SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(A) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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TIDEWATER INC.
6002 Rogerdale Road, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77072

March 18, 2019

To Our Stockholders:

You are cordially invited to attend the 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Tidewater Inc. to be held at SpringHill Suites by Marriott Houston Westchase, 5851 Rogerdale Road, Houston, Texas, on April 30, 2019 at 10:00 a.m., Central Time.

The attached Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement describe the formal business to be conducted at the meeting. Our directors and officers will be present at the meeting to respond to your questions.

This year, we are once again giving certain stockholders the option of receiving their proxy materials electronically. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proxy rules allow companies to furnish proxy materials to stockholders by allowing them to access material on the internet instead of mailing a printed set to each stockholder, unless the stockholder requests delivery by traditional mail or electronically by email. In accordance with these rules, beginning on or about March 18, 2019, we began mailing a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials to certain stockholders and made our proxy materials available online. As discussed in greater detail below, the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials contains instructions on how to access our proxy materials online as well as how to vote by telephone, online or in person at the annual meeting. Most stockholders will not receive printed copies of the proxy materials unless requested.

You are requested to vote by proxy as promptly as possible. You may vote by telephone or online, or, if you have received a paper copy of our proxy materials, you may vote by signing, dating, and returning the enclosed proxy card in the envelope provided. If you attend the meeting, which we hope that you will, you may vote in person even if you previously voted by proxy.

	Sincerely,
	THOMAS R. BATES, JR. Chairman of the Board

TIDEWATER INC.
6002 Rogerdale Road, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77072

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

The 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Tidewater Inc. (the “company”) will be held at SpringHill Suites by Marriott Houston Westchase, 5851 Rogerdale Road, Houston, Texas, on April 30, 2019 at 10:00 a.m., Central Time, for the following purposes:

Only stockholders of record at the close of business on March 6, 2019 are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the 2019 annual meeting. Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote FOR each of the ten (10) director nominees, FOR approval of our executive compensation, and FOR ratification of our selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our auditors.

Your vote is important. If you are unable to attend the meeting in person and wish to have your shares voted, you may vote by telephone or online, or, if you have received a paper copy of our proxy materials, by completing, dating, and signing the enclosed proxy card and returning it in the accompanying envelope as promptly as possible. You may revoke your proxy by giving a revocation notice to our Secretary at any time before the 2019 annual meeting, by timely delivering a proxy bearing a later date, or by voting in person at the meeting.

	By Order of the Board of Directors
	BRUCE D. LUNDSTROM Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Houston, Texas
March 18, 2019

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF
OUR PROXY MATERIALS FOR THE
ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS ON APRIL 30, 2019.

This proxy statement and our 2018 annual report on Form 10-K are available at
www.proxyvote.com

REQUIREMENTS FOR ATTENDING THE ANNUAL MEETING IN PERSON

If you plan to attend the annual meeting in person, please bring the following:

If your shares are held in street name, we will accept, as proof of your ownership of those shares, either an account statement or a letter from your broker, bank, or other nominee confirming that you were the beneficial owner of our stock on the record date.

We reserve the right to deny admission to the meeting to any person other than a stockholder of record on the record date (or a duly-designated proxy) or a beneficial owner of shares held in street name on the record date who has produced acceptable proof of ownership.

If you need directions to the annual meeting, please contact us at (713) 470-5300.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TIDEWATER INC.
6002 Rogerdale Road, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77072

PROXY STATEMENT

PROXY SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this proxy statement, but does not contain all of the information that you should consider before voting your shares. We recommend that you read the entire proxy statement carefully before voting. For complete information regarding the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, the proposals to be voted on at the annual meeting, and our company’s performance during the 2018 fiscal year, please review the entire proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2018. These materials are being made available to stockholders on or about March 18, 2019.

2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

Time and Date:   10:00 a.m., Central Time, Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Place:   SpringHill Suites by Marriott Houston Westchase, 5851 Rogerdale Road, Houston, Texas 77072

Record Date:   March 6, 2019

Voting:   Only stockholders as of the record date are entitled to vote. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote for each director nominee and one vote for each of the other proposals.

2018 Performance Highlights (page 27)

reductions in world-wide staffing levels, targeted reductions in compensation and salaries company-wide, consolidation of offices globally, changes to our insurance program, improved management of vessel repair and maintenance, and other cost control measures. Furthermore, we once again led our sector in selling stacked vessels into peripheral markets and recycling yards in 2018, and we currently expect to continue this commitment in 2019 and beyond.

Executive Compensation Highlights (page 28)

Agenda and Voting Recommendations

Director Highlights (page 11)

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING AND VOTING

If your shares are held on your behalf in a stock brokerage account or by a bank or other nominee, you are the “beneficial owner” of shares held in “street name” and the Notice and/or proxy materials have been forwarded to you by your broker, bank, or nominee who is considered, with respect to those shares, the stockholder of record. As the beneficial owner, you have the right to instruct your broker, bank, or nominee as to how to vote your shares by using the voting instruction form included in the mailing or by following their instructions for voting by telephone or the internet.

Shares represented by proxies that include broker non-votes on a given proposal will be considered present at the meeting for purposes of determining a quorum, but those shares will not be considered to be represented at the meeting for purposes of calculating the vote with respect to that proposal.

If you do not vote shares registered in your name, your shares will not be voted. However, the proxy agent may vote your shares if you execute and return a blank or incomplete proxy card (see “What happens if I return a proxy card without voting instructions?” below regarding record holders).

If you are a stockholder of record and you execute and return a blank or incomplete proxy card without voting instructions, the proxy agent will vote your shares (i) FOR each of the ten director nominees, (ii) FOR the say-on-pay vote, and (iii) FOR the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2019.

If you are a beneficial owner of shares and do not give voting instructions to your broker, bank, or nominee, your broker, bank, or nominee will be entitled to vote your shares only with respect to the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as our independent registered public accounting firm.

Majority Voting in Director Elections. Our directors are elected by majority vote except in the event of a contested election, in which case a plurality standard will apply. If in an uncontested election, an existing director receives a greater number of “AGAINST” votes than “FOR” votes, he or she is required to tender his or her resignation to the board. The board’s nominating and corporate governance committee will make a recommendation to the board on whether to accept or reject the resignation, or whether other action should be taken. The board will act on the committee’s recommendation and disclose its decision and rationale within 90 days from the certification of the election results. You may find more information about our majority voting policy in this proxy statement under the heading “Proposal 1: Election of Directors – Majority Voting.”

Any Other Matters. Any other matter that properly comes before the annual meeting will be decided by the vote of the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock present in person or represented by proxy, except where a different vote is required by statute, our certificate of incorporation, or our bylaws.

In addition, if you currently are a stockholder who shares an address with another stockholder and would like to receive only one copy of future notices and proxy materials for your household, you may notify your broker if your shares are held in a brokerage account or, if you are a stockholder of record, you may notify us through Broadridge at the above-listed phone number or address.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS

The table below shows the name, address and stock ownership of each person known by us to beneficially own more than 5% of our common stock as of March 6, 2019.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF MANAGEMENT

The following table sets forth the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 6, 2019 by each director, by each executive officer named in the 2018 Summary Compensation Table (our “named executives” or “NEOs”), and by all directors and executive officers as a group. Unless otherwise indicated, each person has sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of our common stock beneficially owned by him or her.

PROPOSAL 1: ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

As provided by our bylaws, our directors are elected annually. We currently have ten directors, six of whom joined our board immediately following our July 31, 2017 restructuring (the “restructuring”), Mr. Rynd, our president and CEO, who joined us in March of 2018, and three of whom joined our board immediately following the business combination with GulfMark (the “GulfMark designated directors”). Our bylaws require that, subject to applicable law and the directors’ fiduciary duties, each of the three GulfMark designated directors (or a replacement candidate as provided in the bylaws) will be included in the slate of nominees recommended by our board to stockholders for election at the 2019 annual meeting.

Upon the recommendation of our nominating and corporate governance committee, our board has re-nominated each of our ten current board members to serve another term as director. Each director elected at the 2019 annual meeting will serve a one-year term beginning at the annual meeting and ending when his or her successor, if any, is elected or appointed. Assuming stockholders elect all of these director nominees at the annual meeting, our board will continue to have ten directors.

We intend to vote the proxies received in response to this solicitation “FOR” the election of each of the nominees. If, contrary to our present expectations, any nominee cannot or will not serve, we intend to vote the proxies “FOR” the election of the other nominees and proxies may be voted for any substitute nominee of our board. Each nominee has consented to being named as a nominee in this proxy statement and to serve as a director if elected. Our board has no information or reason to believe that any nominee will not be a candidate at the time of the annual meeting or, if elected, will be unable or unwilling to serve as a director. In no event will the proxies be voted for more than ten nominees.

Majority Voting. Our directors are elected by majority vote. Any director who stands for re-election in an uncontested election and who receives a greater number of “AGAINST” votes than “FOR” votes must tender his or her resignation to the board. Our board’s nominating and corporate governance committee is required to promptly consider and recommend to our board whether to accept the tendered resignation. Our board will then act on the committee’s recommendation and disclose its decision and rationale within 90 days from the certification of the election results. We would then promptly and publicly disclose the board’s findings and final decision in a current report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC. A copy of our Corporate Governance Policy, which includes our majority voting policy, may be obtained as described under “Corporate Governance – Availability of Corporate Governance Materials.” Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on this proposal.

Our board of directors recommends that you vote “FOR” each of the following ten nominees: Thomas R. Bates, Jr., Alan J. Carr, Randee E. Day, Dick Fagerstal, Steven L. Newman, Louis A. Raspino, Larry T. Rigdon, John T. Rynd, Robert P. Tamburrino, and Kenneth H. Traub.

A biography of each director nominee is set forth below. Each director nominee’s biography contains information regarding that person’s service as a director, business experience, other public company directorships held currently or at any time during the last five years, and the nominee’s experiences, qualifications, attributes, or skills that led the nominating and corporate governance committee and our board to determine that he or she should serve as a director for our company. The information in each biography is presented as of March 6, 2019.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT STOCKHOLDERS VOTE “FOR” EACH OF THE TEN NOMINEES FOR DIRECTOR LISTED ABOVE.

Director Nominating Process and Considerations.The nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for reviewing and evaluating with our board the appropriate skills, experience, and background desired of board members in the context of our business and the then-current composition of our board.

Director Independence. Under our Corporate Governance Policy and the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), a majority of our directors must be independent. Our board has determined that, as of the record date, each of our director nominees meets the NYSE’s definition of “independence” (discussed in greater detail below under “Board of Directors – Director Independence”), except for Messrs. Rynd and Tamburrino. Mr. Rynd is our president and chief executive officer and, prior to joining our board, Mr. Tamburrino provided consulting services to the company. For more information on director independence, please see the section entitled, “Board of Directors – Director Independence.”

Board Diversity. Our board does not have a formal written policy with regard to the consideration of diversity in identifying director nominees. Our nominating and corporate governance committee charter, however, requires the committee to monitor the composition of the board and its committees and may develop and recommend to the board, if necessary or appropriate, specific criteria for selecting director nominees. In considering the composition of our board as a whole, the committee and the board evaluate the skills and experiences of each candidate to ensure that the specific knowledge, experience, skills, expertise, integrity, analytical ability, diversity, and other characteristics needed to maintain our board’s effectiveness are possessed by an appropriate combination of directors. The committee seeks a diverse group of prospective candidates for board service who possess the requisite characteristics, skills, and experience, taking into consideration the availability of highly qualified candidates; committee workloads and membership needs and anticipated director retirements. Our overarching goal is that the unique skills and experiences of each individual director complement and enhance the overall capabilities of the board.

Neither the committee nor our board have adopted specific criteria for selecting director nominees, preferring to maintain the flexibility to evaluate the board’s needs at any given point in time in light of our company’s business model, strategic plan, and the skillset of the then-current members of the board. However, as evidenced by the biographies of our director nominees that appear above, we believe it is important that our board have individual directors who possess skills in such broad areas as:

Each candidate is evaluated to ensure that he or she possesses personal and professional character and integrity, and each must demonstrate exceptional ability and judgment in his or her respective endeavors. Candidates must possess sufficient time and availability to effectively carry out their duties and responsibilities as a director of our company. The committee may employ professional search firms (for which it would pay a fee) to assist it in identifying potential nominees for board service with the right mix of skills and disciplines.

This year, as in prior years, the committee reviewed the qualifications of each of our current directors as well as the contributions each has made to our board and the company during his or her tenure as a director. The committee recommended each of these ten directors be nominated for an additional one-year term. Subsequently, our board approved this slate of ten director nominees to be submitted for election by our stockholders at the annual meeting.

Consideration of Candidates Recommended by Stockholders. Our bylaws provide that a stockholder of our company entitled to vote for the election of directors may nominate candidates for election to our board at our annual

meeting of stockholders by complying with the required notice procedures, as described in greater detail below. The nominating and corporate governance committee’s policy is to consider director candidates recommended by stockholders on the same basis and in the same manner as it considers all director candidates.

No director candidates were recommended by stockholders in time for consideration at the 2019 annual meeting. To be timely for our 2020 annual meeting, a stockholder’s notice must be given in writing and delivered or mailed to the company’s Secretary and received at our principal executive offices no earlier than January 1, 2020 and no later than January 31, 2020.

Stockholder recommendations of nominees are required to be accompanied by, among other things, specific information as to the nominees and as to the stockholder making the nomination or proposal. We may require any proposed nominee to furnish such information as may reasonably be required to determine his or her eligibility to serve as a director of our company. A description of these requirements is set forth in the company’s bylaws, which may be obtained as described under “Corporate Governance – Availability of Corporate Governance Materials.”

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Our board of directors has adopted corporate governance practices designed to aid the board and management in the fulfillment of their respective duties and responsibilities to our stockholders.

Corporate Governance Policy. Our board has adopted a Corporate Governance Policy, which, together with our certificate of incorporation, bylaws, and board committee charters, form the framework for the governance of our company. The nominating and corporate governance committee is charged with reviewing the Corporate Governance Policy at least annually to assess the continued appropriateness of those guidelines in light of any new regulatory requirements and evolving corporate governance practices. After this review, the committee recommends any proposed changes to the Corporate Governance Policy to the full board for approval.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Our board has also adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics sets forth principles of ethical and legal conduct to be followed by our directors, officers, and employees. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics requires any employee who reasonably believes or suspects that any director, officer, or employee has violated the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, company policy, or applicable law to report such activities to his or her supervisor or to our Chief Compliance Officer (Bruce D. Lundstrom, our General Counsel), either directly or anonymously. We do not tolerate retaliation of any kind against any person who, in good faith, reports any known or suspected improper activities pursuant to the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics or assists with any ensuing investigation.

Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics also references disclosure controls and procedures required to be followed by all officers and employees involved with the preparation of the company’s SEC filings. These disclosure controls and procedures are designed to enhance the accuracy and completeness of the company’s SEC filings and, among other things, to ensure continued compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Communicating with Directors. Stockholders and other interested parties may communicate directly with our board, the non-management directors, or any committee or individual director by writing to any one of them in care of our Secretary at 6002 Rogerdale Road, Suite 600, Houston, Texas 77072. Our company or the director contacted will forward the communication to the appropriate director. For more information regarding how to contact the members of our board, please visit our website at www.tdw.com/about-tidewater/corporate-governance/.

Complaint Procedures for Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Related Matters. The audit committee has established procedures for receiving, reviewing, and responding to complaints from any source regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, and auditing matters. The audit committee has also established procedures for the confidential and anonymous submission by employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters. Interested parties may communicate such complaints to the audit committee chair by following the procedures described under the heading “Communicating with Directors” above. Employees may report such complaints by following the procedures outlined in the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and through other procedures communicated and available to them. As noted above, we do not tolerate retaliation of any kind against any person who, in good faith, submits a complaint or concern under these procedures.

Availability of Corporate Governance Materials. You may access our certificate of incorporation, our bylaws, our Corporate Governance Policy, our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and all committee charters under “Corporate Governance” in the “About Tidewater” section of our website at www.tdw.com. You also may request printed copies, which will be mailed to you without charge, by writing to us in care of our Secretary, 6002 Rogerdale Road, Suite 600, Houston, Texas 77072.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As of the date of this proxy statement, our board has ten members. Assuming all director nominees are elected, our board will continue to have ten members following the 2019 annual meeting.

Board Meetings and Attendance. During the 2018 fiscal year, our board held 18 meetings including telephonic meetings. Each director attended at least 75% of the meetings of the board and of the committees on which he or she served during the portion of fiscal 2018 in which he or she was a board member.

Our board does not have a policy requiring director attendance at annual meetings; however, our board’s practice is to schedule a board meeting on the same day as the annual meeting of stockholders in order to facilitate director attendance at the annual meeting.

Director Independence. Our board has affirmatively determined that 8 of our 10 directors –Messrs. Bates and Carr, Ms. Day, Messrs. Fagerstal, Newman, Raspino, Rigdon, and Traub – are currently independent. However, Mr. Rigdon, who was appointed as an independent director immediately following our restructuring, was not independent during his five-month tenure as our interim president and chief executive officer (October 16, 2017 – March 5, 2018). Neither Mr. Rynd, our president and chief executive officer, nor Mr. Tamburrino, who provided consulting services to the company prior to his appointment as a director, is currently independent.

The standards relied upon by the board in affirmatively determining whether a director is independent are the objective standards set forth in the corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE. In making independence determinations, our board evaluates responses to a questionnaire completed annually by each director regarding relationships and possible conflicts of interest between each director, the company, and management. In its review of director independence, our board also considers any commercial, industrial, banking, consulting, legal, accounting, charitable, and familial relationships any director may have with the company or management of which it is aware.

Board Leadership Structure. The roles of chairman and chief executive officer are currently held by two different persons – Mr. Bates serves as our chairman and Mr. Rynd serves as our president and chief executive officer.

Our board believes that, at this time, our current leadership structure best serves the interests of our company and our stockholders by clearly allocating responsibilities between the two offices. As our president and chief executive officer, Mr. Rynd’s primary responsibilities are to manage the day-to-day business and to develop and implement the company’s business strategy with the oversight of, and input from, the board. As chairman, Mr. Bates’ primary responsibility is to lead the board in its responsibilities of providing guidance to, and oversight of, management.

We have not adopted a policy requiring that these two roles be separate; rather, our board’s policy is to determine from time to time whether it is in the best interests of the company and its stockholders for the roles to be separate or combined. We believe that our board should have the flexibility to make these determinations in a way that will best provide appropriate leadership for our company based on needs of the company at that particular time. If we combine these roles in the future, or if the board determines that the chairman is otherwise not independent under NYSE standards, the board will elect a lead independent director at the same time that it elects its chairman.

Executive Sessions of Non-Management Board Members. The non-management directors meet in regularly-scheduled executive sessions presided over by our chairman (or, if our chairman is not independent, our lead independent director). At the conclusion of each board meeting, the non-management directors have an opportunity to meet in executive session. The non-management and independent directors may schedule additional executive sessions throughout the year. During fiscal 2018, the non-management members of our board (all of our directors except the individual then serving as chief executive officer) met ten times in executive session.

Annual Board Self-Assessments. To assist in its review as to whether the board and its committees are functioning effectively, our board has instituted annual self-assessments of the board and each of its committees. The directors participate in an annual evaluation of the full board and each committee on which they serve. The board and each committee discuss the findings, making changes as deemed necessary to improve director communications and the overall effectiveness of board and committee meetings. The nominating and corporate governance committee oversees this evaluation process. The most recent self-assessment, which was facilitated by outside counsel, was conducted in November 2018.

Role of the Board in Risk Oversight. While our board as a whole has responsibility for risk oversight, each of our board committees oversees and evaluates risks associated with its respective areas of responsibility, as summarized below under “Composition and Role of Board Committees.” Our board and its committees focus annually on identifying, evaluating, and managing the spectrum of key risks faced by our company. The particular areas of focus include strategic, operational, financial and reporting, compensation, regulatory and compliance, international, and other risks.

COMPOSITION AND ROLE OF BOARD COMMITTEES

Our board currently has three standing committees: audit, compensation, and nominating and corporate governance. Actions taken by our committees are reported to the full board. Each of our three committees is comprised entirely of independent directors and is governed by a written charter that is reviewed annually and approved by the full board. A copy of each committee charter may be obtained online or by mail as described in “Corporate Governance – Availability of Corporate Governance Materials.”

The current members of each board committee are identified in the following table, which also indicates the number of meetings each committee held during fiscal 2018:

Audit Committee. Our board’s audit committee is a separately-designated, standing committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Its current members are listed in the above chart. The board has determined that all four committee members are financially literate and that each of the four members qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined by SEC rules.

The main function of our audit committee is to oversee our accounting and financial reporting processes, internal systems of control, independent auditor relationship, and the audits of our financial statements. The audit committee’s key responsibilities are:

The audit committee is also responsible for any audit reports the SEC requires us to include in our proxy statements. In this proxy statement, the requisite report may be found under the heading “Audit Committee Report.”

Each member of the audit committee satisfies all of the additional independence requirements for audit committee members set forth in the corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE and Exchange Act Rule 10A-3.

Compensation Committee. The role of the compensation committee is to assist our board of directors in discharging its responsibilities relating to:

Each member of the compensation committee satisfies all of the additional independence requirements for compensation committee members set forth in the corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE and Exchange Act Rule 16b-3.

The compensation committee reports to the board of directors on all compensation matters regarding our executive officers and management and may form and delegate authority to subcommittees when appropriate. The compensation committee is also responsible for reviewing and discussing with management the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section of our Form 10-K or proxy statement and, based on such review and discussion, recommending to the board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in our Form 10-K or proxy statement and issuing a Compensation Committee Report to that effect.

The “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” or “CD&A” section of this proxy statement provides a discussion of the process the committee uses in determining executive compensation. Included in the subsection entitled “Process of Setting Compensation” is a description of the scope of the compensation committee’s authority, the role played by our chief executive officer in recommending compensation for the other named executives, and the committee’s engagement of compensation consultants.

Risk Review of Employee Compensation. Consistent with SEC disclosure requirements, the compensation committee performs an annual risk assessment of our company’s compensation programs. Management has identified the elements of our compensation program that could incentivize management to take risks and has reported to the compensation committee its assessment of those risks and mitigating factors particular to each risk. The compensation committee has concluded that our compensation policies and practices do not create risks that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our company. Some of the findings the committee considered in reaching this conclusion include:

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The key responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee are to:

Additional information regarding the nominating and corporate governance committee’s role in nominating directors and the ability of stockholders to recommend candidates for director may be found under “Proposal 1: Election of Directors – Director Nominating Process and Considerations” and “ – Consideration of Candidates Recommended by Stockholders,” respectively.

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

2018 DIRECTOR COMPENSATION TABLE

This table reflects all compensation paid to or accrued by each of our non-management directors during fiscal 2018. The compensation of each of Mr. Rynd, who currently serves as our president and chief executive officer, and Mr. Rigdon, a non-management director who served as our interim president and chief executive officer for a five-month period ending on March 5, 2018, is disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table. A description of the elements of our director compensation program follows this table.

We currently use a combination of cash and equity-based compensation to provide competitive compensation for our non-management directors and to enable them to meet their stock ownership guidelines. The form and amount of director compensation is periodically reviewed and assessed by our nominating and corporate governance committee, which is responsible for overseeing the program and would refer any recommended changes to the full board for action. Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC (“Meridian”), which serves as the independent consultant to our compensation committee, also assists the nominating and corporate governance committee and the board in its review of director compensation to help ensure that our director pay levels and program components are in line with competitive market practice.

Director Fees. For fiscal 2018, the cash and equity-based compensation payable to our non-management directors was as follows:

In order to align the annual grant of director equity awards with the company’s annual meeting of stockholders, the fiscal 2018 awards were pro-rated based on the number of days of service between July 31, 2018 (or, if later, the

director’s appointment date) and May 7, 2019. The number of RSUs granted in each award is calculated by dividing the grant date target value by the closing price of a share of our common stock on the date of grant. All of the time-based RSUs granted to directors during fiscal 2018 will vest on May 7, 2019, provided the director remains a member of the board on the vesting date. However, vesting of the award will accelerate if, prior to the vesting date, the director dies, terminates service due to disability, or is willing and able to continue to serve as a director but is either not renominated or not reelected to serve another term.

Stock Ownership Guidelines. Our directors are subject to stock ownership guidelines requiring each director to own and hold company stock worth five times his or her annual cash retainer no later than five years after his or her appointment. Under the guidelines, unvested RSUs count as shares of company common stock. Each of our current directors has until August 1, 2022 (or, if later, the fifth anniversary of his or her appointment as a director) to comply with the guidelines. These guidelines are described in greater detail under “Compensation Discussion and Analysis – Other Compensation and Equity Ownership Policies – Stock Ownership Guidelines.”

Other Benefits. We reimburse all directors for reasonable travel and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attendance at meetings of the board of directors and its committees. We also cover the cost of our directors attending continuing education programs (including tuition and travel).

PROPOSAL 2: ADVISORY VOTE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION (“SAY-ON-PAY” VOTE)

At each annual meeting, we provide our stockholders with the opportunity to vote to approve, on a non-binding, advisory basis, the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in this proxy statement pursuant to Section 14A of the Exchange Act. This vote (commonly referred to as a “say-on-pay” vote) is advisory, which means that the vote is not binding on the company, our board of directors, or its compensation committee. The vote on this resolution is not intended to address any specific element of compensation but rather relates to the overall compensation of our named executives and our compensation philosophy and practices, as described in this proxy statement.

We are asking our stockholders to vote on the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that the compensation paid to the named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement for the company’s 2019 annual meeting of stockholders pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K of the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission is hereby APPROVED.

We understand that our executive compensation practices are important to our stockholders. In considering your vote on this proposal, we encourage you to review all of the relevant information in this proxy statement – the description of our program located in the Comepnsation Discussion and Analysis, the compensation tables, and the rest of the narrative disclosures regarding our program.

While this say-on-pay vote is not binding, our compensation committee and board take the views of our stockholders into account and will review the voting results and consider the outcome of the vote when making future compensation decisions for our named executives. We invite stockholders who wish to communicate with our board on executive compensation or any other matters to contact us as provided under “Corporate Governance – Communicating with Directors.”

Approval of this resolution requires the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the voting power present or represented by proxy at the annual meeting. Abstentions will be counted as votes against this proposal, and broker non-votes will have no effect on this proposal. If no voting specification is made on a properly returned or voted proxy card, the proxies named on the proxy card will vote FOR approval of the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in this proxy statement. For more information, please see “Questions and Answers about the Annual Meeting and Voting.”

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT STOCKHOLDERS VOTE “FOR” APPROVAL OF THE COMPENSATION OF OUR NAMED EXECUTIVES AS DISCLOSED IN THIS PROXY STATEMENT.

COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

This section of our proxy statement discusses and analyzes our executive compensation philosophy and program in the context of the compensation paid during the last fiscal year to certain executive officers of the company. We refer to these executives as our “named executives” or “NEOs.” For fiscal 2018, our named executives were:

In this CD&A, we first provide an Executive Summary of our company’s business and performance during the fiscal year and how that performance affected executive compensation decisions and payouts. We next explain the Compensation Philosophy and Objectives that guide our compensation committee’s executive compensation decisions. We then describe the committee’s Process of Setting Compensation. Next, we discuss in detail each of the Compensation Components, including, for each component, a design overview as well as the actual results yielded for each named executive in fiscal 2018.

Executive Summary

Our Business. Our company operates a diversified fleet of marine service vessels and provides other marine support services to the global offshore energy industry. With operations in most of the world’s significant offshore crude oil and natural gas exploration and production regions, we have one of the broadest global operating footprints in the offshore energy industry. We provide services in support of all phases of offshore exploration, field development, and production, including towing of, and anchor handling for, mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction and seismic support; and a variety of specialized services such as pipe and cable laying. Our international operations are the primary driver of our revenue and earnings, as a substantial portion of our revenues come from operations outside of the United States territorial waters. For more information about our business, please see “Business” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

Fiscal 2018 Company Performance. Our company performance highlights in 2018 include the following:

throughout the full year 2018 and into 2019, we continue to focus on maximizing revenue, cost control and capital discipline, each of which improves our cash flow position. As a result, we were cash flow positive from both an operations and investing activities standpoints for the full year 2018. We remain prepared to respond to changes in industry conditions so that our key objectives of cash flow positive operations and maintaining capital discipline can be achieved.

Fiscal 2018 Compensation Highlights. As described in greater detail under “Compensation Components,” the three main components of our executive compensation program are base salary, an annual cash incentive award, and long-term incentive awards. The table below provides a summary of key actions taken with respect to each of these three components in fiscal 2018:

Compensation Philosophy and Objectives

As a company with a global reach in an operationally-demanding, volatile, highly cyclical, and capital-intensive business, we design our executive compensation program to achieve the following objectives:

Since our compensation programs are designed to reward achievement of corporate objectives, we change our programs from time to time as our objectives change. The specific principles followed and decisions made in establishing the compensation of our named executives for fiscal 2018 are discussed in more detail below.

Compensation Best Practices. Our compensation committee (referred to throughout this section as the “committee”) strives to align executive compensation with stockholder interests and incorporate strong governance standards into our compensation program, including through the following:

Process of Setting Compensation

Our board of directors has delegated to the committee the primary responsibility for overseeing our executive compensation program. The committee annually reviews and sets the compensation for our executive officers, reporting to the full board on all compensation matters regarding our executives and other key management employees. For more information about the committee’s responsibilities, see “Composition and Role of Board Committees – Compensation Committee.”

Role of the Chief Executive Officer. Our CEO makes recommendations to the committee with respect to salary, short-term incentive (bonus), and long-term incentive awards for all executive officers other than himself. He

develops those recommendations based on competitive market information generated by the committee’s compensation consultant, the company’s compensation strategy, his assessment of individual performance, and the experience level of the particular executive. After discussing those recommendations with the CEO, its consultant, and amongst themselves, the committee makes the final decisions on executive compensation.

Evaluating the Chief Executive Officer’s Compensation. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the CEO presents the committee with a proposed list of objectives against which to measure his performance during that year. The committee reviews these objectives with the CEO and then meets in executive session to further review, revise, and approve a final list of performance objectives for the CEO for the year. In evaluating the CEO’s compensation, the committee reviews the competitive market information provided by its compensation consultant and bases its decisions regarding his compensation on our overall compensation strategy, the CEO’s self-assessment, and the committee’s independent assessment of his performance, using the objectives that the committee established at the beginning of the year as one point of analysis. These deliberations are done in executive session so that the CEO is not present when the committee makes its determinations regarding his compensation.

Role of Compensation Consultant. Our committee has sole authority over the selection, use, compensation and retention of any compensation consultant engaged to assist the committee in discharging its responsibilities. Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC (Meridian) serves as the committee’s primary consultant. The committee’s primary consultant also surveys director compensation upon the request of the nominating and corporate governance committee, which is responsible for reviewing director compensation. Meridian provides no other services to, nor has any other relationship with, our company. As required by SEC rules, the committee has assessed Meridian’s independence with respect to all six independence factors and concluded that Meridian’s work has not raised any conflicts of interest.

Meridian provides us with an analysis of competitive compensation market data for the committee to review and consider as part of its annual compensation determination process. This analysis is based on proxy-disclosed compensation information for our defined peer group of companies, which, for 2018, consists of 18 similarly-sized energy service industry companies, as discussed in greater detail below.

Peer Group. In consultation with Meridian, the committee reviews and approves our peer group annually, paying particular attention to mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies, each of which may make a peer company more or less aligned to our business. In making its determinations regarding fiscal 2018 compensation, the committee reviewed detailed performance and compensation data on the companies in our peer group.

In November 2017, the committee approved certain changes to our peer group based on recommendations from Meridian. Specifically, a total of three companies were removed from the peer group. One peer company, Atwood Oceanics, was removed because it had been acquired (by Ensco plc in October 2017). A second company, McDermott International, was removed because its revenues were now over 4.5x times our revenues while the third company, Helmerich & Payne, was removed because it was the largest driller in our peer group based on revenues and its market capitalization was substantially higher than ours. To ensure our peer group remained sufficiently robust, the committee approved the addition of three new peer companies – Newpark Resources, Inc., Frank’s International NV, and PHI, Inc. – whose revenues and market capitalization were in greater alignment with our company at that point in time, just a few months after our restructuring. In addition, the committee approved substituting SEACOR Marine Holdings, Inc. for peer company SEACOR Holdings, Inc., as the former had spun off from the latter in June 2017.

Following these adjustments, our peer group consisted of the following 18 companies:

In determining the compensation arrangements for Mr. Rynd, who joined us as president and CEO on March 5, 2018, the committee consulted a comparative pay analysis prepared by Meridian that focused on a smaller subset of our peer group, consisting of the asterisked companies above plus two former peer companies (Atwood Oceanics, Inc. and, given that there was not yet any publicly-available compensation data for SEACOR Marine Holdings, Inc., SEACOR Holdings Inc.).

Consideration of Prior Say-on-Pay Vote Results. Since 2011, our board’s policy has been to hold say-on-pay votes at each annual meeting of stockholders, consistent with the board’s voting recommendation on, and the actual results for, each of the two advisory votes on the frequency of future say-on-pay votes that we have held. The most recent such vote was in 2018 and more than 99% of voting shares were cast in favor of continuing to hold annual say-on-pay votes. Our next advisory vote on the frequency of future say-on-pay votes will be held at our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.

At our 2018 annual meeting, our stockholders overwhelmingly approved our executive compensation, with more than 95% of voting shares cast in favor of the say-on-pay resolution at that meeting. The result of the most recent say-on-pay vote is an important point of reference for the committee as it makes executive compensation decisions for a given year. In addition, we regularly engage with stockholders and welcome their feedback on our pay programs throughout the year.

Compensation Components

As noted previously, the three core components of our executive compensation program are base salary, a short-term cash incentive, and long-term incentive awards. Given the changes in executive leadership that occurred during 2018, some of the committee’s compensation decisions were memorialized in individual compensation agreements. These include an employment agreement with our new CEO, Mr. Rynd; a separation agreement with our outgoing CFO, Mr. Fanning; and an employment agreement with Mr. Kneen that was assumed as a result of the business combination and which has been amended and restated to reflect his new role as CFO of the combined company. This section discusses each of these compensation elements and arrangements as well as the change of control protections, retirement benefits, and limited perquisites provided to our named executives during fiscal 2018.

Base Salary. In prior years, the committee’s practice has been to review and determine salary levels for named executives prior to the beginning of each fiscal year. Our base salary determinations are based on a variety of factors, including individual performance, market salary levels, our company’s overall financial condition, and industry conditions.

For those named executives who were employed by us both before and after the restructuring (namely, Messrs. Fanning, Gorski, and Lundstrom, our “legacy named executives”), their salaries were unchanged from April 2014 through December 2017. Those salaries were as follows: Mr. Fanning, $395,000; Mr. Gorski, $380,500; and Mr. Lundstrom, $386,300. Effective January 1, 2018, in support of the company’s overall cost-cutting efforts, the committee approved an across-the-board decrease in base salary for our officers, including each of the legacy named executives. Specifically, the committee approved a 15% decrease in the annual base salary of each of Messrs. Fanning, Gorski, and Lundstrom, resulting in a new annual base salary of $335,750 for Mr. Fanning, $323,425 for Mr. Gorski, and $328,355 for Mr. Lundstrom.

With respect to Mr. Rigdon, who was also serving as an executive officer on January 1, 2018, he and the committee agreed to amend his employment agreement in order to decrease his annual base salary from $240,000 to $150,000. This decrease represents a 15% reduction in Mr. Rigdon’s overall base compensation, considering both his base salary plus the grant date value of the time-based RSUs that were awarded to him in 2017 at the beginning of his interim service.

When he joined the company as president and CEO in March 2018, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Rynd. Mr. Rynd’s employment agreement provides for an initial base salary of $705,000, which may be increased but not decreased during the term except with Mr. Rynd’s written consent. However, given the 15% reduction in officer base salaries that had just been implemented as discussed above, we entered into a side letter with Mr. Rynd, which provided that from his first day as an executive officer, his base salary will also be reduced by 15% until such time as the salary reduction is lifted for other executives. As a result of the side letter, Mr. Rynd’s base salary is $600,000. For more information on our employment agreement with Mr. Rynd, please see the section entitled “Employment Agreement with Mr. Rynd.”

As a result of the business combination, Mr. Kneen, who had previously served as president, CEO, and a director of GulfMark, became an employee of one of our subsidiaries and we assumed his existing employment agreement. That agreement provided for a base salary of $510,000. Following the business combination, Mr. Kneen was appointed as our Executive Vice President and CFO in November 2018, and we renegotiated his prior agreement to reflect his new role and responsibilities. Under his amended agreement, which became effective on December 28, 2018, Mr. Kneen receives an annual base salary of $350,000, which is in better alignment with the base salaries of our other executive vice presidents. For more information on our amended agreement with Mr. Kneen, please see the section entitled “Employment Agreement with Mr. Kneen.”

Short-Term Cash Incentive Compensation. Our short-term or annual cash incentive (“STI”) program is one key component of our executive compensation program.

General Structure of the Program. Our typical practice is to pay short-term cash incentives to our named executives for the purpose of rewarding both company and individual performance during a given year. In recent years, the company’s STI program for executive officers has included the following performance metrics:

CFFO is one of our most important shorter-term company strategic objectives. We believe that CFFO is a core measure of the company’s performance and our focus on CFFO is intended, among other things, to incentivize management to focus on key cash flow initiatives, including timely collection of accounts receivable balances and working down the net working capital balance due to the company that has been generated by our Angolan operations. CFFO is also important for long-term stockholder value creation in that it keeps management focused on the ability to fund growth through operations in an effort to manage debt levels.

We include a safety performance component in our STI program to reinforce our commitment to continue to be an industry leader in safety. We believe that a safe work environment helps us to attract and retain a more experienced work force and gives us a competitive advantage among our peers, both in retaining existing business and when bidding for new work. In addition, a strong safety record helps us to minimize our insurance and loss costs and the overall cost of doing business.

The inclusion of a discretionary individual performance component in our typical STI program ensures that our committee can take into account the individual performance of our executives that is not readily evident in, or translatable from, financial results for a given quarter or year.

The committee’s practice has been to approve the executive STI program during the first quarter of our fiscal year. In approving the plan, the committee approves the company performance metrics, the specific performance levels for each metric, and the target award for each named executive, which is expressed as a percentage of the executive’s base salary.

2018 STI Program Design. In March 2018, the committee approved the fiscal 2018 STI program. Each of the named executives (except for Mr. Kneen, who joined the company in late 2018) was designated as a participant in the program. However, Mr. Rigdon’s interim service had ended at the time the committee adopted the program. Therefore, as described in greater detail below, the committee approved an early pro rata STI payout for him based on actual performance through his last date of service.

Unlike in prior years, when each of the individual metrics was weighted and evaluated separately, the overall initial funding of the 2018 STI program depends upon the Company’s CFFO performance as measured against specific CFFO targets for the year. Once the Company’s CFFO performance is determined, the actual payout for each participant is determined based on two additional metrics – the company’s safety performance during the year (representing 25% of the target award) and the participant’s individual performance as measured against specific performance goals (representing 75% of the target award). For each participating named executive, the committee approved both his individual performance goals (at the beginning of the year) and the degree of performance achieved against those individual goals (following the end of the year).

Payout on the safety portion may range from 0-100% of the target safety component, depending upon both CFFO and safety performance, while payout on the individual performance component may range from 0-125%, depending on both CFFO and an assessment of individual performance. Therefore, the maximum a participant may earn under the fiscal 2018 STI program is 118.75% of his or her target award.

The following chart shows the target award for each participating named executive, expressed as a percentage of his base salary, as well as the dollar amount of the target award he was eligible to receive under the STI program for fiscal 2018:

As noted above, at the time that it set the above targets, the committee approved a pro-rata bonus of $98,711 for fiscal 2018 to Mr. Rigdon, who served as interim president and CEO until March 5, 2018. This bonus, which was paid to Mr. Rigdon within a few days of the committee’s approval, represented the portion of the target award for which he would have been eligible under the 2018 STI plan during the time period in fiscal 2018 in which he served as interim president and CEO, adjusted for safety performance during the same period. Because Mr. Kneen joined us in late 2018 following the business combination, he did not participate in the 2018 STI program but will participate in the 2019 STI program.

Calculation of 2018 STI Payout.

CFFO. As noted previously, the 2018 STI plan was funded by the company’s achievement of a specific CFFO target. Based on the 2018 company budget, the committee approved an initial CFFO target of $(42.0) million. If actual CFFO, adjusted for bankruptcy-related professional services costs and other restructuring costs, was better than $(42.0) million, the pool would be funded at 100%. Subsequent to the approval of the 2018 company budget and the STI plan, the committee determined to increase the target from $(42.0) million to $(33.0) million based on an adjustment of certain budgeted costs from operating activities to financing activities. The committee and management agreed to take this action in order to neutralize the effect of the adjustment on the STI plan and maintain the intended rigor of the target. If the company’s actual CFFO equaled or was an improvement on this target, each participant would be eligible to receive 100% of his or her target bonus, depending on the additional assessment of safety and individual performance. For CFFO of $(43.5) million, each participant could receive 50% of the target bonus and for CFFO of $(47.7) million, the participant could receive 25% of the target bonus, in each case, dependent on the additional safety and individual performance assessments. If CFFO failed to reach $(47.7) million, no payout could be earned. Results falling in between the stated targets would result in a proportionately scaled payout.

As reported in our consolidated statements of cash flows, our CFFO for 2018 was $3.9 million, or $36.9 million better than the target of $(33.0) million. Based on this result, the plan was 100% funded prior to the second step, assessments of company safety (25%) and individual (75%) performance.

Safety. For each participant, the portion of his or her target award (25%) allocated to safety represents the maximum the participant could earn, with downward adjustments made if more than one lost time accident (LTA) has occurred (20%). For any additional LTAs, the bonus would be reduced by an additional 20%. The company had a total of two LTAs in 2018, which reduced the safety bonus payout to 80% of the target.

Individual Performance. For each participant, 75% of his or her target award is based on an individual performance assessment. This is a discretionary component of the STI program based on the committee’s assessment of the individual executive’s performance during the year. Each participant had the ability to achieve a maximum individual performance payout of 125%. For 2018, the CEO assessed the individual performance of each of the other participating named executives and reported his assessments to the committee. After reviewing and discussing these assessments among themselves and with the CEO, the committee approved the individual performance payouts for

these named executives at the level recommended by the CEO. The committee then met in executive session to conduct its own assessment of the CEO’s individual performance during 2018. As detailed in the table below, individual performance payouts for each named executive ranged between 95% to 100% of the executive’s target award.

The following chart details the actual payouts under the 2018 STI plan.

Long-Term Incentive Compensation. The company maintains two long-term incentive (“LTI”) plans, the Tidewater Inc. 2017 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”), which became effective as a result of the restructuring, and the Tidewater Inc. Legacy GLF Management Incentive Plan (the “Legacy GLF Plan”), which was originally adopted by GulfMark but was assumed and converted by us in the business combination.

Prior to the restructuring, our committee would typically make annual LTI grants to our named executives in the form of equity or equity-based awards, generally using a multiple of each executive’s base salary to determine the overall grant size. However, we have not implemented an annual LTI program for executives since the restructuring given that our legacy named executives received sizeable emergence grants just after the restructuring in the form of time-based RSUs. These emergence grants, which were granted in exchange for the officer’s waiver of certain contractual rights, were designed to retain the critical executive talent necessary to move the company forward in the immediate aftermath of the restructuring and were intended to provide a strong incentive for those officers to create sustainable long-term value for shareholders.

The emergence grants, which were granted on August 18, 2017, vest in equal installments on each of the first three anniversaries of the date of grant, subject to the recipient’s continued employment. However, each emergence grant will vest in full upon an involuntary termination of employment without “cause” or a voluntary resignation with “good reason” (each as defined in the 2017 Plan). The emergence grants are also subject to certain restrictive covenants, including a customary covenant not to disclose confidential company information, a one-year post-employment covenant not to compete, and a two-year post-employment covenant not to solicit employees away from the company.

As noted above, the committee did not implement an annual LTI program for 2018 for our named executives. Given a variety of factors, including the recent changes in our executive leadership, the fact that the second of three tranches of the emergence grants will vest in 2019, and the considerable increase in size and complexity of our company and operations as a result of the business combination, the committee has begun the process of considering how best to implement an annual LTI program for executive officers on an ongoing basis.

However, we did make an initial LTI grant to each of the two executive officers who was newly appointed in 2018 (Messrs. Rynd and Kneen).

As provided in his employment agreement, Mr. Rynd received an initial LTI grant in the form of restricted stock units with a grant date target value of $2,750,000, 60% of which was performance-based and 40% of which was time-based. Subject to his continued employment for a three-year period, both the time-based and the performance-based RSUs will vest in one installment on March 4, 2021. With respect to the performance-based RSUs, payout will range between 0-200%, depending on the level of operating cash flow generated by the company during fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The following table reflects the operating cash flow targets approved by the committee at grant:

The number of shares earned will be prorated if our actual performance falls between any two performance levels. At performance below the threshold, all performance-based RSUs will be forfeited.

However, the committee is currently considering adjustments to these operating cash flow targets to reflect the impact of our business combination with GulfMark. Similar to the midyear adjustment that the committee made to the CFFO targets in the 2018 STI plan, the committee’s goal is to maintain the intended rigor of the performance target.

In the event that Mr. Rynd dies, his employment terminates due to disability, we terminate his employment without “cause,” he terminates his employment for “good reason,” or a “change of control” occurs (as those terms are defined in his agreement), the vesting of any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant will accelerate, with performance deemed to have been achieved at the target performance level for the performance-based portion.

With respect to Mr. Kneen, in renegotiating his employment agreement, the committee was mindful of the fact that under his prior agreement, Mr. Kneen could have “good reason” to terminate his employment following the business combination and receive a substantial severance payment (approximately $1,050,000). In order to incentivize Mr. Kneen to accept continued employment with us on substantially revised terms, the committee granted him an initial LTI award, consisting of time-based RSUs with a grant date value of $1,050,000, which will vest in equal installments over the first three anniversaries of the date of grant. However, if Mr. Kneen dies, his employment terminates due to disability, we terminate his employment without “cause,” or if he terminates his employment with “good reason” (as those terms are defined in his agreement), the vesting of any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant will accelerate.

Retirement Benefits. Our named executives participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all employees. These broad-based plans include a Pension Plan (now frozen and closed to new participants) and a qualified defined contribution retirement plan (the 401(k) Savings Plan). We have frozen the benefits under our Pension Plan for all participants effective December 31, 2010, and there will be no future benefit accruals under that plan. None of our named executives are current participants in the Pension Plan. Since January 1, 2011, qualified retirement benefits have been provided through our 401(k) Savings Plan.

In addition to these broad-based programs, we provide our executives with a non-qualified deferred compensation plan, the Supplemental Savings Plan (the “SSP”), which acts as a supplement to our 401(k) Savings Plan, and a SERP that operates as a supplement to our Pension and 401(k) Savings Plans. Both the SSP and the SERP are designed to provide retirement benefits to our officers that they are precluded from receiving under the underlying qualified plans due to the compensation and benefit limits in the Internal Revenue Code.

The SERP has been closed to new participants since March 1, 2010 and, effective January 1, 2018, the board suspended any additional SERP accruals for existing participants. The only named executives who are current SERP participants are Messrs. Fanning and Lundstrom. Mr. Rigdon, who retired from the company in 2002, is currently receiving payouts under the Pension Plan and SERP based on his prior service and did not accrue any additional benefits for his service as interim president and chief executive officer.

Change of Control Agreements. We have entered into change of control agreements with certain officers, including each of our named executives other than Mr. Rigdon (given his interim status). We continue to offer our executives change of control benefits for several reasons. We believe that offering these protections to our executives

and other key personnel is an important part of good corporate governance, as they alleviate individual concerns about the possible involuntary loss of employment and ensure that the interests of our named executives will be materially consistent with the interests of our stockholders when considering corporate transactions. In addition, we believe that these change of control protections preserve morale and productivity and encourage retention in the face of the potential disruptive impact of an actual or potential change of control of our company.

In late 2017, with the assistance of Meridian, the committee conducted a thorough review of our change of control protections, as our existing change of control agreements were set to expire on December 31, 2017. As a result of those efforts, the committee approved a new form of change of control agreement, which accomplished a few key objectives:

This new form of change of control agreement was effective January 1, 2018. The agreement has an initial term of one year (January 1-December 31, 2018) but is subject to one-year “evergreen” renewal periods unless the company provides written notice to the officer by June 30 of a given year that it does not wish to extend the agreement past its then-current term.

The agreement provides the officer with certain employment protections for a two-year period following a change in control of the company. In addition, if the officer is terminated without “cause” or terminates his own employment with “good reason” during that two-year protected period (as defined in the agreement), he will be entitled to receive certain payments and benefits. Specifically, among other benefits, the officer would be entitled to receive: (1) a cash severance payment equal to a specific multiple (two times for the CEO, one-and-a-half times for any executive vice president, and one time for all other covered officers) of the sum of (a) his base salary in effect at the time of termination and (b) his target bonus; (2) a pro-rata cash bonus for the fiscal year in which the termination occurs; (3) a cash payment equal to any accrued but unpaid bonus for a completed fiscal year; and (4) reimbursement for the cost of insurance and welfare benefits for a specified number of months (24 months for the CEO, 18 months for any executive vice president, and 12 months for all other officers) following termination of employment.

Under the agreement, the officer would not be entitled to any tax gross-ups for excise taxes that may be triggered under Sections 280G and 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. However, the officer would be entitled to receive the “best net” treatment, which means that if the total of all change of control payments due him exceeds the threshold that would trigger the imposition of excise taxes, the officer will either (1) receive all payments and benefits due him and be responsible for paying all such taxes or (2) have his payments and benefits reduced such that imposition of the excise taxes is no longer triggered, depending on which method provides him the better after-tax result.

Other Benefits and Perquisites. We also provide certain limited perquisites to our named executives. For 2018, these perquisites consisted primarily of tax and financial planning services, an executive physical, club dues for one country club membership for each named executive, and lunch club memberships. We do not provide tax gross-ups on any perquisites.

Employment Agreement with Mr. Rigdon. In late 2017, the board appointed Mr. Rigdon, a former executive of the company who had joined our board as an independent director in connection with the restructuring, to serve as president and chief executive officer on an interim basis while it conducted a search for a longer term successor to that role. Mr. Rigdon served in this role for approximately five months, until our appointment of John T. Rynd as president, chief executive officer, and a director in early 2018.

In connection with his interim appointment, we entered into a one-year employment agreement with Mr. Rigdon. This agreement provided for a one-time award of time-based RSUs with a grant date value of $360,000, which was granted in late 2017 and was scheduled to vest in four quarterly installments over a one-year period. In addition, the agreement established Mr. Rigdon’s annual base salary of $240,000, although, for fiscal 2018, his base salary was

decreased by mutual agreement to $150,000, given the decreases in base salary for other executive officers that took effect January 1, 2018. The agreement also provided that Mr. Rigdon would participate in our STI Plan, with a target annual bonus opportunity equal to $600,000, prorated for partial years.

Mr. Rigdon’s agreement provided for certain payments and benefits in the event that we terminated his employment without “cause” prior to the first anniversary of his interim executive appointment. Among other things, his agreement defined termination without “cause” to include the appointment of a long term successor to the president and chief executive officer roles. Therefore, our appointment of Mr. Rynd on March 5, 2018 triggered Mr. Rigdon’s rights to certain termination without cause benefits, including (1) a lump sum severance payment equal to the base salary that would have been paid to him through October 15, 2018 had he served through that date and (2) the RSUs granted to him under the agreement vested in full on that date. In addition, Mr. Rigdon received an early pro-rata bonus under the 2018 STI Plan, representing the portion of the target award for which he would have been eligible under the STI Program during the time period in fiscal 2018 (January 1, 2018 to March 4, 2018) in which he served as interim president and CEO, adjusted for safety performance during the same period.

Employment Agreement with Mr. Rynd. As noted previously, Mr. Rynd was appointed as our president, chief executive officer, and a director effective March 5, 2018. We entered into an employment agreement with him as well as a side letter that established his initial base salary. His employment agreement has a three-year term (through March 5, 2021) but is subject to one-year “evergreen” renewal periods unless the company provides written notice at least 60 days prior to the expiration date that it does not wish to extend the agreement past its then-current term.

The agreement provides for an initial base salary of $705,000, which may be increased but not decreased during the term except with Mr. Rynd’s written consent. However, given that we reduced base salaries for certain executive officers by 15% effective January 1, 2018 as part of our cost containment measures, we entered into a side letter with Mr. Rynd, which provided that from his first day as an executive officer, his base salary will also be reduced by 15% until such time as the salary reduction is lifted for other executives. As a result of the side letter, Mr. Rynd’s starting base salary is $600,000.

The agreement establishes Mr. Rynd’s target award opportunity in the STI program at 100% of base salary, pro-rated for partial year service. In addition, as contemplated by the agreement, he received an initial LTI grant with a grant date target value of $2,750,000. Of this amount, 40% was granted to Mr. Rynd as time-based RSUs that vest in one installment on March 4, 2021. The remaining 60% of his initial LTI grant consists of performance-based RSUs that will also vest on March 4, 2021, but with the number of shares vesting ranging between 0-200% of the number of RSUs granted, depending on the level of operating cash flow generated by the company during fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

In the event of Mr. Rynd’s death or termination due to disability during the term of the agreement, Mr. Rynd would be entitled to receive a pro-rata STI award for the year of termination based on actual performance and all of his outstanding unvested equity awards would accelerate, with performance deemed to have been achieved at target performance levels for any performance-based awards. In the event that we terminate Mr. Rynd’s employment without “cause” or if he terminates his employment with “good reason” during the term, he would be entitled to one year of his then-current base salary and a target bonus for the year of termination, which would be paid to him in equal installments over a twelve-month period after the date of termination. In addition, Mr. Rynd would receive a pro-rata STI award for the year of termination based on actual performance and the vesting of any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant will accelerate, with performance deemed to have been achieved at target performance levels for the performance-based portion.

Our agreement with Mr. Rynd contains certain restrictive covenants that apply to him during and after his employment, including an agreement to not disclose confidential information and, for a two-year period following his termination of employment for any reason, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. As noted previously, we have also entered into a change of control agreement with Mr. Rynd, on the same terms as described for our new 2018 agreements under “Change of Control Agreements.” If a “change of control” (as defined in the change of control agreement) occurs, then the change of control agreement will govern the terms of Mr. Rynd’s employment and the employment agreement will be of no further force and effect. In addition to the benefits that he would receive under the change of control agreement, the vesting of any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant will accelerate upon a change of control, with performance deemed to have been achieved at target performance levels for the

performance-based portion. Although the committee generally disfavors single trigger change of control equity acceleration, the committee made an exception for Mr. Rynd’s initial LTI grant given that, among other factors, no portion of his initial LTI grant is scheduled to vest until the third anniversary of the date of grant.

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement with Mr. Kneen. Prior to the consummation of the business combination, Mr. Kneen served as president, chief executive officer and a director of GulfMark. At its first meeting following the consummation of the business combination, the board appointed Mr. Kneen to succeed Mr. Fanning as our Chief Financial Officer effective November 15, 2018. Since the Committee had not yet had an opportunity to consider Mr. Kneen’s compensation arrangements in light of his new role, he continued to receive the same compensation and benefits, including base salary, that were due to him under his employment agreement with GulfMark, which the company assumed as a result of the business combination (his “prior agreement”).

Following his acceptance of the CFO position, we renegotiated Mr. Kneen’s prior agreement, including a reduction in his base salary from $510,000 to $350,000, effective December 28, 2018, to bring his base salary more in line with the base salaries of our other executive vice presidents (the “amended agreement”). As provided in the amended agreement, effective January 1, 2019, Mr. Kneen will participate in the STI program with an annual target opportunity of 95% of base salary (the same level as his peer executives) and will be eligible to participate in any LTI program for executive officers.

Although Mr. Kneen’s prior agreement was an “evergreen” agreement with an auto-renewal feature, his amended agreement now has a fixed term of three years. At the end of the term, the amended agreement will no longer be in effect although Mr. Kneen’s employment may continue at will. Although Mr. Rynd, our CEO, was provided an “evergreen” employment agreement upon his appointment, the committee decided that allowing Mr. Kneen’s amended agreement to sunset after three years would put him on more equal footing with his peer executive vice presidents, none of whom currently have written employment agreements.

Several of these changes to Mr. Kneen’s employment conditions (including the change in his title and reporting relationship) could have constituted “good reason” for him to terminate employment under the terms and conditions of his prior employment agreement. Specifically, had Mr. Kneen elected to terminate his employment for “good reason” (or had the company elected to terminate his employment without “cause”), he would have been entitled to receive severance benefits with a total value of approximately $1,050,000. In order to secure Mr. Kneen’s continued employment under the revised agreement, the committee awarded him an initial LTI grant of time-based RSUs with a grant date value of $1,050,000, which will vest in equal installments over the first three anniversaries of the date of grant. In addition, Mr. Kneen’s legacy GulfMark RSUs, which were assumed and converted by us in the business combination (his “converted RSUs”) will remain outstanding subject to their original vesting schedule.

In the event of Mr. Kneen’s death or termination due to disability during the term of the amended agreement, Mr. Kneen would be entitled to receive a pro-rata STI award for the year of termination based on actual performance and the vesting of any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant and his converted RSUs would accelerate. In addition, if Mr. Kneen’s employment is terminated by the company without “cause” or if he terminates his employment with “good reason” during the term of his amended agreement then, subject to his execution and non-revocation of a general release of claims against the company, Mr. Kneen will be entitled to receive certain payments and benefits. Specifically, in such event, Mr. Kneen would be entitled to receive a lump sum cash severance equal to 24 months’ of then-current base salary, a lump sum cash payment equal to the total premiums that Mr. Kneen would have been required to pay for 12 months’ of continuation coverage under the Company’s health plans, and would remain eligible to receive a pro rata bonus under the STI program for the year of termination based on actual performance. In addition, any unvested portion of his initial LTI grant and his converted RSUs would automatically vest in full.

Mr. Kneen’s amended agreement contains certain restrictive covenants that apply during and after his employment, including an agreement to not disclose confidential information and, for a one-year period following his termination of employment for any reason, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. As noted previously, we have also entered into a change of control agreement with Mr. Kneen, on the same terms as described for our new 2018 agreements under “Change of Control Agreements.” If a “change of control” (as defined in the change of control agreement) occurs, then the change of control agreement will govern the terms of Mr. Kneen’s employment and his amended agreement will be of no further force and effect.

Separation Agreement with Mr. Fanning. As previously announced, on November 15, 2018, shortly after the consummation of the business combination, Mr. Fanning stepped down from his position as our Chief Financial Officer but agreed to remain employed with us for an additional period of time in order to ensure an orderly transition.

On December 28, 2018, we entered into a separation agreement with Mr. Fanning, which provided that he would continue to be employed by the Company through February 28, 2019 or such earlier date as determined by us. Mr. Fanning would continue to receive his current base salary through February 28, 2019 and he remained eligible to receive a bonus under the 2018 STI program for the full year, with his individual performance assessed at 100%.

Under the separation agreement, in addition to any termination-related payments and benefits to which he is entitled under previously-disclosed compensation arrangements (including the SERP), Mr. Fanning is entitled to receive certain additional payments and benefits following his last day of employment. Specifically, Mr. Fanning will receive a cash severance payment equal to 120 days of current base salary, to be paid within 30 days of his termination date and we will pay the full monthly premium for continued health insurance coverage for Mr. Fanning and his dependents until they are eligible for health insurance coverage under another employer’s plan, not to exceed a maximum of 18 months. In addition, we agreed to pay Mr. Fanning’s legal fees incurred in connection with his review and negotiation of the separation agreement ($12,630). Further, as provided in the incentive agreement that we entered into with Mr. Fanning on August 18, 2017 (the “Fanning RSU Agreement”) the vesting of all outstanding, unvested RSUs granted will accelerate as of the termination date.

Mr. Fanning’s separation agreement also provides for the waiver of certain claims and confirms the continued enforceability of certain restrictive covenants memorialized in the Fanning RSU agreement, including an agreement not to disclose confidential information and a two-year agreement not to solicit any Company employees or service providers. However, the separation agreement does provide for a conditional waiver of the Fanning RSU Agreement’s covenant not to compete, effective as of his termination date.

Compensation and Equity Ownership Policies

Clawback Policy. Under our Executive Compensation Recovery Policy, we may recover cash and equity incentive compensation awarded if the compensation was based on the achievement of financial results that were the subject of a subsequent restatement of our financial statements if the executive officer engaged in intentional misconduct that caused the need for a restatement and the effect was to increase the amount of the incentive compensation.

Stock Ownership Guidelines. Under our stock ownership guidelines, our officers are required to hold the following amounts of company stock within five years of becoming an officer:

If an officer’s ownership requirement increases because of a change in title or if a new officer is added, a five-year period to achieve the incremental requirement begins in January following the year of the title change or addition as an officer. For our executives, the guidelines specify that time-based equity awards count as shares of company stock but performance-based awards do not. Each of our executives, like the members of our board, has until the later of August 1, 2022 or the fifth anniversary of his or her appointment to come into compliance with these guidelines.

Prohibition on Hedging and Pledging Transactions. Each of our named executives is subject to our Policy Statement on Insider Trading, an internal company policy adopted by our board. This policy includes a blanket prohibition on engaging in certain forms of hedging or monetization transactions, such as prepaid variable forward contracts, equity swaps, collars, and exchange funds with respect to our securities, regardless of whether those securities were received as compensation. This prohibition applies to all company insiders (including our directors and our named executives) as well as all of our other employees. In addition, the policy includes a blanket prohibition on insiders pledging company securities as collateral for a loan or any other purpose.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

The current members of our compensation committee are Messrs. Newman, Bates, and Carr, none of whom have been an officer or employee of our company or any of our subsidiaries. No executive officer of our company served in the last fiscal year as a director or member of the compensation committee of another entity one of whose executive officers served as a member of our board or on our compensation committee.

Compensation Committee Report

The compensation committee has reviewed and discussed with management the Compensation Discussion and Analysis required by Item 402(b) of Regulation S-K. Based upon this review and discussion, the committee recommended to the board of directors that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this proxy statement.

FISCAL 2018 SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE

The following table summarizes the compensation paid to each of our named executives in all capacities in which they served for each of fiscal 2018, the nine-month transition period from April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 (“TP 2017”), and the two prior fiscal years (2016 and 2017).

In prior years, the company has made matching contributions for individuals participating in the 401(k) Savings Plan and Supplemental Savings Plan. However, all such contributions were suspended effective January 1, 2018 and therefore there were no such contributions during fiscal 2018. The fiscal 2018 “Perquisites” figures reported above include the following: financial planning and income tax preparation (for Messrs. Fanning and Gorski), the cost of company-paid parking (for all NEOs except Mr. Kneen), and certain club memberships (for Messrs. Rynd, Fanning, and Gorski). We do not reimburse any executive for tax liability incurred in connection with any perquisite.

FISCAL 2018 GRANTS OF PLAN-BASED AWARDS

The following table presents additional information regarding all equity and non-equity incentive plan awards granted to our named executives during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.