Anat Bird

About Anat Bird

Anat Bird, age 73, has served on WSFS’s board since 2010 (15 years’ tenure) and is currently in a term ending 2027; she is an independent director with deep banking, risk, and executive management experience, including authoring six books on banking and leading SCB Forums, LTD (an RMA division) since 1994 . Her education includes a BA and MA in International Relations and Psychology (Hebrew University), an MBA in Finance (American University), and a Wharton diploma in Corporate Strategic Planning .

Past Roles

External Roles

Board Governance

• Independence: The board determined all directors other than the CEO are independent under Nasdaq standards; Bird is independent .
• Attendance: The board met 7 times in 2024; each director attended at least 75% of board and committee meetings, and all attended last year’s annual meeting .
• Committee memberships and 2024 meeting cadence:
  • Audit Committee (member; 6 meetings)
  • Risk Committee (member; 6 meetings)
  • Wealth Management Fiduciary Audit Committee (member; 4 meetings)
  • Wealth Management Fiduciary Committee (member; 6 meetings)

• Board structure: Classified board with three-year terms; Bird’s current term ends 2027 . Lead Independent Director framework ensures independent oversight; executive sessions occur regularly without management present .

Fixed Compensation

Director pay structure and Bird’s 2024 actual:

• Standard structure:
  • Annual board retainer: $120,000 total (cash $60,000 paid in July; stock $60,000 granted based on Nasdaq closing price on the second Friday in Aug 2024) .
  • Committee membership fees (annual): Audit/WM Fiduciary Audit $14,250; Governance & Nominating $7,500; Executive $7,500; Risk $7,500; Leadership & Compensation $7,500; Wealth Mgmt Fiduciary $7,500 .
  • Committee chair fees (annual): Audit/WM Fiduciary Audit $13,500; Governance $8,500; Leadership & Compensation $11,000; Risk $8,500; Wealth Mgmt Fiduciary $8,500 .
• 2024 Bird actual compensation:
  • Cash fees: $89,250; Stock awards: $60,000; Total: $149,250 .

Additional features:

• Director Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan available; WSFS has discretion to contribute but did not for directors; participation voluntary (Bird not listed as deferring all fees) .
• No option grants to non-employee directors disclosed; routine equity is common stock retainer .

Performance Compensation

• WSFS does not disclose performance-based equity or cash metrics for non-employee directors; director equity is a fixed-value annual grant of common stock ($60,000) rather than PSUs/metric-linked awards .

Other Directorships & Interlocks

WSFS policy requires Governance & Nominating Committee oversight of related party transactions; none reported for 2024 above thresholds and no Regulation O extensions of credit occurred in 2024 .

Expertise & Qualifications

• Strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory and risk management; national/global banking perspective; author of six banking books .
• Academic credentials spanning finance and strategic planning (MBA Finance; Wharton diploma) .
• Long-tenured external banking board experience (MidFirst, Sterling, Sun Bancorp, First Indiana, AmTrust) .

Equity Ownership

• Beneficial ownership: 24,765 shares; less than 1% of outstanding common stock as of March 14, 2025 .
• Director stock ownership guideline: minimum 5,000 shares; Bird’s holdings exceed guideline .
• Hedging is prohibited for WSFS insiders; no pledging disclosures for directors found in proxy .

Governance Assessment

• Strengths: Independence; long tenure with deep risk and audit committee engagement; consistent attendance; meaningful personal share ownership exceeding guideline; no related-party transactions or Reg O extensions disclosed that would raise conflicts .
• Compensation alignment: Fixed cash retainer plus equity in common stock promotes alignment; absence of performance-linked director pay avoids metric gaming but places alignment primarily through ownership .
• Board effectiveness signals: Robust committee cadence (Audit/Risk/Wealth) and independent oversight; regular executive sessions; classified board balanced with cumulative voting rights for shareholder influence .
• Broader governance: 2024 say-on-pay approval exceeded 87%, indicating shareholder support for compensation governance; clawback policy compliant with SEC/Nasdaq; insider hedging prohibited; stock ownership guidelines in place .

RED FLAGS: None disclosed specific to Bird. No related-party transactions, loans, pledging, or attendance issues noted for 2024; director is independent and not a committee chair, reducing fee-driven conflicts; interlock via RMA is educational rather than transactional, with WSFS oversight policy in place .