employment agreement). Without CIC: 1.0x base salary, pro-rated annual bonus, prior-year unpaid bonus, subsidized COBRA, outplacement; With CIC (double trigger within 24 months): 2.0x base + target bonus, pro-rated bonus, prior-year unpaid bonus, subsidized COBRA, outplacement .
Equity on CIC	Unvested equity generally vests upon double trigger termination or if surviving entity fails to assume awards; PSUs valued at target for scenarios in quantification examples .
Change-in-control policy mechanics	Plan-defined “Cause/Good Reason”; broad equity acceleration provisions; benefits quantified for NEOs at FY2024 prices in proxy (illustrative) .
Ownership/trading policies	Ownership guidelines and trading restrictions (no hedging/pledging), five-year compliance window .
Clawback policy	Nasdaq 5608-compliant recovery of erroneously awarded incentive compensation .

Execution Highlights and Risk Signals

Digital loyalty launch: Keith led frictionless, app-less Portillo’s Perks leveraging digital wallets; initial signup goal of 1.5–1.7M by midsummer 2025 . He also participated in investor outreach (ICR 2025) alongside CEO/CFO .
Enterprise modernization: Company invested in ERP/HCM implementations and cyber/DR/continuity processes under Audit Committee oversight in 2024, relevant to CIO remit .

Investment Implications

Alignment and retention: Two-thirds of Keith’s time-based RSUs remain to vest through 2026, and his large option grant vests only if ambitious VWAP thresholds ($30/$40/$50) are met, reinforcing performance alignment and reducing near-term selling pressure from unvested equity . Ownership guidelines and prohibitions on hedging/pledging further align incentives with shareholders .
Pay-for-performance framework: Executive STI is anchored to Adjusted EBITDA (75% weight) with clear targets and payouts (FY2024 outcome 70.5%), and LTI emphasizes multi-year RSUs/PSUs/options across the executive cadre, supporting disciplined capital allocation and margin focus amid TSR headwinds since IPO .
Change-in-control economics: SESP double-trigger 2x base+bonus and equity acceleration provide market-standard protection; clawback adoption mitigates governance risk and supports accountability .

Data sources: PTLO 2025 DEF 14A and related sections ; SEC Form 3 (Keith Correia) ; PTLO 8-K (ICR conference) ; PTLO press release (Portillo’s Perks) .