Ethics and Governance

At the core of our operations is a commitment to conducting business with transparency, integrity, and a strong sense of ethical and social responsibility. We prioritize fairness, safeguard private information, and uphold the highest governance standards, whether engaging with customers, suppliers or competitors. This is the Nationwide way.

Sharing the responsibility with our associates

Each year, our associates undergo comprehensive training and adopt companywide performance goals to ensure adherence to relevant laws, regulations and internal policies. Our Code of Conduct serves as a compass, offering clear guidelines that empower our associates to make decisions in line with our values and the best interests of our customers.

Nationwide promotes a “speak up” culture and provides many options for associates to report concerns to its Office of Ethics. Contacts made anonymously remain low, indicating a strong level of trust.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct guides our partnerships with suppliers to share our commitment to ethics, compliance, diversity, equity, inclusion, human rights, environmental sustainability and fair dealing.

Protecting and securing personal information

Protection is more than a policy or product. Our responsibility to customers, associates and others we do business with is to ensure that their personal information is properly used, shared and disposed of. We adhere to established protocols for handling data, meticulously designed to fortify our networks, computers and data against potential threats.

Structured for success

16 members currently serve on the Nationwide Board of Directors, which includes our Chief Executive Officer, the only nonindependent director. The roles of Chair and CEO are separate.

Several Nationwide directors have agricultural backgrounds, including extensive experience in environmental and sustainability issues. Cybersecurity expertise also is represented among our board members.

Our Board of Directors1:

27%
racially/ethnically diverse
33%
women

Our Nationwide Funds Board of Trustees is also diverse, with 25% racially/ethnically diverse members and 50% women.1

Members of the Board undertake an annual self-assessment of the performance of the Board, facilitated by an external firm. The Board assesses candidates for re-election on a regular basis, also facilitated by an external firm.

Nationwide has adopted a distributed risk oversight model, which distributes and coordinates distinct risk oversight responsibilities between and among the Board and Board committees.

The Board has six committees to ensure broad and deep coverage of our top risks. Members of each committee and its Chair are recommended by the Governance Committee and elected by the Board.

Committees include:
  • Audit
  • Business Innovation and Technology
  • Finance
  • Governance
  • Human Resources
  • Sponsor and Customer

The Board Governance Committee at Nationwide plays a crucial role in overseeing our Corporate Sustainability governance framework, involving subject matter experts, the Corporate Sustainability Council, and our OCEO.

The Corporate Sustainability Council is composed of subject matter experts from across the company who drive the identification and implementation of sustainable practices; develop sustainability-related policy recommendations; and monitor, comment on and enable compliance with new sustainability regulatory standards.

Board responsibilities

Nationwide’s Board is accountable for Nationwide’s strategic risk profile, risk management framework and risk management process oversight.

Because we’re a mutual company, our leadership and associates are incentivized based on Board-approved structures prioritizing customer satisfaction, retention, value generation and long-term financial stability.

The Board and its committees regularly convene with our CEO and executive leaders to deliberate on strategic initiatives, business performance, risk mitigation and the evolving landscape within our industry.

[1] Independent Directors as of April 4, 2024.