Avery Dennison (AVY) DEF 14ADefinitive proxy

2024 NOTICE AND PROXY STATEMENT AVERY DENNISON

NOTICE OF ANNUAL

MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

Our Board recommends that you vote FOR each of our 10 director nominees in Item 1 and FOR Items 2, 3 and 4.

We want your shares to be represented and voted. We encourage you to vote promptly as this will save us the time and expense of additional proxy solicitation. As shown below, you can vote online, by telephone, by mail or, in certain circumstances, during the meeting.

On behalf of our Board of Directors, management and team members worldwide, thank you for investing in us and our company. We look forward to engaging with you during the virtual Annual Meeting.

Vikas Arora

Vice President, Associate General Counsel and

Corporate Secretary

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROXY SUMMARY

This proxy summary includes key messages related to this proxy statement and does not contain all the information you should consider before voting. We strongly encourage you to read the entire proxy statement before voting.

INFORMATION REGARDING ANNUAL MEETING

Distribution of Proxy Materials

Time, Date and Format of Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting will take place at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on April 25, 2024. To allow stockholders to attend without the time and expense of doing so in person, the meeting will be held virtually, with attendance via the internet. To attend the virtual Annual Meeting, you will need to log in to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/AVY2024 using the 16-digit control number on your Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, proxy card or voting instruction form.

Online access to the live audio webcast of the Annual Meeting will open at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time to allow time for you to log in and test your device’s audio system. We encourage you to access the meeting in advance of its start time as we plan to begin the meeting promptly. For additional instructions on how to attend the virtual Annual Meeting, please refer to the Voting and Meeting Q&A section of this proxy statement.

Items Being Voted on During Annual Meeting

You are being asked to vote on the items of business shown below during the Annual Meeting. Our Board of Directors (our “Board”) recommends that you vote for each of our 10 director nominees and for Items 2, 3 and 4.

ITEM OF BUSINESS

BOARD RECOMMENDATION

VOTE REQUIRED

DISCRETIONARY BROKER VOTING

PAGE

1

Election of directors

FOR each nominee

Majority of votes cast

No

39

2

Advisory vote to approve executive compensation

FOR

Majority of shares represented and entitled to vote

No

50

3

Approval of a Certificate of Amendment to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to provide that stockholders holding 25% of outstanding common stock have the right to request that we call special meetings of stockholders

FOR

Majority of shares outstanding

No

94

4

Ratification of appointment of PwC as our independent registered public accounting firm for FY 2024

FOR

Majority of shares represented and entitled to vote

Yes

96

Voting Prior to or During Annual Meeting

You may vote your shares by submitting a proxy in advance of the Annual Meeting online, by telephone or by mail; only in certain circumstances may you vote during the meeting. If you are a registered stockholder who has not previously voted or wants to change your vote, you may vote during the Annual Meeting. Beneficial holders may only vote during the meeting if they properly request and receive a legal proxy in their name from the broker, bank or other nominee that holds their shares. Shares held through our Employee Savings Plan may not be voted during the meeting. Whether or not you plan to attend the virtual Annual Meeting, we urge you to vote and submit your proxy promptly by following the instructions on your Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, proxy card or voting instruction form.

Asking Questions During Annual Meeting

We have designed the virtual Annual Meeting to ensure that you have the same rights and opportunities to participate as you would at an in-person meeting, with an easy-to-use online platform that allows you to attend, vote and ask questions. After we have finished acting upon the Annual Meeting items of business and the meeting is adjourned, our Executive Chairman will lead a Q&A session during which we intend to answer all questions submitted timely that are pertinent to our company or the items brought before stockholder vote. Answers to questions not addressed during the meeting, if any, will be posted promptly after the meeting on the investors section of our website. For information on how to submit questions during the Annual Meeting, please refer to the Voting and Meeting Q&A section of this proxy statement.

OUR COMPANY

We are a global materials science and digital identification solutions company that provides a wide range of branding and information solutions that optimize labor and supply chain efficiency, reduce waste, advance sustainability, circularity and transparency, and better connect brands and consumers. Our products and solutions include labeling and functional materials, radio frequency identification (RFID) inlays and tags, software applications that connect the physical and digital, and a variety of products and solutions that enhance branded packaging and carry or display information that improves the customer experience. We serve an array of industries worldwide, including home and personal care, apparel, general retail, e-commerce, logistics, food and grocery, pharmaceuticals and automotive.

Our company is composed of two reportable segments, Materials Group and Solutions Group. Materials Group is a leading provider to pressure-sensitive label and graphics industries worldwide. Our innovative products include label materials, graphics and reflective materials and functional bonding materials, such as tapes. Our label materials enhance shelf appeal for brands, inform shoppers, advance circularity, increase transparency, help reduce waste and improve operational supply chain efficiency. Our graphics portfolio offers highly engineered materials that range from vehicle wraps to architectural films. Materials Group plays a key role in advancing our fast-growing Intelligent Labels business, providing the materials science capabilities and process engineering expertise essential to developing and manufacturing intelligent labels at scale.

Solutions Group is a leading global provider of information and branding products and solutions that cover a breadth of customer needs from digital identification and data management, branding and embellishment, as well as productivity, pricing and retail media. We empower customers across multiple retail and industry segments to connect the physical and digital, leveraging our industry-leading RFID solutions. Our technology addresses complex customer challenges, provides transparency and visibility across supply chains, improves labor and waste efficiency, and enables better consumer experiences at the point of purchase and beyond. Market segments served include the global apparel, logistics, food and grocery, and general retail industries. As a large ultra-high frequency RFID solutions provider, we leverage our innovation and data management capabilities, global footprint and market access in the ongoing advancement of our Intelligent Labels business.

STRATEGY OVERVIEW

We are committed to ensuring the long-term success of all our stakeholders – our customers, investors, employees and communities. Over the past five years, we have focused on delivering to our potential by managing through macro volatility while evolving our aspirations. In 2023, we evolved our long-term strategies as shown below, adding a vital new one that reflects our growing Materials and Solutions connected capabilities and combining two of our former strategies into one.

Our customers are increasingly looking for help solving some of the most complex industry challenges, including labor efficiency and supply chain effectiveness; waste reduction, circularity and transparency; and better connection between brands and consumers. We believe that physical items will need a digital identity to solve these challenges, and that we are well-positioned to help the industries we serve overcome them. Our vision is to leverage the strengths of our Materials and Solutions businesses to lead at the intersection of the physical and digital.

We plan to realize this vision through segment leadership, market-driven innovation, and advancement of integrated digital solutions, leveraging our Intelligent Labels business. Our areas of focus address key megatrends that present both risks and opportunities for our company as we seek to help our customers navigate the increasingly digital world and operate more sustainably.

Our strategies prioritize using our market insights, driving long-term innovation and enhancing the digital capability of our teams, while continuing to execute well in the core businesses that have been key to our success. Our five strategic pillars and 2023 achievements are shown below.

STRATEGIC PILLARS

Drive outsized growth in high-value categories through market-driven innovation

Grow profitably in our base businesses

Lead at the intersection of the physical and digital

Effectively allocate capital and relentlessly focus on productivity

Lead in an environmentally and socially responsible manner

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

2023 Performance

Although a lower demand environment driven primarily by significant inventory destocking downstream from our company led to a challenging 2023, we delivered sequential improvement each quarter during the year and continued advancement in key growth areas such as Intelligent Labels. Market conditions were significantly worse than we initially anticipated, which resulted in our not realizing our annual performance expectations. Demonstrating strength and resiliency, we navigated the challenging environment, protecting margins; improving service for our customers; deepening our insights into the drivers of demand and inventory throughout our value chain; continuing to shift our product portfolio toward high-value categories, particularly Intelligent Labels; and generating strong cash flow. By leveraging our core strengths of productivity, cost management and capital stewardship and expanding our potential in intelligent label solutions, we mitigated the impact of the lower volume environment on our bottom line.

Key financial results for the year are shown below.

Sales change excluding the impact of currency (sales change ex. currency), adjusted EPS, adjusted free cash flow and ROTC – as well as organic sales change, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA margin, which are used later in this proxy statement – are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures that we use internally and provide to assist investors in assessing our performance, operating trends and liquidity. These measures are defined, qualified and reconciled from generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (GAAP) in Appendix A of this proxy statement. These non-GAAP financial measures are not a substitute for or superior to the comparable financial measures under GAAP.

The fundamentals of our business shown below continue to provide us with significant competitive advantage.

Progress Toward 2025 Financial Targets

In March 2021, we announced financial targets through 2025. Given the challenges we experienced in 2023, our progress toward these long-term targets slowed during the year; however, we expect significant progress in 2024 as label and apparel markets rebound and growth in our Intelligent Labels business accelerates. We believe that our strategies, together with our team’s ability to execute in various environments, will allow us to continue generating long-term value creation through a balance of GDP+ growth and strong returns, as we unlock significant growth opportunities and our core businesses rebound.

In 2021-2023, on a three-year compound annual basis (with 2020 as the base period), GAAP reported net sales increased by 6.3%, while GAAP operating income, net income and EPS decreased by 1.1%, 3.3% and 2.1%, respectively. GAAP reported operating margin in 2023 was 9.4%.

Effective Capital Allocation

We have invested in our businesses to support organic growth and acquired companies that expand our capabilities in high-value product categories, increase our pace of innovation and advance our sustainability priorities. Our fixed and IT capital spending in 2023 of $285.1 million was comparable to 2022, reflecting our continued investment in high-value categories, particularly our Intelligent Labels business. During the year, we acquired Thermopatch, Inc. (“Thermopatch”), a New York-based manufacturer specializing in labeling, embellishments and transfers for the sports, industrial laundry, workwear and hospitality industries; LG Group, Inc. (“Lion Brothers”), a Maryland-based designer and manufacturer of apparel brand embellishments; and Silver Crystal Group (“Silver Crystal”), a Canada-based provider of sports apparel customizations and application solutions across in-venue, direct-to-business and e-commerce platforms; together, these acquisitions expand the external embellishments portfolio in our Solutions Group. We also made one venture investment in a company developing technological solutions that we believe have the potential to advance our strategies.

In 2023, we paid $256.7 million in dividends of $3.18 per share and repurchased 0.8 million shares of our common stock. We raised our quarterly dividend rate by ~8% in April 2023.

As shown below, over the last five years, we have deployed over $2 billion to acquisitions (including venture investments) and returned over $2 billion to stockholders in dividends and share repurchases.

Longer-Term Total Stockholder Return (TSR) Outperformance

Our TSR in 2023 was modestly below the TSR of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Industrials Index and modestly above the Dow Jones U.S. Container & Packaging Index, three comparator groups we use to assess our relative performance. In 2023, we disaggregated our market basket comparator group used in previous years into the S&P 500 Industrials Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Container & Packaging Index, of which we are a member. We believe this presentation provides greater clarity on our relative performance, reflecting it in a manner more consistent with the methodology used by peer companies.

We believe that our longer-term TSR is a more meaningful measure than our one-year TSR, which can be impacted by short-term market volatility unrelated to our performance. Our five-year cumulative TSR significantly outperformed all three of these comparator groups.

LEADERSHIP TRANSITION

In May 2023, Mitch Butier announced his decision to step down as our CEO. Our Board elected Mr. Butier as Executive Chairman effective September 1, 2023 to ensure a smooth transition by providing counsel and guidance to our new CEO, noting that, during his tenure as CEO, our company delivered superior performance while creating even greater future potential, accelerated growth and expanded margins, and advanced our sustainability priorities.

Our Board has a well-established CEO succession planning process that is part of its broader ongoing leadership succession planning. Reflecting a thoughtful succession process, in May 2023 our Board elected Deon Stander as President/CEO, effective September 1, 2023. Mr. Stander had been our President/Chief Operating Officer (COO) since March 2022, after having served as Vice President/General Manager of our business now known as Solutions Group since June 2015. Having evaluated his attributes, experiences and strengths as a leader during multiple discussions over the preceding 18-24 months, our Board determined that Mr. Stander, who has served in a number of leadership roles across the globe with increasing responsibility and impact during his 20-year career with our company, was the right individual to lead our company into the future. Mr. Stander has a proven track record, including leading the transformation of our Solutions business and helping accelerate growth in Intelligent Labels.

In connection with their transitions to these respective roles, giving consideration to the advice of its independent compensation consultant, WTW, our Board’s Talent and Compensation Committee (the “Compensation Committee”) made the decisions described below related to the compensation of Messrs. Stander and Butier.

2024 DIRECTOR NOMINEES (ITEM 1)

As previously disclosed, in February 2024, Julia Stewart notified our Board of her intention not to stand for reelection at the Annual Meeting. As a result, her membership on our Board will end on the date of the Annual Meeting.

Board Performance Highlights

Our Board provides strong oversight of our management team and company, with highlights of its accomplishments in recent years described below.

Matrix of Director Nominee Skills, Qualifications and Demographic Backgrounds

Our director nominees bring a balance of skills, qualifications and demographic backgrounds to their roles in providing oversight of our company, as shown by individual in the matrix below. This matrix, which has been revised and expanded from previous years to, among other things, specify key areas of industry and functional experience or expertise, reflects additional information we solicited from directors in our year-end 2023 questionnaire.

DIRECTOR NOMINEE MATRIX

Board Governance Highlights

Highlights of our governance program are shown below.

SUSTAINABILITY

We have been consistently focused on advancing our sustainability agenda by establishing our priorities, setting ambitious goals and making consistent progress toward their achievement. Our sustainability progress reflects the leadership of our management team and the engagement and oversight of our Board, as well as the commitment and passion of our team members worldwide.

Sustainability Governance

We believe that strong sustainability governance ensures consistency and accuracy of information we use to provide transparency to our stakeholders. Our governance structure is shown below.

Sustainability Data and Reporting

We continue to refine and expand the sustainability data we disclose, which has provided our stakeholders with regular insight into our progress. Our sustainability data is indexed to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) frameworks to facilitate comparability of our results with those of other companies. We partnered with a third-party expert to assess our disclosures against the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) regarding the information that companies should disclose to allow their stakeholders to assess and price their climate-related risks and have developed a plan to align with TCFD requirements. We also report to Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate, Water and Forests and support the growing adoption of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards. We plan to assess our reporting against ISSB standards, and other disclosures that incorporate those standards, as part of our ongoing sustainability reporting transparency efforts.

Our March 2024 ESG Download, being made available on our website at esg.averydennison.com on or before the filing of our definitive proxy statement, reflects our focus and progress on sustainability and governance matters. It includes ~140 metrics covering our policies, goals, strategies, risks, outcomes and certifications. Information on our website is not and should not be considered part of, nor is it incorporated by reference into, this proxy statement.

Sustainability Progress

Sustainability is one of our core values and has long been integral to our way of doing business. To create value for all our stakeholders, we are advancing our sustainability strategic innovation platform focused, among other things, on material circularity and waste reduction/elimination; building a more diverse workforce and inclusive and equitable culture; maintaining operations that promote health and safety; and supporting our communities. Integrating sustainability into our business strategies has helped us engage employees at all levels to deliver sustained progress.

In the first eight years of the 10-year horizon for our 2025 sustainability goals, we have made substantial progress, including exceeding our goal for cumulative GHG emissions reduction, as shown in the scorecard below. You can find additional information on our sustainability progress in our 2023 Integrated Report being furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prior to the distribution of our proxy materials, as well as in our March 2024 ESG Download.

After completing our biannual materiality assessment in 2020 to prioritize the most significant environmental and social sustainability challenges then facing our company and our stakeholders, we established an additional set of sustainability goals that we are aiming to achieve by 2030. Within these goals, we have specific targets. In 2022, we completed an enhanced materiality assessment, which included an updated mapping of our sustainability priorities throughout our value chain. This process included interviews with internal and external stakeholders such as members of management, customers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as industry analysis. The topics that ranked highest in the assessment also offer substantial value-creation opportunities for our company and customers. The most material topics identified in our 2022 materiality assessment – transition to a circular economy, advanced technologies and innovation, climate change, GHG emissions and reduction, supply chain, fair and inclusive marketplace, materials management and operational waste – are all reflected in our 2030 sustainability goals and targets. Our progress toward our 2030 goals through 2023 is shown below.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Our employee experience depends on our culture, technology and work environment, whether in an office, remote or hybrid. To enhance this experience, we have advanced our professional-level onboarding and expanded digital access for our manufacturing and remote employees; enabled the continuous growth of our employee resource groups (ERGs), which are open to all employees; further enhanced flexible work arrangements; provided more targeted talent development programming; and matured our enterprise leader development program.

Diversity is one of our core values, reflecting our commitment to ensuring an inclusive and equitable environment for people of all backgrounds. It is our belief that we gain strength from diverse ideas and teams. Our DEI efforts are intended to foster an environment where our employees can grow and be increasingly productive and innovative, enhancing our reputation as a great place to work and allowing us to attract and retain talent for the benefit of our stakeholders. We hold ourselves accountable for our DEI progress in our 2030 sustainability goals. Over the past several years, we have significantly advanced our DEI journey, as shown below. Our 2023 EEO-1 statistics, which reflect the voluntary self-identification by our U.S. employees, can be found in our March 2024 ESG Download.

In 2024, we plan to maintain our focus on fair and transparent talent practices and standards, equitable access to opportunities for career growth and development, and manufacturing team communication and camaraderie.

STOCKHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

In addition to our ongoing investor relations program through which our CEO, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), business leaders and Investor Relations team engage with our investors throughout the year, for over a decade, we have semiannually engaged with stockholders to solicit feedback on our strategies, executive compensation and sustainability progress, offering to include directors as participants in scheduled meetings. The objectives of this program are to maintain regular and thoughtful engagement to directly obtain investor feedback; continue to strengthen our relationships with key investors; and gather perspectives on our sustainability and governance profile to identify potential improvement opportunities. Our Board and management believe that ongoing stockholder engagement fosters a deeper understanding of evolving investor expectations and helps ensure we continue to reflect best practices.

2023 Engagement Results

2023 ENGAGEMENT RESULTS*
			Outreach			Conversations
In 2023, we contacted our top 35 investors in proxy season and the off-season. Board members, in particular our Lead Independent Director (LID), and management were made available to answer questions and discuss matters of investor interest. We engaged with every stockholder who requested a meeting or accepted our invitation to meet, and our Lead Independent Director led the majority of our off-season engagements.

We discussed the results and feedback from our 2023 engagement regarding executive compensation and social sustainability with the Compensation Committee and regarding governance and environmental sustainability with our Board’s Governance Committee. We also shared highlights with our Board to supplement the reports from those Committee Chairs.

2023 Engagement Feedback

We discussed our leadership transition in all off-season engagements, with investors interested to learn about our Board’s executive succession planning process, engagement with the CEO successor in and outside the boardroom, and strategic rationale for determining Mr. Stander to be the right individual to guide our company in the next phase of its journey. Stockholders also sought to understand the role, responsibilities and anticipated tenure of our Executive Chairman.

Governance Feedback

Our 2023 engagements provided feedback on the governance matters described below.

Environmental Sustainability Feedback

Environmental sustainability was a significant area of focus for the stockholders with which we engaged. Investors uniformly commended our sustainability transparency in the disclosures contained in our Integrated Reports, proxy statements and ESG Downloads. During our conversations, we primarily discussed the matters described below.

Executive Compensation and Social Sustainability Feedback

The primary focus areas during our 2023 engagements were our leadership transition, Board refreshment and governance profile; executive compensation and social sustainability were not significant topics of discussion. Stockholders did express interest in the impacts of our leadership transition on executive compensation, including the compensation of our new CEO and our Executive Chairman, as well as any additional incentives provided to senior leaders in connection with the transition. Investors continued to want to learn more about the ways in which we incent our leaders to progress toward achieving our sustainability goals.

Engagement Process

APPROVAL OF EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION (ITEM 2)

The Compensation Committee oversees our executive compensation program, which is designed to deliver pay for performance, with realized compensation dependent on our achievement of challenging annual financial targets and longer-term value creation objectives that advance the interests of our stockholders.

Executive Compensation Program

The substantial majority of Named Executive Officer (NEO) target total direct compensation (TDC) is performance based, meaning that our executives ultimately may not realize the value of at-risk components if we fail to achieve the designated performance objectives. The Compensation Committee approves the target TDC of our NEOs to incent strong operational and financial performance and stockholder value creation. The mix and elements of NEO target TDC are shown below.

				ANNUALIZED TARGET TDC MIX						2023 TARGET TDC MIX
		CEO*						Avg. of Other NEOs**

Pay for Performance

In the graph below, CEO compensation for 2019 through 2022 reflects Mr. Butier’s compensation as reported in our Summary Compensation Tables for those years and, for 2023, Mr. Stander’s compensation as reported in our 2023 Summary Compensation Table. Our CEO pay has generally reflected our cumulative TSR except that Mr. Stander’s pay in 2023 was substantially lower than prior-year amounts for Mr. Butier because it primarily reflected his compensation as COO, which was significantly lower than Mr. Butier’s as CEO, as well as his special award of stock options with a grant date fair value of approximately $3 million granted in connection with his promotion to CEO. See the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of this proxy statement for more information.

Executive Compensation Best Practices

As summarized below and described in further detail in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of this proxy statement, our executive compensation program aligns with our financial goals and business strategies and reflects best practices.

APPROVAL OF CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT TO

AMENDED AND RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION (ITEM 3)

In February 2024, after giving consideration to the feedback we received from investors during our 2023 engagements and its review of market practices, upon the recommendation of the Governance Committee, our Board approved, subject to stockholder approval at the Annual Meeting, a Certificate of Amendment to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (our “Charter”) to provide that stockholders holding 25% of our outstanding common stock have the right to request that we call special meetings of stockholders. The amendment also removes out-of-date references to the declassification of our Board that had been fully implemented by April 2014, providing that directors shall be elected annually for one-year terms, consistent with our existing Charter and best practices.

RATIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT OF PwC (ITEM 4)

The Audit Committee has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2024 and our Board is seeking stockholder ratification of the appointment. PwC is well-qualified to continue serving as our independent registered public accounting firm, has a deep understanding of our operations and accounting practices, and maintains rigorous procedures to ensure independence from our management and company, which are overseen by the Audit Committee.

The Audit Committee considered the qualifications, performance and independence of PwC, the quality of its discussions with PwC, and the fees charged by PwC for the scope and quality of services provided – as well as the firm’s tenure as our independent auditor – and determined that the appointment of PwC for 2024 is in the best interest of our company and stockholders.

GOVERNANCE

The key features of our governance program are shown in the Board Governance Highlights section of the proxy summary. We encourage you to visit the investors section of our website under Corporate Governance, where you can view and download current versions of the documents shown below. Information on our website is not and should not be considered part of, nor is it incorporated by reference into, this proxy statement.

You can request copies of these documents, without charge, by writing to our Corporate Secretary at 8080 Norton Parkway, Mentor, Ohio 44060.

VALUES AND ETHICS

Code of Conduct, Talkabout Toolkits and Supplier Standards

Our Code of Conduct applies to all of our directors, officers and employees and reflects our values of Integrity, Courage, External Focus, Diversity, Sustainability, Innovation, Teamwork and Excellence. It includes messages from our CEO and Chief Compliance Officer; detailed information regarding higher risk areas such as anti-corruption/bribery, antitrust, conflicts of interest, insider trading, anti-harassment, and compliance with laws and regulations; and case studies to provide practical guidance on situations that raise complex ethical questions. The Code is available in 33 languages and our leaders affirm their commitment to complying with it when they first join our company and regularly thereafter as part of our compliance certification process described in the Related Person Transactions section of this proxy statement. We plan to update our Code of Conduct in 2024 to refresh its current content and include new topics.

We regularly train employees on the Code of Conduct topics in instructor-led sessions held in person or virtually; in 2023, we held ~230 of these sessions globally. We also deploy mandatory online training for our computer-based employees; in 2023 we launched one enterprise-wide and five regional courses using a targeted risk-based approach, with an average completion rate of ~97%. Our three “Talkabout” Toolkits (also available in 33 languages) that we develop each year empower managers to engage in meaningful discussions with their teams regarding topics from the Code of Conduct. These toolkits consist of presentation slides, which are supplemented by internal social media campaigns that allow our team members to engage with their colleagues across the globe around our values and ethics.

Our global supplier standards extend our commitment to our third-party service providers, establishing our expectation that they do business in an ethical manner.

Business Conduct GuideLine

The GuideLine may currently be reached by (i) calling 800.461.9330 toll-free in the U.S., toll-free outside of the U.S. using the country-specific numbers found in our Code of Conduct, or +1.720.514.4400 direct with applicable charges from any location or (ii) visiting www.averydennison.com/guidelinereport. The GuideLine is operated by an independent third party and accepts reports in any language to accommodate the needs of our global workforce and customer/supplier base. Reports are investigated under the direction of our Chief Compliance Officer, in consultation with our law department and senior management and with Board oversight primarily by the Governance Committee and, for certain finance-related matters, also by the Audit Committee. We prohibit retaliation for good-faith reporting.

Code of Ethics

Our Code of Ethics requires that our CEO, CFO and Controller act professionally and ethically in fulfilling their responsibilities. Only the Audit Committee or the Governance Committee can amend or waive the provisions of our Code of Ethics, and any amendments or waivers must be posted promptly on our website or timely filed with the SEC on a Current Report on Form 8-K. We last amended our Code of Ethics in April 2014 and have made no exemptions or granted any waivers since its inception.

Supporting fulfillment of these responsibilities, our controllership and internal audit functions ensure that we maintain a robust internal control environment, with the leaders of these functions regularly reporting to, and periodically meeting in executive session with, the Audit Committee.

COMPLAINT PROCEDURES FOR ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING MATTERS

These procedures relate to reports of (i) fraud or deliberate error in the preparation, evaluation, review or audit of our financial statements or other financial reports; (ii) fraud or deliberate error in the recording or maintenance of our financial records; (iii) deficiencies in, or noncompliance with, our internal accounting controls; (iv) misrepresentation or false statement regarding any matter contained in our financial records, statements or other reports; or (v) deviation from full and fair reporting of our financial condition. Any person, including third parties, may submit a good-faith complaint regarding accounting and auditing matters and employees may do so without fear of retaliation. The Audit Committee oversees these procedures, with investigations conducted under the direction of our internal audit department in consultation with our Corporate Secretary, Chief Legal Officer (CLO) and other members of senior management to the extent appropriate under the circumstances.

Stockholders and other interested parties interested in communicating regarding these matters may make a confidential, anonymous report by contacting the GuideLine or writing to the Audit Committee Chair, c/o Corporate Secretary, 8080 Norton Parkway, Mentor, Ohio 44060.

STOCK OWNERSHIP POLICY

Our stock ownership policy requires that our (i) non-employee directors acquire and maintain minimum ownership in our company of $500,000, (ii) Executive Chairman and CEO acquire and maintain minimum ownership of 6x their base salary and (iii) Level 2 and Level 3 executives acquire and maintain minimum ownership of 3x and 2x their base salary, respectively. At least 50% of the applicable requirement must be held in vested shares.

The values of the following shares/units are considered in measuring compliance with our stock ownership policy: (i) shares beneficially owned or deemed to be beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, under U.S. securities laws; (ii) for officers, shares or units held in qualified and non-qualified employee benefit plans and 50% of the value of unvested MSUs at the target payout level; (iii) for non-employee directors, deferred stock units (DSUs); and (iv) for officers and non-employee directors, unvested restricted stock units (RSUs) subject to time-based vesting. Unvested stock options and PUs are not considered in measuring compliance. DSUs, which represent annual cash retainers deferred at a director’s election, are included as owned under the policy because they are earned upon receipt and would be paid out to a participating director upon his or her separation from our Board.

The Compensation Committee and the Governance Committee reviewed the stock ownership of our non-employee directors in December 2023 and February 2024, respectively. Both committees noted that – excluding the individuals appointed in 2022 and 2023 – our then-serving non-employee directors had average ownership of 12x the minimum requirement, aligning their interests with those of our stockholders and further incenting their focus on long-term value creation. All current non-employee directors have exceeded the minimum ownership required by our policy, except for Mr. Wagner and Mses. Mejia and Reverberi, who have five years from the date of their respective Board appointments to reach that level.

The Compensation Committee reviewed executive stock ownership in December 2023 and determined that, with the exception of our most recently appointed executive officer who has five years from the date of her appointment to reach her level, our executive officers, including all NEOs, had achieved their minimum ownership requirement. The compliance of our non-employee directors and NEOs with our stock ownership policy at year-end 2023 is shown below.

INSIDER TRADING POLICY

Our insider trading policy prohibits directors, officers and employees from engaging in transactions in any type of security while in possession of material nonpublic information relating to the security or the issuer of the security in breach of a duty of trust or confidence, whether the issuer is our company or another company. In addition, (i) if they are in possession of material nonpublic information regarding any other publicly-traded company, including that of our suppliers, customers, competitors or potential acquisition targets, they may not trade in its securities until the information becomes public or is no longer material; (ii) they may not purchase or sell any security of any other company while in possession of material nonpublic information obtained in the course of their employment or service with our company; and (iii) they may not directly or indirectly communicate material nonpublic information to anyone outside or within our company other than on a need-to-know basis.

Officer/Director 10b5-1 Plans

Our insider trading policy contains specific requirements regarding contracts, plans or instructions to trade in our company’s securities entered into in accordance with SEC Rule 10b5-1, including with respect to multiple plans and modifications or terminations of existing plans. We reserve the right to suspend, discontinue or otherwise prohibit transactions under a 10b5-1 trading plan if we determine that doing so is in the best interest of our company.

Limited Trading Windows

Our insider trading policy restricts trading in company stock by Board members, officers and director-level employees, or any other person designated by our Corporate Secretary, during blackout periods, which generally begin two weeks before the end of each fiscal quarter and end two business days after the issuance of our earnings release for the quarter. Additional blackout periods may be imposed with or without notice, as the circumstances require. All transactions in company stock must be precleared by our Corporate Secretary. Except for transactions under a previously established Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, if precleared individuals become aware of material nonpublic information or become subject to a blackout period before their transaction is effectuated, they may not complete the transaction even if they previously received preclearance.

Prohibitions on Certain Transactions

Our insider trading policy prohibits our directors, officers and employees from short-selling company stock; transacting in puts, calls or other derivative securities involving company stock; or purchasing financial instruments (such as prepaid variable forward contracts, equity swaps, collars and exchange funds) designed to hedge or offset any decrease in the market value of company stock. In addition, directors and officers are expressly prohibited from – and our non-officer employees are strongly discouraged from – pledging shares of our common stock as collateral for a loan, purchasing company securities on margin or placing company securities in a margin account.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability and Diversity are two of our core values, driving us to work within our company and across our value chain to address the environmental and social impacts of our products and practices.

BOARD OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

Board oversight of environmental sustainability and community investment is primarily conducted by the Governance Committee, which receives a report from management on each of these topics at least annually. In addition, our full Board engages with business leaders on their sustainability initiatives during its regular discussion of their business strategies. In October 2023, our Board engaged with senior management on our sustainability progress, having discussed with them throughout the year our innovation efforts to address the increasing demand for more sustainable products, sustainability strategic innovation platform, and business and enterprise sustainability priorities. In early 2024, our Board reviewed our 2023 Integrated Report, which includes our progress against our 2025 and 2030 sustainability goals.

Board oversight of social sustainability is primarily conducted by the Compensation Committee, which discussed DEI, including pay equity and transparency, at multiple meetings in 2023 and regularly reviews other matters related to talent management, including the impact of executive promotions, role changes and exits on U.S. racial/ethnic diversity and global gender and generational representation. In December 2023, our Board engaged with, and challenged management on, our employee experience, including reviewing the results of our employee engagement survey obtained through a more advanced platform using updated questions, as well as our progress in each of our four DEI strategic pillars. They also discussed our 2024 plans to activate enterprise-wide standards to more consistently select, promote, develop and reward talent; globally implement a mobile application to better enable our manufacturing employees to access company information; and develop a talent solution connecting everything our team members need for learning, skills advancement and career mobility.

With strategic guidance and direction provided by our CEO, management is responsible for ensuring that we continue to make progress toward achieving our sustainability goals through our Sustainability Council, which is led by our enterprise sustainability leader reporting in this capacity to our CEO, who is accountable for our progress. The council, which is composed of a cross-divisional and cross-functional group of management, met regularly during 2023 to ensure we progress toward our 2025 sustainability goals, advance our roadmaps to achieve our 2030 sustainability goals and targets, and accurately report to our stakeholders. Our enterprise sustainability leader participated in substantially all our 2023 off-season stockholder engagements to report on our sustainability progress and answer questions from investors.

ENGAGEMENT OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS

We align our sustainability priorities with the expectations of our stakeholders. We regularly communicate with them regarding our sustainability progress and also interview members of management responsible for key sustainability initiatives and third parties as part of our biennial materiality assessments. Our material topics and the feedback we received engaging with investors on sustainability matters during 2023 can be found in the proxy summary.

PROGRESS TOWARD ACHIEVING OUR 2025 AND 2030 GOALS

We present our 2023 scorecards showing progress against our 2025 and 2030 sustainability goals in the proxy summary. You can find additional information in our 2023 Integrated Report being furnished to the SEC prior to the distribution of our proxy materials and our March 2024 ESG Download being made available on our website at esg.averydennison.com on or before the filing of our definitive proxy statement. Information on our website is not and should not be considered part of, nor is it incorporated by reference into, this proxy statement.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Highlights of our DEI journey are shown in the proxy summary. Our DEI strategy is grounded in the four global pillars shown below.

OTHER TALENT MANAGEMENT MATTERS

Succession Planning

Leading up to its decision in May 2023 to appoint Deon Stander as our new CEO, our Board discussed leadership succession in multiple meetings during the preceding 18-24 months, helping ensure a smooth transition. In addition, in July 2023, the Compensation Committee reviewed leadership team changes, assessed key areas of leadership development and succession focus, and discussed potential successors to the members of our Company Leadership Team, which includes the leaders of our businesses and corporate functions. In October and December 2023, the Compensation Committee again reviewed leadership changes and the key areas of focus in our Materials and Solutions businesses, as well as enterprise-wide, with a view to ensuring we have talent that is ready to fill senior executive positions in the event of a vacancy. Our Compensation Committee Chair reported on these reviews to our Board. Recognizing that we have had several recent leadership changes, including the recent appointments of our new CEO and Solutions Group President, our Board conducted leadership succession planning at all of its meetings during the first half of 2023.

The Compensation Committee regularly receives reports on executive new hires, promotions and role changes, departures and open positions – as well as the impact of these developments on U.S. racial/ethnic and global gender and generational representation – to assist with succession planning.

Leadership Development

The Compensation Committee oversees our talent management program to assist with identifying and developing our future leaders. We maintain a robust performance review process and progress leadership development plans for our top talent, while also providing development opportunities to our employees more broadly. Senior management reports to the Compensation Committee on our leadership at executive levels by identifying high-potential talent, cultivating the skills and capabilities to enable identified individuals to become our future leaders, and ensuring that they have appropriate development plans in place to progress them toward roles with greater responsibility. Our Board has the opportunity to actively engage with our business and functional leaders in and outside the boardroom. In addition, Board members periodically visit our facilities to meet with local management and have the freedom to directly contact any of our employees.

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

With Board oversight by the Governance Committee, our community investment efforts help strengthen the communities around the world in which we operate. We make most of our community investments through ADF, which annually distributes at least 5% of its assets from the prior year. ADF’s grantmaking is aided by our employees worldwide, who help identify nonprofit organizations serving their local communities that can advance their mission and impact with additional financial support.

In 2023, after undertaking a formal strategic review process, ADF updated and refined its vision, mission and grantmaking focus areas. ADF’s updated grantmaking strategy focuses funding on charitable organizations working to increase education access, advance environmental sustainability and support secure livelihoods. Alongside its grantmaking focus areas, ADF continues supporting disaster response, DEI and nonprofit organizations identified by our employees around the world addressing challenges in their local communities.

ADF and our company collectively made $5.5 million in grants and other financial contributions during 2023.

Enhanced Focus on Grantmaking

In support of its enhanced vision and mission, ADF prioritizes grants to communities and geographies facing the greatest need, as well as organizations that demonstrate inclusivity and equity in their work. The total amount of grants in each pillar, as well as select grant recipients, made in 2023, 95% of which incorporated employee volunteerism, are shown below:

Supporting Employees in Times of Crisis

In 2020, ADF launched an Employee Assistance Fund to support company employees who had been significantly impacted by the pandemic; from 2020 to 2022, the fund distributed ~$4.6 million to more than 4,000 individuals in 27 countries. With the global impact of the pandemic having substantially diminished but the potential opportunity for further impact remaining, ADF converted the fund to an Employee Crisis Fund to provide financial assistance to our employees impacted by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises. In 2023, this fund provided support to 475 company employees in northern China impacted by severe flooding.

Supporting Disaster Relief Efforts

ADF partners with an independent nonprofit, GlobalGiving, to promote and supplement employee giving to disaster relief efforts around the globe. Employees are able to give to organizations supporting impacted communities. In 2023, 300+ employees made donations totaling ~$25,000 to organizations responding to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and emergency and long-term support to people in need in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine. These donations were matched by ADF. In addition, ADF made a grant of $250,000 to a member organization of the International Committee of the Red Cross to support relief efforts in Israel, where we have a significant employee presence.

Promoting DEI

ADF supported organizations promoting DEI globally, with grants totaling $395,000. ADF continued to work with our company’s Regional DEI Councils and ERGs to ensure that it supported organizations making a difference in the communities in which our team members live and work. In addition to certain of the grants shown in the chart above, grants in 2023 included support for LGBTQ+ youth in Singapore, veterans in the U.S. and people with disabilities in Mexico.

Engaging Employees

Our employees advance our community investment efforts at the local level through their personal monetary contributions as well as volunteerism. Through ADF’s signature Granting Wishes program, employees nominate local NGOs to receive grants and organize volunteer events. In 2023, ADF made ~$1 million in grants in 37 countries through Granting Wishes.

Providing College Scholarships

Partnering with independent third parties to advance education access, ADF provides college scholarships to the children of company employees. The U.S. Scholars program, administered in partnership with Scholarship America, annually awards scholarships in the U.S. and Canada. In 2023, ADF partnered with the Institute of International Education to provide scholarships in Bangladesh, Honduras, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, with plans to expand the program to additional countries in which we have a significant employee presence in future years.

While 2022 marked the end of ADF’s Spirit of Invention (InvEnt) Scholarship Program, alumni from recent years gathered in person in 2023 having been unable to meet during their participation due to pandemic-related restrictions, giving them the opportunity to meet with regional leaders of our company and expand their professional network. Over 10 years, the InvEnt program provided tuition assistance and professional development opportunities to more than 100 talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics scholars.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OVERVIEW

Our Board oversees, counsels and ensures management is serving the best interests of our company, with a view toward maximizing the performance of our businesses and delivering long-term value for our investors.

2024 Director Nominees

Our Governance Guidelines provide our Board’s view that a size between 8 and 12 directors allows for effective Board functioning, although it may periodically comprise a larger or smaller number of directors. Under our Bylaws, the exact number of directors is fixed from time to time by Board resolution. As previously disclosed, in February 2024, Julia Stewart notified our Board of her intention not to stand for reelection at the Annual Meeting; she is continuing to serve as Compensation Committee Chair through April 2024. Our Board plans to fix the number of directors at 10 following Ms. Stewart’s departure from our Board.

Our 2024 director nominees are shown in the chart below. As shown by individual in the Director Nominee Matrix in the proxy summary, they collectively bring a balance of industry and functional experiences and demographic backgrounds in overseeing management in advancing our strategies and achieving our financial and sustainability goals.