UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Filed by the Registrant  ☒                            Filed by a Party other than the Registrant  ☐

Check the appropriate box:

GARTNER, INC.

(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

April 16, 201922, 2020

Dear Stockholder:

On behalf of the Board of Directors and Management of Gartner, Inc., you are invited to attend our 20192020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Thursday, May 30, 2019,Monday, June 8, 2020, at 10 a.m. local time, at our corporate headquarters at 56 Top Gallant Road, Stamford, Connecticut. However, in light of the emerging public health concerns of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, we may hold a Virtual Annual Meeting in lieu of a physical meeting in Stamford, Connecticut. If we decide to hold a Virtual Annual Meeting, we will announce it in a press release available athttps://investor.gartner.com as soon as practicable prior to the Annual Meeting.

Details of the business to be conducted at the meeting are given in the Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement which follow this letter. The 20182019 Annual Report to Stockholders is also included with these materials.

We have mailed to many of our stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”) containing instructions on how to access our 20192020 Proxy Statement and our 20182019 Annual Report to Stockholders, and how to vote online on the three management Proposals put before you this year. The Notice also includes instructions on how to request a paper or email copy of the proxy materials, including the Notice of Annual Meeting, Proxy Statement and Annual Report, and proxy card or voting instruction card. Stockholders who previously either requested paper copies of the proxy materials or elected to receive the proxy materials electronically did not receive a Notice and will receive the proxy materials in the format requested.

In addition, by following thee-consent instructions in the proxy card, stockholders may go paperless in future solicitations and request proxy materials electronically by email on an ongoing basis.

Your vote is important. Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, we urge you to review the proxy materials and vote your shares, regardless of the number of shares you hold, as soon as possible. You may vote by proxy over the internet or by telephone using the instructions provided in the Notice. Alternatively, if you received paper copies of the proxy materials by mail, you can also vote by following the instructions on the proxy card or voting instruction card. Instructions regarding the three methods of voting are contained in the Notice, proxy card or voting instruction card.

If you have any questions about the meeting, please contact our Investor Relations Department at(203) 316-6537.

Sincerely,

Eugene A. Hall

Chief Executive Officer

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to Be Held on May 30, 2019:June 8, 2020: We are making this Notice of Annual Meeting, this Proxy Statement and our 20182019 Annual Report available on the Internet atwww.proxyvote.com and mailing copies of these Proxy Materials to certain stockholders on or about April 16, 2019.22, 2020. Stockholders of record at the close of business on April 5, 201914, 2020 are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting.

By Order of the Board of Directors,

Jules Kaufman

Corporate Secretary

Stamford, Connecticut

April 16, 201922, 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

56 Top Gallant Road

Stamford, Connecticut 0690406902

PROXY STATEMENT

For the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 30, 2019June 8, 2020

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Annual Meeting and Proposals

The 20192020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Gartner, Inc. will be held on Thursday, May 30, 2019,Monday, June 8, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. local time, for the purposes set forth in the accompanying Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and described in greater detail below. This Proxy Statement and form of proxy, together with our 20182019 Annual Report to Stockholders, are being furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of Directors of proxies to be used at the meeting and any adjournment of the meeting, and are first being made available to our stockholders on or around April 16, 2019.22, 2020. We will refer to your company in this Proxy Statement as “we”, “us”, the “Company” or “Gartner.” The three proposals to be considered and acted upon at the Annual Meeting, which are described in more detail in this Proxy Statement, are:

Management does not intend to present any other items of business and is not aware of any matters other than those set forth in this Proxy Statement for action at the 20192020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. However, if any other matters properly come before the Annual Meeting, the persons designated by the Company as proxies may vote the shares of common stock (“Common StockStock”) they represent in their discretion.

Information Concerning Proxy Materials and the Voting of Proxies

Why is it Important to Vote?

Voting your shares is important to ensure that you have a say in the governancePublic Health Concerns of the Company. Additionally, repeated failureCOVID-19 Outbreak

In light of the emerging public health concerns of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, we may hold a Virtual Annual Meeting in lieu of a physical meeting in Stamford, Connecticut. If we decide to hold a Virtual Annual Meeting, we will announce it in a press release available athttps://investor.gartner.com as soon as practicable prior to the Annual Meeting. In that event, the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders would be held in a virtual meeting format only, on the above date and time, via live audio webcast. Stockholders or their legal proxy holders could participate, submit questions, vote, may subjectand examine our stockholder list at the Virtual Annual Meeting by visitingwww.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/IT2020 and using your shares16-digit control number, but only if the meeting is held virtually and not in Stamford, Connecticut. If you are planning to risk of escheatment. Please reviewattend our Annual Meeting, please monitor our website prior to the proxy materials and follow the relevant instructionsmeeting date. As always, we encourage you to vote your shares. We hope you will exercise your rights and fully participate as a stockholder inshares prior to the future of Gartner.Annual Meeting.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) rules allow companies to furnish proxy materials to their stockholders via the Internet. This“e-proxy” process expedites stockholders’ receipt of proxy materials, while significantly lowering the costs and reducing the environmental impact of our annual meeting. Accordingly, on

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

General Information about our Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors of Gartner, Inc. (the “Board”) currently has ten directors who serve for annual terms. Our CEO, Eugene A. Hall, has an employment agreement with the Company that obligates the Company to include him on the slate of nominees to be elected to our Board during the term of the agreement. SeeExecutive Compensation – Certain Employment Agreements with Executive Officers – Mr. Hall below. There are no other arrangements between any director or nominee and any other person pursuant to which the director or nominee was selected. None of our directors or executive officers is related to another director or executive officer by blood, marriage or adoption.

Each member of our Board has been nominated forre-election at the 20192020 Annual Meeting. SeeProposal One – Election of Directors on page 18.14. Set forth below are the name, age, principal occupation for the last five years, public company board experience, selected additional biographical information and period of service as a director of the Company of each director, as well as a summary of each director’s experience, qualifications and background which, among other factors, support their respective qualifications to continue to serve on our Board.

Director Skills, Experience and Expertise

The matrix below summarizes what our Board believes are desirable types of experience, qualifications, attributes and skills possessed by one or more of Gartner’s directors, because of their particular relevance to the Company’s business and structure. The following matrix does not encompass all the experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of our directors.

Majority Vote Standard

The Company has adopted a majority vote standard for the election of directors which provides that a nominee must receive more FOR votes than AGAINST votes for election as a director. Should a nominee fail to achieve this threshold, the nominee must immediately tender his or her resignation to the Chairman. The Board, in its discretion, can determine whether or not to accept the resignation.

Compensation of Directors

The Compensation Committee, in consultation with the Governance Committee, reviews all forms of independent director compensation and approves changes, when appropriate. The Compensation and Governance Committees are supported in this review by Exequity, LLP. The review examines director compensation in relation to two comparator groups: Peer Group and General Industry Reference Group. The Peer Group includes the same companies used to benchmark executive pay. The General Industry Reference Group includes 100 companies with median revenues similar to that of Gartner. Regular review of the director compensation program ensures that the director compensation is reasonable and reflects a mainstream approach to the structure of the compensation components and the method of delivery. Director compensation is primarily reviewed in relation to the Peer Group. Gartner adjusteddid not adjust director compensation in 2019 after adjusting it in 2018 to close an identified shortfall from the Peer Group median, increasing the director annual equity grant from $200,000 to $240,000. An increase in equity compensation was the only change made to director compensation in following with Gartner’s philosophy to provide more value in equity compensation than cash. Director compensation in 2019 was determined to approximate the median of the Peer Group. The section that follows describes the current director compensation program and components.

Directors who are also employees receive no fees for their services as directors.Non-management directors are reimbursed for their meeting attendance expenses and receive the following compensation for their service as director:

Director Compensation Table

This table sets forth compensation earned or paid in cash, and the grant date fair value of equity awards made, to ournon-management directors on account of services rendered as a director in 2018.2019. Mr. Hall receives no additional compensation for service as director.

*Mr. Bingle resigned from the Board and the Compensation Committee effective July 26, 2018.

Director Stock Ownership and Holding Period Guidelines

The Board believes directors should have a financial interest in the Company. Accordingly, each director is required to hold shares of Gartner common stock with a value of not less than five (5) times the Annual Director Retainer Fee ($60,000). Directors are required to achieve the guideline within three years of joining the Board. In the event a director has not satisfied the guideline within such three yearthree-year period, he/she will be required to hold 50% of netafter-tax shares received from the Company either in the form of equity awards or released CSEs until the guideline is achieved. We permit directors to apply deferred and unvested equity awards towards satisfying these requirements. As of December 31, 2018,2019, all of our directors were in compliance with these guidelines.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Gartner is committed to maintaining strong corporate governance practices.

Board Principles and Practices

Our Board Principles and Practices (the “Board Guidelines”) are reviewed annually and revised in light of legal, regulatory or other developments, as well as emerging best practices, by our Governance Committee and Board. The Board Guidelines, which are posted onhttps://investor.gartner.com, describe the Board’s responsibilities, its role in strategic development and other matters, discussed below.

Director Independence

Our Board Guidelines require that our Board be comprised of a majority of directors who meet the criteria for independence from management set forth by the NYSENew York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) in its corporate governance listing standards.

Our committee charters likewise require that our standing Audit, Compensation and Governance/Nominating Committees be comprised only of independent directors. Additionally, the Audit Committee members must be independent underSection 10A-3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Compensation Committee members must be independent underRule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act as well as applicable NYSE corporate governance listing standards, and they must qualify as outside directors under regulations promulgated under Section 162(m) (“Section 162(m)”) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

Utilizing all of these criteria, as well as all relevant facts and circumstances, the Board annually assesses the independence from management of allnon-management directors and committee members by reviewing the commercial, financial, familial, employment and other relationships between each director and the Company, its auditors and other companies that do business with Gartner. Because of our worldwide reach, it is not unusual for Gartner to engage in ordinary course of business transactions involving the sale of research or consulting services with entities affiliated with one of our directors, or their immediate family members. The Board considered these transactions in determining director independence and determined that such transactions did not impair any director’s independence.

After analysis and recommendation by the Governance Committee, the Board determined that:

Board Leadership Structure

The leadership of our Board of Directors rests with our independent Chairman of the Board, Mr. James C. Smith. Gartner believes that the separation of functions between the CEO and Chairman of the Board provides independent leadership of the Board in the exercise of its management oversight responsibilities, increases the accountability of the CEO and creates transparency into the relationship among executive management, the Board of Directors and the stockholders. Additionally, in view of Mr. Smith’s extensive experience as a chief executive officer of a major corporation, he is able to provide an independent point of view to our CEO on important management and operational issues.

Risk Oversight

The Board of Directors, together with management, oversees risk (including cybersecurity risk) at Gartner. The Company’s strategic objectives and activities are presented by executive management to the Board and approved annually and more frequently as necessary. The Board regularly receives updates on cybersecurity matters from the Company’s Chief Information Officer and discusses identified issues identified at its meetings.

The Risk (Internal Audit) function reports directly to the Audit Committee and provides quarterly reports to the committee. The committee reviews the results of the internal audit annual risk assessment and the proposed internal audit plan. Subsequent quarterly meetings include an update on ongoing internal audit activities, including results of audits and any changes to the audit plan. Risk also meets with the Audit Committee in executive session on a quarterly basis.

The General Counsel, who serves as Chief Compliance Officer, also reports directly to the Audit Committee on a quarterly basis concerning the effectiveness and status of the Company’s legal and ethical compliance program and initiatives, hotline activities and litigation matters.

The Company maintains internal controls and procedures over financial reporting, as well as enterprise wide internal controls, which are updated and tested annually by management and our independent registered public accounting firm. Any internal control deficiencies and the status of remediation efforts as well as any findings of the Disclosure Controls Committee are reported to the Audit Committee on a quarterly basis.

Risk Assessment of Compensation Policies and Practices

Management conducts an annual risk assessment of the Company’s compensation policies and practices, including all executive,non-executive and business unit compensation policies and practices, as well as the variable compensation policies applicable to our global sales force. The results of this assessment are reported to the Compensation Committee. For 2018,2019, management concluded, and the Compensation Committee agreed, that no Company compensation policies and practices created risks that were reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Management Succession Planning

Succession planning is one of the Board’s most critical functions—to develop leaders who will successfully build the Company’s business. The Board and its Committees regularly review and discuss management development

and succession plans for the Chief Executive Officer and his direct reports. This review includes an assessment of senior executives and their potential as successor to the Chief Executive Officer.

Additionally, the Audit Committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG; approves the engagement letter describing the scope of the annual audit; approves fees for audit andnon-audit services; provides an open avenue of communication among the independent registered public accounting firm, the Risk and Internal Audit functions, management and the Board; resolves disagreements, if any, between management and the independent registered public accounting firm regarding financial reporting for the purpose of issuing an audit report in connection with our financial statements and our internal control over financial reporting; and prepares the Audit Committee Report required by the SEC and included in this Proxy Statement on page 5450 below.

The independent registered public accounting firm reports directly to the Audit Committee. By meeting with the independent registered public accounting firm, and the internal auditor, and operating and financial management personnel, the Audit Committee oversees matters relating to accounting standards, policies and practices, any changes thereto and the effects of any changes on our financial statements, financial reporting practices and the quality and adequacy of internal controls. Additionally, our internal audit and compliance functions report directly to the Audit Committee. After each Audit Committee meeting, the Committee meets separately with the CFO, the independent registered public accounting firm, the Chief Compliance Officer and the internal auditor without management present.

The Audit Committee has established procedures for (i) the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by the Company regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters, and (ii) the confidential, anonymous submission by employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters. A toll-free phone number andweb-submission form, in local language, managed by a third party is available for confidential and anonymous submission of concerns relating to accounting, auditing and other illegal or unethical matters, as well as alleged violations of Gartner’s Code of Conduct or any other policies. All submissions on the hotline are reported to the General Counsel (or designee, who determines the mode of investigation, toinvestigation), the internal auditor and to the Audit Committee at each regular meeting. The Audit Committee has the power and funding to retain independent counsel and other advisors as it deems necessary to carry out its duties.

Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee reviewed and approved the Compensation Discussion and Analysis contained in this Proxy Statement, recommended its inclusion herein (and in our 20182019 Annual Report on Form10-K) and issued the related report to stockholders as required by the SEC (seeCompensation Committee Report on page 3531 below).

Exequity LLP (“Exequity”) was retained by the Compensation Committee to provide information, analyses and advice to the Committee during various stages of 20182019 executive compensation planning. Exequity reports directly to the Compensation Committee chair. In the course of conducting its activities, Exequity attended meetings of the Compensation Committee and briefed the Committee on executive compensation trends generally.

The Compensation Committee has assessed the independence of Exequity and has concluded that Exequity is independent and that its retention presents no conflicts of interest either to the Committee or the Company.

Final decisions with respect to determining the amount or form of executive compensation under the Company’s executive compensation programs are made by the Compensation Committee alone and may reflect factors and considerations other than the information and advice provided by its consultants. Please refer to theCompensation Discussion & Analysis beginning on page 2117 for a more detailed discussion of the Compensation Committee’s activities with respect to executive compensation.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation. During 2018,2019, no member of the Compensation Committee served as an officer or employee of the Company, was formerly an officer of the Company or had any relationship with the Company required to be disclosed underTransactions Withwith Related Persons below. Additionally, during 2018,2019, no executive officer of the Company: (i) served as a member of the compensation committee (or full board in the absence of such a committee) or as a director of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our Compensation Committee; or (ii) served as a member of the compensation committee (or full board in the absence of such a committee) of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our Board.

Governance/Nominating Committee

While the Governance Committee has not specified minimum qualifications for candidates it recommends, it will consider the qualifications, skills, expertise, qualities, diversity, age, gender, availability and experience of all candidates that are presented for consideration. At the present time, three of our ten directors are women. The Board utilizes a concept of diversity that extends beyond race, gender and national origin to encompass the viewpoints, professional experience and other individual qualities and attributes of candidates that will enable the

Board to select candidates who are best able to carry out the Board’s responsibilities and complement the mix of talent and experience represented on the Board. In connection with its annual evaluation, the Board considers the appropriateness of the qualifications of existing directors given then current needs.

Candidates for Board nomination may be brought to the attention of the Governance Committee by current Board members, management, stockholders or other persons. All potential new candidates are fully evaluated by the Governance Committee using the criteria described above, and then considered by the entire Board for nomination.

Director Candidates submitted by Stockholders: Stockholders wishing to recommend director candidates for consideration by the Governance Committee may do so by writing to the Chairman of the Governance/Nominating Committee, c/o Corporate Secretary, Gartner, Inc., 56 Top Gallant Road, P.O. Box 10212, Stamford, CT 06904-2212, and indicating the recommended candidate’s name, biographical data, professional experience and any other qualifications. In addition, stockholders wishing to propose candidates for election must follow our advance notice provisions. SeeProcess for Submission of Stockholder Proposals for our 20202021 Annual Meeting on page  55.

Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct

Gartner has adopted a CEO & CFO Code of Ethics which applies to our CEO, CFO, controller and other financial managers, and a Global Code of Conduct, which applies to all Gartner officers, directors and employees, wherever located. Annually, each officer, director and employee affirms compliance with the Global Code of Conduct. SeeMiscellaneous—Proxy and Voting Information—Available Information below.

PROPOSAL ONE:

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Nominees for Election to the Board of Directors

Our Board, acting through the Governance Committee, is responsible for presenting for stockholder consideration each year a group of nominees that, taken together, has the experience, qualifications, attributes and skills appropriate and necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities of, and to function effectively as, the board of directors of Gartner. The Governance Committee regularly reviews the composition of the Board in light of the needs of the Company, its assessment of board and committee performance, and the input of stockholders and other key stakeholders. The Governance Committee looks for certain common characteristics in all nominees, including integrity, strong professional experience and reputation, a record of achievement, constructive and collegial personal attributes and the ability and commitment to devote sufficient time and effort to board service. In addition, the Governance Committee seeks to include on the Board a complementary mix of individuals with diverse backgrounds and skills that will enable the Board as a whole to effectively manage the array of issues it will confront in furtherance of its duties. These individual qualities can include matters such as experience in the technology industry; experience managing and operating large public companies; international operating experience; financial, accounting, executive compensation and capital markets expertise; and leadership skills and experience.

All of the nominees listed below are incumbent directors who have been nominated by the Governance Committee and Board forre-election and have agreed to serve another term. For additional information about the nominees and their qualifications, please seeGeneral Information About Ourabout our Board of Directors on page 62 above. If any nominee is unable or declines unexpectedly to stand for election as a director at the Annual Meeting, proxies may be voted for a nominee designated by the present Board to fill the vacancy. Each person elected as a director will continue to be a director until the 20202021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or a successor has been elected.

RECOMMENDATION OF OUR BOARD

Our Board unanimously recommends that you vote FOR the election of each nomineeof the

ten nominees to theour Board of Directors.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

General Information about our Current Executive Officers:

COMPENSATION DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS

This Compensation Discussion & Analysis, or “CD&A”, describes and explains the Company’s compensation philosophy and executive compensation program, as well as compensation awarded to and earned by, the following persons who were Named Executive Officers (“NEOs”) in 2018:2019:

The CD&A is organized into three sections:

The CD&A is followed by theCompensation Tables and Narrative Disclosures, which report and describe the compensation and benefit amounts paid to our NEOs in 2018.2019.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2018 - A2019 – Another Year of Strong Performance

In 2019, we continued to deliver strongtop-line performances across our business. Total revenues showed strong growth, when comparing 2019 to 2018, wasfueled by double-digit growth (on an exciting year for Gartner. Following our 2017 acquisitions of CEB and L2, 2018 was the first full year of Gartner providing insight and advice to clients across all enterprise functions. Our expanded product offering enhanced our ability to provide more value to our clients and broadened our addressable market significantly.

In 2018, mostFX neutral basis) in each of our businesses performed at or near record levels. Our Contract Value grew 11.4%continuing business segments – Research, Conferences and Consulting.

Research, our largest and most profitable segment, was up 10% year-over-year in revenues on an FX neutral basis, with thebasis. Contract Value of Global Technology Sales, or GTS, which accounted for 81%sells products and services to users and providers of technology and represents more than 80% of our total Research contract value, grew 12% on an FX neutral basis. Contract Value in 2018, growing at 14.2%of Global Business Sales, or GBS, which sells products and services to all other functional leaders and represents approximately 20% of our total Research contract value, accelerated growth through the year over year. Our Conferences business (formerly called “Events”) revenue grew 19% year over year,to finish up 8% organically on an FX neutral basis, the highestcompared to a growth rate of 1.1% in the Company’s history. same quarter of 2018. The substantial investments we have made in GBS products, services and sales are paying off.

Our ConsultingConferences business had a strong year as well, delivering revenue growth of 18% on an FX neutral basis and destination conference attendee growth of 10%. Our Consulting segment also achieved double-digit growth in 2019 with revenuerevenues up 7% and backlog up 12%14% on an FX neutral basis.

We’ve made investments over the past two years across the company that position us well to capture our market opportunity. In 2018,some cases, we also completedinvested ahead of the dispositiongrowth which resulted in a modest increase of certainnon-core assets that we acquired in connection with the 2017 CEB acquisition. We used the proceedscosts. Going forward, we’re shifting to rapidlyde-lever, reducing our debt balance by $1 billion. We additionally resumed the share repurchase program, purchasing over $260 million of our stock in the year.

We made a number of importantrealizing returns from those investments in 2018 to help strengthen the foundation for future growth. They included investments in sales capacity and enabling infrastructure functions, which we expect will help us accelerate growth. We believe that our business trends going into 2019 are strong andso we are well-positioned to achieve another successful year in 2019.for sustained long-term growth.

With the great strategic position of GTS and GBS, together with leveraging the investments we have made, we expect continued strong growth in the future.

Our results continued to fuel double digit-stock price growth of 20.5% in 2019 and average annual growth of 15.1% and 12.8% on a compounded basis, over the trailing three and five year periods, respectively.

“Proxy Peers” represents the proxy peer group disclosed on page 23. “Tech Sector” represents the S&P Technology Select Sector Industry Index (XLK). All comparisons are on a total return basis, including dividends.

Contract Value–A Unique Key Performance Metric for Gartner

Unique to Gartner, Contract ValueCV is oursingle most important performance metric. It focuses all of our executives on driving bothshort-term andlong-term success for our business and stockholders.

Comparing CV year over yearyear-over-year measures the short-term growth of our business and, more importantly,important, also signals the long–termlong-term health of our Research subscription business. We believe that CV is our best, most informed and leading indicator of long-term Research revenue growth.

Our Research business comprises 80%79% of our overall revenue and is also our highest contribution margin business (69%(70% for 2018)2019). Further, many of our Research contracts are multi-year agreements, and our Research enterprise client retention and retained contract value (or wallet retention) are consistently very high. As a result, CV is predictive of revenuehighly likely to recur over a 3 – 5 year period,and a high CV growth rate translates to high, long-term revenue and profit growth. In addition, many of our clients pay us upfront when they purchase our research subscription services, which drives strong cash flow. For all these reasons, the Board believes that CV growth, which translates to Research revenue growth, is the most important driver of the Company’s profit growth.

Accordingly, growing CV drives bothshort-term andlong-term corporate performance and shareholderstockholder value. As such, all Gartner executives and associates are focused at all times on growing CV. This, coupled with the fact that our investors are also focused on this metric, ensures that we are aligned on the long-term success of the Company.

Our Compensation Best Practices

Effect of Stockholder Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation, or Say on Pay

The Board has resolved to present Say on Pay proposals to stockholders on an annual basis, respecting the sentiment of our stockholders as expressed in 2017. The Company and the Compensation Committee will consider the results on this year’s advisory Say on Pay proposal in future executive compensation planning activities. Over the past several years, stockholders have consistently strongly supported our executive compensation program. We also engage our stockholders periodically to solicit their feedback on executive compensation and corporate governance matters. As such, no changes were made to the core structure of our compensation program as a result of the 2019 Say on Pay vote.

COMPENSATION SETTING PROCESS FOR 20182019

This discussion explains the objectives of the Company’s compensation policies; what the compensation program is designed to reward; each element of compensation and why the Company chooses to pay each element; how the Company determines the amount (and, where applicable, the formula) for each element of pay; and how each

Principal Compensation Elements and Objectives

To achieve the objectives noted above, we have designed executive compensation to consist of three principal elements:

The Compensation Committee believes that using aone-year performance measureperiod for our long-term incentive awards helps accelerate growth and sustainedsustain performance. If we have a strong year, the goals for the following year are established on top of the high bar that was already set. If we had a three-year performance measureperiod and the Company overachieved in the first year, the bar would be set lower in years 2 and 3 and may demotivate our associates.executives. A three-year performance period may also be less aggressive if business cycle risks are factored into long-term goals, while aone-year performance period allows us to more readily factor in changes in market conditions.

The short-term and long-term incentive objectives provide executives with opportunity to increase their total compensation package based upon the over-achievement of Company performance; similarly, in the case of under-achievement of corporate performance, the value of incentive awards will fall below their target value, decreasing the total compensation opportunity. In addition, we assign a greater weighting to long-term incentives than short-term awards in order to promote long-term decision-making to deliver top corporate performance, align management to stockholder interests and retain executives. We believe that long-term equity-based awards with vesting terms that are based on the achievement ofpre-set financial targets serve as a strong retention incentive.

Management*CA Inc. and the Compensation Committee concludedRedHat were acquired in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The 2018 competitive benchmarking analysis used for setting 2019 pay levels compared Gartner’s target compensation to that of the Peer Group, which was established inmid-2017, was appropriate for 2018 executive compensation planning purposes given comparability to Gartner.

Group. The Compensation Committee does not target NEO’s pay to a specified percentile relative to the Peer Group, but rather reviews Peer Group market data at the 25^th, 50^thand 75^thpercentile for each element of compensation, including Base Salary, Target Total Cash (Base Salary, plus Target Bonus) and Target Total Compensation (Target Total Cash plus long-term incentives).

The result Individual total target compensation may be higher or lower than the 50^th percentile based on a number of the competitive analysis indicated that Gartner’s 2017 aggregate NEO (including CEO) Base Salary approximated the Peer Group median, whereas Target Total Cashfactors, including experience and Target Total Compensation trailed the median, with variance in positioning by executive.tenure, retention and succession planning considerations. In order to remain competitive in the market place and in light of Gartner’s philosophy to pay a greater percentage of total compensation in the form of performance-based compensation and, in particular, performance-based long-term incentive compensation, the Committee approved a 3.2 % merit increase to base salary for Messrs. Dawkins and McVeigh and a 3% increase to base salary for Ms. Kranich, as well as a 5% point increase to target bonus and a 10.8% merit increaseaddition to the annual long-term incentive compensation award value for these three NEOs for 2018. Mr. Hall received an 11.0% merit increase to his annual long-term incentive award value only. Mr. Safian is still relatively new in his role of CFO, and as a result trailed the market median of the Peer Group in all elements of compensation. Consistent with the Company’s philosophy of moving executives to fully competitive rates over time, the Committee adjusted his compensation by increasing his base salary by 4.5%, his target bonus percent by 5%, and increased his annual long-term incentive award value by 25.8%. The table below summarizes the increases in each element of compensation for 2018 approved bybenchmarking, the Compensation Committee:

Base Salary

We set base salaries of executive officers when they join the Company or are promoted to an executive role, by evaluating the responsibilities of the position, the experience of the individual and the marketplace in which we compete for the executive talent we need. In addition, where possible, we consider salary information for comparable positions for members of our Peer Group or other available benchmarking data. In determining whether to award salary merit increases, we consider published projected U.S. salary increase data for the technology industry and general market, as well as available world-wide salary increase data. Mr. Hall’s salary increase is established each year by the Compensation Committee after completion of Mr. Hall’s performance