UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Check the appropriate box:

Hercules Capital, Inc.
(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement if Other Than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

 

400 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 310
Palo Alto, California 94301
(650) 289-3060

NOTICE OF 2018 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
HERCULES CAPITAL, INC.

	By Order of the Board,
	General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary

PROXY STATEMENT—TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY INFORMATION

This summary provides highlights about Hercules Capital, Inc., and information contained elsewhere in this Proxy Statement. This summary does not contain all of the information that you should consider when deciding how to vote your shares. The “Company,” “Hercules,” “HTGC,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Hercules Capital, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries and its affiliated securitization trusts on or after February 25, 2016 and “Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.” and its wholly owned subsidiaries and its affiliated securitization trusts prior to February 25, 2016 unless the context otherwise requires.

About Hercules and 2017 Financial Highlights

We are a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured venture growth loans to high-growth, innovative venture capital-backed companies in a variety of technology, life sciences and sustainable and renewable technology industries.

2017 Peer Group Analysis

As of September 30, 2017, the Company outperformed most of its Peer Group (defined on page 27) over the one-, three- and five-year period as follows:

--1-, 3- and 5-year calculations of performance are based on Q3 2017 and as of November 10, 2017 for TSR.

--Companies with less than three and/or less than five full years of historical financial and TSR performance are excluded.

--Financial Services peers are excluded from analysis of capital allocation because services companies are not as capital intensive as REITs and BDCs, which are primarily engaged in direct investment of firm capital.

--Data source: S&P Capital IQ

2017 BDC Peer Group – Total Shareholder Return

In 2017, the Company outperformed its BDC Peer Group⁽¹⁾ in total shareholder returns (TSR). As of December 31, 2017, the Company delivered the following results⁽²⁾ with respect to TSR:

(1) BDC Peers: AINV, ARCC, BKCC, OCSL, FSIC, GBDC, GSBD, KCAP, MAIN, MCC, NMFC, PNNT, PSEC, SLRC, TCAP, TCPC, TCRD, TICC, TSLX

(2) Data Source: S&P Capital IQ

Voting Matters and Recommendations

Board Nominees

AC = Audit Committee CC = Compensation Committee NGCG = Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

M = Member C = Committee Chairman

(1) Under the rules and regulations of the SEC and the listing standards of New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”).

Corporate Governance Highlights

Executive Compensation

Consistent with our Board’s recommendation and our stockholders’ preference, we submit an advisory vote to approve our executive compensation (otherwise known as “say-on-pay”) on an annual basis. Accordingly, we are seeking your approval, on an advisory basis, of the compensation for our NEOs, as further described in the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section of this Proxy Statement.

2017 Executive Compensation Highlights

For a summary of our 2017 executive compensation and key features of our executive compensation programs, please refer to the Executive Summary of the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section of this Proxy Statement on page 24 .

Auditor Matters

We are seeking your ratification of PwC as our independent public accounting firm for the 2018 fiscal year. The following table summarizes the fees billed by PwC for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2017, (please refer to the proposal on page 59):

For 2017, 92.8% of the 2017 fees represented audit and audit-related fees.

General Information

For general information regarding our Proxy Statement, please review the questions and answers at the end of our Proxy Statement. For questions in which you require additional information, please call us at (650) 600-5405 or send an e-mail to Melanie Grace, Secretary, at mgrace@htgc.com.

You may cast your vote in any of the following ways:

Internet Visit www.proxyvote.com. You will need the 16-digit control number included in the proxy card, voter instruction card or notice.	QR Code You can scan the QR Code on your proxy card to vote with your mobile phone.	Phone Call 1-800-690-6903 or the number on your voter instruction form. You will need the control number included in your proxy card.	Mail Send your completed and signed proxy card or voter instruction form to the address on your proxy card or voter instruction form.	In Person Attend the meeting in person.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT

The following table sets forth, as of May 23, 2018, the beneficial ownership of each current director, each nominee for director, our NEOs, each person known to us to beneficially own 5% or more of the outstanding shares of our common stock, and our executive officers and directors as a group.

Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC. Common stock subject to options or warrants that are currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of May 23, 2018 are deemed to be outstanding and beneficially owned by the person holding such options or warrants. Such shares, however, are not deemed outstanding for the purposes of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Percentage of ownership is based on 86,644,515 shares of common stock outstanding as of May 23, 2018.

Unless otherwise indicated, to our knowledge, each stockholder listed below has sole voting and investment power with respect to the shares beneficially owned by the stockholder, except to the extent authority is shared by their spouses under applicable law. Unless otherwise indicated, the address of all executive officers and directors is c/o Hercules Capital, Inc., 400 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 310, Palo Alto, California 94301.

Our directors are divided into two groups—interested directors and independent directors. Interested directors are “interested persons” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “40 Act”), and independent directors are all other directors.

The following table sets forth as of May 23, 2018, the dollar range of our securities owned by our directors and executive officers.

PROPOSAL 1: ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

The Board unanimously recommends that you vote FOR the nominees for director
(Item 1 on your proxy card)

General

The Board currently consists of eight directors and is divided into three classes. Each class of the Board serves a staggered three-year term. Our Class II directors, whose terms expire at the annual meeting, are Thomas J. Fallon, Allyn C. Woodward, Jr. and Brad Koenig.

There are two nominees to Class II of the Board this year — Messrs. Fallon and Koenig. Mr. Woodward has decided not to stand for re-election this year. The nomination of Messrs. Fallon and Koenig to stand for election at the annual meeting has been recommended by the NCG Committee and has been approved by the Board. Messrs. Fallon and Koenig, if elected, will serve for a three-year term expiring at the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, or until their successor is duly elected and qualified, or until their earlier death, resignation or removal from the Board.

Messrs. Fallon and Koenig are not being nominated as a director for election pursuant to any agreement or understanding between such person and Hercules. Messrs. Fallon and Koenig have indicated their willingness to continue to serve if elected and have consented to be named as nominees. Each of Messrs. Fallon and Koenig is not an “interested person” of Hercules, as such term is defined under the 1940 Act.

Director Qualifications

The Board recognizes that it is important to assemble a body of directors that, taken together, has the skills, qualifications, experience and attributes appropriate for functioning as a Board, and working with management, effectively. The NCG Committee is responsible for maintaining a well-rounded and diverse Board that has the requisite range of skills and qualifications to oversee the Company effectively. The NCG Committee has not established a minimum qualification for director candidates. Our Board does not have a specific diversity policy, but considers diversity of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, cultural background and professional experiences in evaluating candidates for Board membership. The diversity of background and experience includes ensuring that the Board includes individuals with experience or skills sufficient to meet the requirements of the various rules and regulations of the NYSE and the SEC, such as the requirements to have a majority of independent directors and an Audit Committee Financial Expert. However, in light of our business, the primary areas of experience and qualifications sought by the NCG Committee in incumbent and director candidates include, but are not limited to, the following:

For each director, we have highlighted certain key areas of experience that qualify him or her to serve on the Board in each of their respective biographies below beginning on page 10.

A stockholder can vote for or withhold his, her or its vote for the nominees. In the absence of instructions to the contrary, it is the intention of the persons named as proxies to vote such proxy FOR the election of the nominees named in this Proxy Statement. If the nominees should decline or be unable to serve as a director, it is intended that the proxy will be voted for the election of the person nominated by our Board as a replacement. Our Board has no reason to believe that the nominees will be unable or unwilling to serve.

Required Vote

This proposal requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a plurality of the shares of stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon. Stockholders may not cumulate their votes. If you vote “withhold authority” with respect to a nominee, your shares will not be voted with respect to the person indicated. Because directors are elected by a plurality of the votes, an abstention will have no effect on the outcome of the vote and, therefore, is not offered as a voting option for this proposal.

Broker Non-Votes

Broker non-votes are votes cast for shares held by a broker or other nominee for which the nominee has not received voting instructions from the beneficial owner and does not have discretionary authority to vote the shares on non-routine proposals. Proposal 1 is a non-routine matter. As a result, if you hold shares in “street name” through a broker, bank or other nominee, your broker, bank or nominee will not be permitted to exercise voting discretion with respect to Proposal 1, the election of directors. Therefore, if you do not vote and you do not give your broker or other nominee specific instructions on how to vote for you, then your shares will have no effect on Proposal 1.

Information about the Directors and Executive Officers

For each director, we have highlighted certain key areas of experience that qualify him or her to serve on the Board in each of their respective biographies below.

Director Nominees Biographies

The biographical information for the director nominees are as follows:

Mr. Fallon, 56, currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Infinera Corporation (since 2010) and a member of Infinera’s board of directors (since 2009). He has served as a director on our Board since July 2014 and his term expires in 2018.

Mr. Koenig, 59, currently serves as Founder and CEO of FoodyDirect.com, (since 2011), an online marketplace that features foods from the top restaurants, bakeries and artisan purveyors around the country. He has served as a director on our Board since October 2017, and his term expires in 2018.

Independent Director Biographies

The biographical information for each of the independent directors is as follows:

Mr. Badavas, 65, retired in August, 2016 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PlumChoice, a venture-backed technology, software and services company (since December 2011). He has served as a director on our Board since March 2006 and his term expires in 2020.

Mr. Hoffman, 69, is retired from KPMG LLP after 26 years as a partner and senior executive with that firm. He has served as a director on our Board since April 2015 and his term expires in 2019.

Ms. Woo Ho, 70, is a retired senior executive who has held top management roles at some of the largest commercial banks in America, including Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank and United Commercial Bank. She has served as a director on our Board since October 2016 and her term expires in 2019.

Mr. Titinger, 57, currently serves as Principal and Founder of Titinger Consulting (since 2016), a private consulting and advisory service provider focusing on strategy development and execution, board governance, operational transformations, and culture changes. He has served as a director on our Board since December 2017 and his term expires in 2020.

Interested Director Biographies

The biographical information for the interested director is as follows:

Mr. Henriquez, 54, is a co-founder of Hercules and has been our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 2004 and our President (since 2005) and his term expires in 2019.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Our business, property and affairs are managed under the direction of our Board. Members of our Board are kept informed of our business through discussions with our chairman and chief executive officer, our chief financial officer, our chief investment officer, our general counsel, and our other officers and employees, and by reviewing materials provided to them and participating in meetings of our Board and its committees.

Because our Board is committed to strong and effective corporate governance, it regularly monitors our corporate governance policies and practices to ensure we meet or exceed the requirements of applicable laws, regulations and rules, and the NYSE’s listing standards. The Board has adopted a number of policies to support our values and good corporate governance, including corporate governance guidelines, Board committee charters, insider trading policy, code of ethics, code of business conduct and ethics, and related person transaction approval policy. The Board has approved corporate governance guidelines that provide a framework for the operation of the Board and address key governance practices. Examples of our corporate governance practices include:

Our Board will continue to review and update the corporate governance guidelines, corporate governance practices, and our corporate governance framework.

Board Leadership Structure

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Our Board currently combines the role of chairman of the Board with the role of chief executive officer, coupled with a lead independent director position to further strengthen our governance structure. Our Board believes this provides an efficient and effective leadership model for our company. Combining the chairman and chief executive officer roles fosters clear accountability, effective decision-making, and alignment on corporate strategy. Since 2004, Mr. Henriquez has served as both chairman of the Board and as our chief executive officer. Mr. Henriquez is an interested director.

No single leadership model is right for all companies at all times. Our Board recognizes that depending on the circumstances, other leadership models, such as a separate independent chairman of the Board, might be appropriate. Accordingly, our Board periodically reviews its leadership structure.

Moreover, our Board believes that its governance practices provide adequate safeguards against any potential risks that might be associated with having a combined chairman and chief executive officer. Specifically:

Lead Independent Director

Our Board has instituted the lead independent director position to provide an additional measure of balance, ensure our Board’s independence, and enhance its ability to fulfill its management oversight responsibilities. Mr. Badavas currently serves as our lead independent director. The lead independent director:

Having a combined chairman and chief executive officer, coupled with a substantial majority of independent, experienced directors, including a lead independent director with specified responsibilities on behalf of the independent directors, provides the right leadership structure for our company and is best for us and our stockholders at this time.

Board Oversight of Risk

While day-to-day risk management is primarily the responsibility of our management team, our Board, as a whole and through its committees, is responsible for oversight of the risk management processes.

Our Audit Committee has oversight responsibility not only for financial reporting with respect to our major financial exposures and the steps management has taken to monitor and control such exposures, but also for the effectiveness of management’s enterprise risk management process that monitors and manages key business risks facing our company. In addition to our Audit Committee, the other committees of our Board consider the risks within their areas of responsibility. For example, our Compensation Committee considers the risks that may be posed by our executive compensation program.

Management provides regular updates throughout the year to our Board regarding the management of the risks they oversee at each regular meeting of our Board. Also, our Board receives presentations throughout the year from various department and business group heads that include discussion of significant risks as necessary. Additionally, our full Board reviews our short and long-term strategies, including consideration of significant risks facing our business and their potential impact.

During 2017, in addition to unanimous written consents, the Board held the following meetings:

Each director makes a diligent effort to attend all Board and committee meetings, as well as our annual meeting of stockholders. All directors attended at least 75% of the aggregate number of meetings of the Board and of the respective committees on which they served. Each of our then-serving directors attended our 2017 annual meeting of stockholders in person.

Board Committees

Our Board has established an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee, and a NCG Committee. A brief description of each committee is included in this Proxy Statement and the charters of the Audit, Compensation, and NCG Committees are available on the Investor Relations page of our website at http://investor.htgc.com/governance-documents.

As of the date of this Proxy Statement, the members of each of our Board Committees are as follows (the names of the respective committee chairperson are bolded and noted with a “C”):

Each of our directors who sits on a committee satisfies the independence requirements for purposes of the rules promulgated by the NYSE and the requirements to be a non-interested director as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act. Mr. Hoffman, Chairman of the Audit Committee and Messrs. Badavas and Koenig, members of the Audit Committee, are each an “audit committee financial expert” as defined by applicable SEC rules.

Committee Governance

Each committee is governed by a charter that is approved by the Board, which sets forth each committee’s purpose and responsibilities. The Board reviews the committees’ charters, and each committee reviews its own charter, on at least an annual basis, to assess the charters’ content and sufficiency, with final approval of any proposed changes required by the full Board.

Committee Responsibilities and Meetings

The key oversight responsibilities of the Board’s committees, and the number of meetings held by each committee during 2017, are as follows:

Director Independence

The NYSE’s listing standards and Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act require that a majority of our Board and every member of our Audit, Compensation, and NCG Committees are “independent.” Under the NYSE’s listing standards and our corporate governance guidelines, no director will be considered to be independent unless and until our Board affirmatively determines that such director has no direct or indirect material relationship with our company or our management. Our Board reviews the independence of its members annually.

In determining that Ms. Woo Ho and Messrs. Badavas, Fallon, Hoffman, Koenig and Titinger are independent, our Board, through the NCG Committee, considered the financial services, commercial, family and other relationships between each director and his or her immediate family members or affiliated entities, on the one hand, and Hercules and its subsidiaries, on the other hand.

Communication with the Board

We believe that communications between our Board, our stockholders and other interested parties are an important part of our corporate governance process. Stockholders with questions about Hercules are encouraged to contact Michael Hara, Investor Relations at (650) 433-5578. However, if stockholders believe that their questions have not been addressed, they may communicate with our Board by sending their communications to Hercules Capital, Inc., c/o Melanie Grace, Secretary, 400 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 310, Palo Alto, California 94301. All stockholder communications received in this manner will be delivered to one or more members of our Board.

Mr. Badavas currently serves as the lead independent director, and he presides over executive sessions of the independent directors. Parties may communicate directly with Mr. Badavas by sending their communications to Hercules Capital, Inc., c/o Melanie Grace, Secretary at the above address. All communications received in this manner will be delivered to Mr. Badavas.

All communications involving accounting, internal accounting controls and auditing matters, possible violations of, or non-compliance with, applicable legal and regulatory requirements or our code of ethics, or retaliatory acts against anyone

who makes such a complaint or assists in the investigation of such a complaint, will be referred to Melanie Grace, Secretary. The communication will be forwarded to the chair of our Audit Committee if our secretary determines that the matter has been submitted in conformity with our whistleblower procedures or otherwise determines that the communication should be so directed. The acceptance and forwarding of a communication to any director does not imply that the director owes or assumes any fiduciary duty to the person submitting the communication, all such duties being only as prescribed by applicable law.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Our code of business conduct and ethics requires that our directors and executive officers avoid any conflict, or the appearance of a conflict, between an individual’s personal interests and the interests of Hercules. Pursuant to our code of business conduct and ethics, which is available on the Governance Documents page of our website at http://investor.htgc.com/governance-documents, each director and executive officer must disclose any conflicts of interest, or actions or relationships that might give rise to a conflict, to our Audit Committee. Certain actions or relationships that might give rise to a conflict of interest are reviewed and approved by our Board.

Availability of Corporate Governance Documents

To learn more about our corporate governance and to view our corporate governance guidelines, code of business conduct and ethics, and the charters of our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and NCG Committee, please visit the Investor Relations page of our website at http://investor.htgc.com/governance-documents under “Governance Documents.” Copies of these documents are also available in print free of charge by writing to Hercules Capital, Inc., c/o Melanie Grace, Secretary, 400 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 310, Palo Alto, California 94301.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

All members of our Compensation Committee are independent directors and none of the members are present or past employees of the Company. No member of our Compensation Committee: (i) has had any relationship with the Company requiring disclosure under Item 404 of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act; or (ii) is an executive officer of another entity, at which one of our executive officers serves on the Board.

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions

We have established a written policy to govern the review, approval and monitoring of transactions involving the Company and certain persons related to Hercules. As a BDC, the 1940 Act restricts us from participating in transactions with any persons affiliated with Hercules, including our officers, directors, and employees and any person controlling or under common control with us.

In order to ensure that we do not engage in any prohibited transactions with any persons affiliated with Hercules, our officers screen each of our transactions for any possible affiliations, close or remote, between the proposed portfolio investment, Hercules, companies controlled by us and our employees and directors. We will not enter into any agreements unless and until we are satisfied that no affiliations prohibited by the 1940 Act exist or, if such affiliations exist, we have taken appropriate actions to seek Board review and approval or exemptive relief from the SEC for such transaction.

SECTION 16(A) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE

We believe, based on a review of Forms 3, 4 and 5 and any amendments thereto filed with the SEC and other information known to us, that during fiscal year 2017, our directors, officers (as defined in the rules under Section 16 of the Exchange Act), and any greater than 10% stockholders have complied with all Section 16(a) filing requirements in a timely manner, with the exception of a Form 4 for Mr. Harris that was filed late due to an administrative oversight.

INFORMATION ABOUT EXECUTIVE OFFICERS WHO ARE NOT DIRECTORS

Our executive officers perform policy-making functions for us within the meaning of applicable SEC rules. They may also serve as officers of our other subsidiaries. There are no family relationships among our directors or executive officers.

The following information outlines the name and age of our executive officers (as of the date of this Proxy Statement) and his or her principal occupation with the Company, followed by the biographical information of each of such executive officer:

Executive Biographies

Mr. Manuel A. Henriquez’ biography can be found under “Interested Director” biographies on Page 16.

Scott Bluestein joined us in 2010 as Chief Credit Officer. He was promoted to Chief Investment Officer in 2014. Mr. Bluestein is responsible for managing the investment teams and investments made by the Company.

Melanie Grace joined us in 2015 as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary. She has over 18 years of experience representing public and private companies in securities, compliance and transactional matters. Ms. Grace oversees the legal and compliance function for the Company and serves as secretary for the Company and select subsidiaries.

David Lund joined us in 2017 as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lund has over 30 years of experience in finance and accounting serving companies in the technology sector. Mr. Lund oversees the financial and accounting functions of the Company.

Gerard R. Waldt, Jr. joined us in 2016 as Assistant Controller and in 2017 became Corporate Controller and Interim Chief Accounting Officer. He is responsible for the financial and regulatory reporting, financial planning and analysis, and financial systems design and implementation.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

The Compensation Discussion and Analysis discusses our 2017 executive compensation program, as it relates to the following executive officers:

We refer to Messrs. Henriquez, Bluestein, Waldt, Lund, Harris and Olson and Ms. Grace as our “named executive officers,” or “NEOs”.

Executive Summary

Under the oversight of our Compensation Committee, the Company’s executive compensation program is designed to attract, incent and retain talented individuals who are critical to our continued success and our corporate growth and who will deliver sustained strong performance over the longer term. Our executive compensation program is designed to motivate the Company’s executive officers to maintain the financial strength of the Company while avoiding any inappropriate focus on short-term profits that would impede the Company’s long-term growth and encourage excessive risk-taking.

In 2017, the Company continued to review and enhance our compensation practices in accordance with our executive compensation philosophy. The review considered both compensation levels and company performance over a one-, three-, and five-year period from 2013 to 2017 (the “Performance Periods”). The Company believes that compensation paid to our NEOs for 2017 was commensurate with the Company’s overall absolute performance as well as our performance relative to peers during the Performance Periods. The 2017 compensation decisions made by the Compensation Committee considered the fact that our performance relative to a peer group of companies was above the median, and in most cases above the 75^th percentile, measured using:

The Company’s incentive compensation practices are significantly limited by the requirements imposed on us as an internally managed business development company (“BDC”) pursuant to the 1940 Act. (See “Limitations Imposed by the Investment Company Act of 1940” below). These are regulatory limitations related to our corporate structure that are relatively unique and do not apply to most other publicly-traded companies. As discussed further below, our NEOs were compensated to reflect the Company’s performance during the Performance Periods.

In addition to key factors involved in the 2017 decisions made by the Compensation Committee, we continue to maintain the enhancements to our executive officer compensation program that we adopted in 2016, such as our clawback policy for all Section 16 officers and consideration of a mix of corporate and individual performance factors for our NEOs. In 2017, the Company entered into retention awards with Messrs. Henriquez, Harris and Bluestein that provide for certain benefits upon certain terminations of employment.

Compensation Philosophy and Objectives

The primary principle of our compensation program is to engage and align a substantial portion of executive compensation to the financial strength, long-term profitability, and risk management of the Company and to the creation of long-term stockholder value.

As an internally managed BDC, the Company’s compensation program is designed to encourage our NEOs to think and act like stockholders. The structure of the NEOs’ compensation program is designed to encourage and reward the following factors, among other things:

We believe that our continued success during 2017, despite strong competition for top-quality executive talent in the commercial and venture lending industry, was attributable to our ability to attract, motivate and retain the Company’s outstanding executive team using both short- and long-term incentive compensation programs.

The Company’s compensation objectives are achieved through its executive compensation program, which for 2017 consisted of the following:

The compensation program is designed to reflect best practices in executive compensation:

Executive Compensation Governance

The Company’s executive compensation program is supported by strong corporate governance and Board-level oversight. The Compensation Committee provides primary oversight of our compensation programs, including the design and administration of executive compensation plans, assessment and setting of corporate performance goals, as well as individual performance metrics, and the approval of executive compensation. In addition, the Compensation Committee retains an independent compensation consultant, and where appropriate, discusses compensation-related matters with our CEO, as it relates to the other NEOs. The Compensation Committee developed our 2017 compensation program, and the compensation paid to our NEOs during and in respect of 2017 was approved by the Compensation Committee as well as all of our independent directors.

The Compensation Committee operates pursuant to a charter that sets forth its mission, specific goals and responsibilities. A key component of the Compensation Committee’s goals and responsibilities is to evaluate, approve and/or make recommendations to our Board regarding the compensation of our NEOs, and to review their performance relative to their compensation to assure that they are compensated in a manner consistent with the compensation philosophy discussed above.

The Compensation Committee has not established a policy or target for the allocation between cash and non-cash or short-term and long-term compensation. Rather, the Compensation Committee undertakes a subjective analysis in light of the principles described herein and, in connection with its analysis, reviews and considers information provided by independent compensation consultants and surveys to which the Company subscribes to determine the appropriate level and mix of base compensation, performance-based pay, and other elements of compensation.

In addition, the Compensation Committee evaluates and makes recommendations to our Board regarding the compensation of the directors for their services. Annually, the Compensation Committee:

The Compensation Committee periodically reviews our compensation programs and equity incentive plans to ensure that such programs and plans are consistent with our corporate objectives and appropriately align our NEOs’ interests with those of our stockholders. The Compensation Committee also administers our stock incentive program. The Compensation Committee may not delegate its responsibilities discussed above.

Subsequently, the Compensation Committee engaged Frederic W. Cook & Co. to provide the following services to the Committee:

The Compensation Committee’s executive compensation determinations are subjective and the result of the Compensation Committee’s business judgment. Its determinations are informed by the experiences of its members and the peer group pay and performance data provided by its independent compensation consultant. Accordingly, the Compensation Committee does not target a percentile within its peer group. Instead, it uses the data as a reference point in determining the types and amounts of compensation provided by the Company.

Competitive Benchmarking Against Peers

To determine the competitiveness of executive compensation levels, the Compensation Committee analyzes a group of internally managed BDCs, financial services companies and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) as set forth below (the “Peer Group”). The Peer Group is viewed as reflecting the labor market for our officer and employee talent, has a similar investor base, and, like the Company, the BDCs and REITs are pass-through entities with the majority of earnings required to be distributed to shareholders as a dividend. The Compensation Committee does not specifically benchmark the compensation of our NEOs against that paid by other companies. During 2017, the Compensation Committee, based on the advice of F.W. Cook, reviewed the peer group used in connection with prior compensation decisions. Based on this review, and the advice of F.W. Cook, the Compensation Committee updated our Peer Group to better align it to our business. Our Peer Group was used as a factor in determining the annual cash bonus awards made with respect to 2017 (but paid in 2018) as well as the further considerations further described below under “Annual Cash Bonus Awards”. The Peer Group data used in such determination is for the period January 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017.

As of September 30, 2017, which is the period the Compensation Committee reviewed our Peer Group, the Company outperformed most of its Peer Group over the one-, three- and five-years as follows:

--1-, 3- and 5-year calculations of performance are based on Q3 2017 and as of November 10, 2017 for TSR.

--Companies with less than three and/or less than five full years of historical financial and TSR performance are excluded.

--Financial Services peers are excluded from analysis of capital allocation because services companies are not as capital intensive as REITs and BDCs, which are primarily engaged in direct investment of firm capital.

--Data source: S&P Capital IQ

The Company believes that compensation paid to our NEOs for 2017 was commensurate with the Company’s overall absolute performance as well as our performance relative to the Peer Group during the relevant Performance Periods. The 2017 compensation decisions made by the Compensation Committee considered the fact that our performance relative to the Peer Group was above the median, and in most cases above the 75^th percentile, measured using Return on Average Assets, Return on Equity, Return on Investment Capital and Total Shareholder Return during the trailing one-, three-, and five-years as indicated in the chart above.

In addition, the Compensation Committee also considers the Company’s total shareholder returns as compared to a select number of BDC Peers⁽¹⁾ to consider the competitiveness of executive compensation levels. As of December 30, 2017, the Company delivered the following TSR results⁽²⁾ as compared to our select BDC peers:

CEO Pay Ratio

For 2017, our last completed fiscal year, the median of the annual total compensation of all of our employees (other than Mr. Henriquez, our Chief Executive Officer (our “CEO”)) was $209,713, and the annual total compensation of our CEO, as reported in the Summary Compensation Table, was $8,235,700. Based on this information, our CEO’s 2017 annual total compensation was approximately 39.3 times that of the median of the 2017 annual total compensation of all of our employees.

We selected December 31, 2017 as the date used to identify our “median employee” whose annual total compensation was the median of the annual total compensation of all our employees (other than our CEO) for 2017. As of December 31, 2017, our employee population consisted of 66 individuals (other than Mr. Henriquez), located in our California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C. offices. We compared the annual total compensation for our employee population in accordance with the requirements of Item 402(c)(2)(x) of Regulation S-K, which included salary, bonus, stock awards and employer contributions to employee accounts in our 401(k) plan. In making this determination, we annualized the compensation of 79 employees who either were hired or terminated in 2017 but did not work for us the entire fiscal year.

Our Regulatory Status and Limitations Imposed by the Investment Company Act of 1940

We are an internally-managed, non-diversified, closed-end investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, referred to as the 1940 Act. As a BDC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory requirements, including the 1940 Act, rules promulgated under the 1940 Act, and exemptive orders issued to us by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. We refer to these requirements, rules and exemptive orders as the 1940 Act Requirements. Among other things, these 1940 Act Requirements:

Why is this important to the Company’s executive compensation? The 1940 Act Requirements that restrict the Company to sponsoring either an equity incentive plan or a “profit sharing plan” limit the Company’s use of formulas or non-discretionary objective performance goals or criteria in its incentive plans. This means that the Compensation Committee is not permitted to use a nondiscretionary formulaic application of any performance criteria for corporate and individual goals to determine compensation. Rather, the Compensation Committee must take into consideration all factors and use its discretion to determine the appropriate amount of compensation for our NEOs. The Compensation Committee’s objective is to work within this regulatory framework to maintain and motivate pay-for-performance alignment, to establish appropriate compensation levels relative to our Peer Group and to implement compensation best practices. Annual cash bonus decisions are not made pursuant to a formulaic cash bonus plan in order to comply with our obligations under the 1940 Act.

2017 Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation

At our 2017 annual meeting of stockholders, our advisory vote on say-on-pay received support from our stockholders with 94% of votes cast. The Company believes that the continuing dialogue with our stockholders on company performance, compensation and other governance matters is important. In advance of our 2017 annual meeting of stockholders, management engaged in numerous direct dialogues with our largest institutional shareholders, as well as a number of other institutional shareholders, to gain broad-based and/or specific insights into the Company’s overall performance, operating expenses, including executive compensation and corporate governance practices. In addition, we invited each of our institutional stockholders holding more than 1% of the Company’s stock to speak directly with management specifically on executive compensation and corporate governance practices. The Company anticipates continuing our stockholder engagement efforts following the 2018 annual meeting and in advance of our future annual meetings.

Assessment of Company Performance

In determining annual compensation for our NEOs, the Compensation Committee analyzes and evaluates the individual achievements and performance of our NEOs as well as the overall relative and absolute operating performance and achievements of the Company. We believe that the alignment of (i) our business plan, (ii) stockholder expectations and (iii) our employee compensation is essential to long-term business success and the interests of our stockholders and employees and to our ability to attract and retain executive talent, especially in a competitive environment for top-quality executive talent in the venture debt industry.

Our business plan involves taking on credit risk over an extended period of time, and a premium is placed on our ability to maintain stability and growth of net asset values as well as continuity of earnings growth to pass through to stockholders in the form of recurring dividends over the long term. Our strategy is to generate income and capital gains from our investments in the debt with warrant securities, and to a lesser extent direct equity, of our portfolio companies. This income supports the anticipated payment of dividends to our stockholders. Therefore, a key element of our return to stockholders is current income through the payment of dividends. This recurring payout requires methodical asset acquisition analyses as well as highly active monitoring and management of our investment portfolio over time. To accomplish these functions, our business requires implementation and oversight by management and key employees with highly specialized skills and experience in the venture debt industry. A substantial part of our employee base is dedicated to the generation of new investment opportunities to allow us to sustain dividends and to the maintenance of asset values in our portfolio. In addition to the performance factors above, the Company considered the following Company-specific performance factors over the relevant Performance Periods: overall credit performance, performance against annual gross funding goals, overall yields, efficiency ratios, total and net investment income and realized and unrealized gains and losses.

Elements of Executive Compensation and 2017 Compensation Determinations

Base Salary

We believe that base salaries are a fundamental element of our compensation program. The Compensation Committee establishes base salaries for each NEO to reflect (i) the scope of the NEO’s industry experience, knowledge and qualifications, (ii) the NEO’s position and responsibilities and contributions to our business growth and (iii) salary levels and pay practices of those companies with whom we compete for executive talent.