Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

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Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

Director Independence

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, which are available on our website at https://investor.hp.com/governance/governance-documents/default.aspx, provide that a substantial majority of the Board will consist of independent Directors and that the Board can include no more than three Directors who are not independent Directors. The independence standards can be found as Exhibit A to our Corporate Governance Guidelines. Our Director independence standards are consistent with, and in some respects more stringent than, the NYSE director independence standards. In addition, each member of the Audit Committee meets the heightened independence standards required for audit committee members under the applicable listing and SEC standards and each member of the HRC Committee meets the heightened independence standards required for compensation committee members under the applicable listing standards and SEC standards.

Under our Corporate Governance Guidelines, a Director will not be considered independent in the following circumstances:

●The Director is, or has been within the last three years, an employee of HP, or an immediate family member of the Director is, or has been within the last three years, an executive officer of HP.
●The Director has been employed as an executive officer of HP, its subsidiaries or affiliates within the last five years.
●The Director has received, or has an immediate family member who has received, during any twelve-month period within the last three years, more than $120,000 in direct compensation from HP, other than compensation for Board service, compensation received by a Director’s immediate family member for service as a non-executive employee of HP, and pension or other forms of deferred compensation for prior service with HP that is not contingent on continued service.
●(A) The Director or an immediate family member is a current partner of the firm that is HP’s internal or external auditor; (B) the Director is a current employee of such a firm; (C) the Director has an immediate family member who is a current employee of such a firm and who personally worked on HP’s audit; or (D) the Director or an immediate family member was within the last three years (but is no longer) a partner or employee of such a firm and personally worked on HP’s audit within that time.
●The Director or an immediate family member is, or has been in the past three years, employed as an executive officer of another company where any of HP’s present executive officers at the same time serves or has served on that company’s compensation committee.
●The Director is a current employee, or an immediate family member is a current executive officer, of a company that has made payments to, or received payments from, HP for property or services in an amount which, in any of the last three fiscal years, exceeds the greater of $1 million, or 2% of such other company’s consolidated gross revenues.
●The Director is affiliated with a charitable organization that receives significant contributions from HP.
●The Director has a personal services contract with HP or an executive officer of HP.

For these purposes, an “immediate family” member includes a person’s spouse, parents, stepparents, children, step-children, siblings, mother and father-in-law, sons and daughters-in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law, and anyone (other than domestic employees) who shares the Director’s home.

In determining independence, the Board reviews whether Directors have any material relationship with HP. An independent Director must not have any material relationship with HP, either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with HP, nor any relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a Director. In assessing the materiality of a Director’s relationship to HP, the Board considers all relevant facts and circumstances, including consideration of the issues from the Director’s standpoint and from the perspective of the persons or organizations with which the Director has an affiliation, and is guided by the standards set forth above.

In making its independence determinations, the Board considered transactions occurring since the beginning of fiscal 2017 between HP and entities associated with the independent Directors or their immediate family members. In addition to the transactions described below under “Fiscal 2019 Related-Person Transactions,” if any, the Board’s independence determinations included consideration of the following transactions:

Current Directors:

●Mr. Bergh has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Levi Strauss & Co. since September 2011. HP has entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services in the ordinary course of its business during the past three fiscal years with Levi Strauss & Co. The amount that HP paid in each of the last three fiscal years to Levi Strauss & Co., and the amount received in each fiscal year by HP from Levi Strauss & Co., did not, in any of the previous three fiscal years, exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of either company’s consolidated gross revenues.
2019 Form 10-K½ 39

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●Mr. Clemmer has served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NXP Semiconductors N.V. since January 2009. HP has entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services in the ordinary course of its business during the past three fiscal years with NXP Semiconductors N.V. The amount that HP paid in each of the last three fiscal years to NXP Semiconductors N.V.,and the amount received in each fiscal year by HP from NXP Semiconductors N.V., did not, in any of the previous three fiscal years, exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of either company’s consolidated gross revenues.
●Mr. Suresh has served as President of Nanyang Technological University since January 2018. HP has entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services in the ordinary course of its business during the past three fiscal years with Nanyang Technological University. The amount that HP paid in each of the last three fiscal years to Nanyang Technological University, and the amount received in each fiscal year by HP from Nanyang Technological University, did not, in any of the previous three fiscal years, exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of either entity’s consolidated gross revenues.
●Ms. Matsuoka served as Vice President, Healthcare at Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, from 2018 to October 2019. HP has entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services in the ordinary course of its business during the past three fiscal years with Google and Alphabet. The amount that HP paid in each of the last three fiscal years to Google and Alphabet, and the amount received in each fiscal year by HP from Google and Alphabet, did not, in any of the previous three fiscal years, exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of either company’s consolidated gross revenues.
●Ms. Matsuoka has served as Division CEO at Panasonic since October 2019. HP has entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services in the ordinary course of its business during the past three fiscal years with Panasonic. The amount that HP paid in each of the last three fiscal years to Panasonic, and the amount received in each fiscal year by HP from Panasonic, did not, in any of the previous three fiscal years, exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of either company’s consolidated gross revenues.
●Each of Mr. Banerji, Mr. Bennett, Ms. Brown-Philpot, Dr. Burns, Ms. Citrino, Ms. Matsuoka, and Mr. Mobley, or one of their immediate family members, is a non-employee director, trustee or advisory board member of another company that did business with HP at some time during the past three fiscal years. These business relationships were as a supplier or purchaser of goods or services in the ordinary course of business.

As a result of this review, the Board has determined the transactions described above and below under “Fiscal 2019 Related-Person Transactions,” if any, would not interfere with the Director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a Director. The Board has also determined that, with the exception of Messrs. Lores and Weisler, (i) each of HP’s remaining Directors, including Ms. Alvarez, Mr. Banerji, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bergh, Ms. Brown-Philpot, Dr. Burns, Ms. Citrino, Mr. Clemmer, Ms. Matsuoka, Mr. Mobley and Mr. Suresh, and (ii) each of the members of the Audit Committee, the HRC Committee and the NGSR Committee, has (or had) no material relationship with HP (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with HP) and is (or was) independent within the meaning of the NYSE and our Director independence standards. The Board has determined that Mr. Lores is not independent because of his status as our current President and CEO, and Mr. Weisler is not independent due to his prior service as our President and CEO until November 1, 2019 and his subsequent role as Senior Executive Advisor to the Company.

Related Person Transactions Policies and Procedures

Related Person Transactions Policy

We have adopted a written policy for approval of transactions between us and our non-employee Directors, Director nominees, executive officers, beneficial owners of more than 5% of HP’s stock, and their respective immediate family members where the amount involved in the transaction exceeds or is expected to exceed $100,000 in a single calendar year.

The policy provides that the NGSR Committee reviews certain transactions subject to the policy and decides whether to approve or ratify those transactions. In doing so, the NGSR Committee determines whether the transaction is in the best interests of HP. In making that determination, the NGSR Committee considers, among other factors it deems appropriate:

●the extent of the related-person’s interest in the transaction;
●whether the transaction is on terms generally available to an unaffiliated third party under the same or similar circumstances;
●the benefits to HP;
●the impact or potential impact on a Director’s independence in the event the related person is a Director, an immediate family member of a Director or an entity in which a Director is a partner, 10% stockholder or executive officer;
●the availability of other sources for comparable products or services; and
●the terms of the transaction.
40 ½2019 Form 10-K

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The NGSR Committee has delegated authority to the Chair of the NGSR Committee to pre-approve or ratify transactions where the aggregate amount involved is expected to be less than $1 million.

A summary of any new transactions pre-approved by the Chair is provided to the full NGSR Committee for its review at each of the NGSR Committee’s regularly scheduled meetings.

The NGSR Committee has adopted standing pre-approvals under the policy for limited transactions with related persons. Pre-approved transactions include:

●compensation of executive officers that is excluded from reporting under SEC rules where the HRC Committee approved (or recommended that the Board approve) such compensation;
●non-employee Director compensation;
●transactions with another company with a value that does not exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of the other company’s annual revenues, where the related-person has an interest only as an employee (other than executive officer), Director or beneficial holder of less than 10% of the other company’s shares;
●contributions to a charity in an amount that does not exceed the greater of $1 million or 2% of the charity’s annual receipts, where the related person has an interest only as an employee (other than executive officer) or non-employee Director; and
●transactions where all stockholders receive proportional benefits.

A summary of new transactions covered by the standing pre-approvals relating to other companies (as described above) is provided to the NGSR Committee for its review in connection with that committee’s regularly scheduled meetings.

Fiscal 2019 Related-Person Transactions

We enter into commercial transactions with many entities for which our executive officers or non-employee Directors serve as non-employee Directors and/or employees in the ordinary course of our business. All those transactions were pre-approved transactions as defined above. There have otherwise been no related-person transactions (actual or proposed) since the beginning of HP’s last completed fiscal year.

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