Forrester Research, Inc.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

May 11, 202110, 2022

Notice is hereby given that the 20212022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Forrester Research, Inc. will be held at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.10, 2022. The annual meeting will be a virtual stockholder meeting, conducted via live audio webcast, through which you can submit questions and vote online. You may attend the meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FORR2021FORR2022 and entering your 16-digit control number included with these proxy materials. The purpose of the annual meeting will be the following:

The foregoing items of business are more fully described in the proxy statement accompanying this notice.

Stockholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 202114, 2022 are entitled to notice of and to vote at the meeting. A list of stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting will be open to examination by any stockholder, for any purpose germane to the meeting, during normal business hours for a period of ten days before the meeting at our corporate offices at 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, and online during the meeting accessible at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FORR2021FORR2022.

If you are unable to participate in the annual meeting online, please vote your shares as provided in this proxy statement.

By Order of the Board of Directors

Ryan D. Darrah

Secretary

Cambridge, Massachusetts

March 30, 202129, 2022

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOUR SHARES BE REPRESENTED AT THE MEETING. PLEASE

VOTE YOUR SHARES OVER THE INTERNET OR BY TELEPHONE IN ACCORDANCE WITH

THE INSTRUCTIONS SET FORTH ON THE PROXY CARD, OR COMPLETE, SIGN AND RETURN

THE ENCLOSED PROXY CARD AS PROMPTLY AS POSSIBLE WHETHER OR

NOT YOU PLAN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING ONLINE.

FORRESTER RESEARCH, INC.

Annual Meeting of Stockholders

May 11, 202110, 2022

PROXY STATEMENT

The Board of Directors of Forrester Research, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is soliciting proxies from our stockholders. The proxy will be used at our 20212022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and at any adjournments thereof. You are invited to attend the meeting to be held at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.10, 2022. The annual meeting will be held virtually, conducted via live audio webcast, through which you can submit questions and vote online. You may attend the meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FORR2021FORR2022. Be sure to have your 16-digit control number included with these proxy materials in order to access the annual meeting. This proxy statement was first made available to stockholders on or about March 30, 2021.29, 2022.

This proxy statement contains important information regarding our annual meeting. Specifically, it identifies the proposals upon which you are being asked to vote, provides information that you may find useful in determining how to vote, and describes voting procedures.

We use several abbreviations in this proxy statement. We call our Board of Directors the “Board”, refer to our fiscal year which began on January 1, 20202021 and ended on December 31, 20202021 as “fiscal 2020,2021,” and refer to our fiscal year ending December 31, 20212022 as “fiscal 2021”2022”. We also refer to ourselves as “Forrester” or the “Company.”

Who May Attend and Vote?

Stockholders who owned our common stock at the close of business on March 15, 202114, 2022 are entitled to notice of and to vote at the annual meeting. We refer to this date in this proxy statement as the “record date.” As of the record date, we had 19,124,34119,111,673 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote on each matter to come before the meeting.

How Do I Vote?

If you are a stockholder of record of our common stock:

By voting over the internet or by telephone, or by signing and returning the proxy card according to the enclosed instructions, you are enabling the individuals named on the proxy card (known as “proxies”) to vote your shares at the meeting in the manner you indicate. We encourage you to vote in advance even if you plan to attend the meeting. In this way, your shares will be voted even if you are unable to attend the meeting. Your shares will be voted in accordance with your instructions. If a proxy card is signed and received by our Secretary, but no instructions are indicated, then the proxy will be voted “FOR” the election of the nominees for directors, “FOR” the approval of the Forrester Research, Inc. Third Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan, “FOR” ratifying the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021,2022, and “FOR” approval of the non-binding vote on our executive compensation.

How Do I Vote if My Shares are Held in Street Name?

If you hold shares in “street name” (that is, through a bank, broker, or other nominee), the bank, broker, or other nominee, as the record holder of your shares, is required to vote your shares according to your instructions. In order to vote your shares, you will need to follow the directions your brokerage firm provides you. Many brokers also offer the option of voting over the internet or by telephone, instructions for which would be provided by your brokerage firm on your voting instruction form. Please follow the instructions on that form to make sure your shares are properly voted. If you hold shares in “street name” and would like to attend the annual meeting and vote online, you must contact the person in whose name your shares are registered and follow directions provided to obtain a proxy card from that person and have it available for the annual meeting.

What Does the Board of Directors Recommend?

The Board recommends that you vote FOR the election of nominees for directors identified in Proposal One, FOR approval of the Third Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan described in Proposal Two, FOR ratifying the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm as described in Proposal Two,Three, and FOR approval by non-binding vote of our executive compensation as provided in Proposal Three.

Four.

If you are a record holder and submit the proxy card but do not indicate your voting instructions, the persons named as proxies on your proxy card will vote in accordance with the recommendations of the Board of Directors. If you hold your shares in “street name”, and you do not indicate how you wish to have your shares voted, your nominee has discretion to instruct the proxies to vote on Proposal TwoThree but does not have the authority, without your specific instructions, to vote on the election of directors or on Proposal Three,Proposals Two or Four, and those votes will be counted as “broker non-votes”.

What Vote is Required for Each Proposal?

A majority of the shares entitled to vote on a particular matter, present in person or represented by proxy, constitutes a quorum as to any proposal. The nominees for election of the directors at the meeting (Proposal One) who receive the greatest number of votes properly cast for the election of directors will be elected. As a result, shares that withhold authority as to the nominees recommended by the Board will have no effect on the outcome. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock present in person or represented by proxy and voting is required to approve the Forrester Research, Inc. Third Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Proposal Two), to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm (Proposal Two)Three), and to approve the non-binding vote on our executive compensation (Proposal Three)Four).

Shares represented by proxies that indicate an abstention or a “broker non-vote” (that is, shares represented at the annual meeting held by brokers or nominees as to which (i) instructions have not been received from the beneficial owners or persons entitled to vote and (ii) the broker or nominee does not have discretionary voting power on a particular matter) will be counted as shares that are present and entitled to vote on the matter for purposes of determining the presence of a quorum, but are not considered to have been voted, and have the practical effect of reducing the number of affirmative votes required to achieve a majority for those matters requiring the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares present or represented by proxy and voting (Proposals Two, Three and Three)Four) by reducing the total number of shares from which the majority is calculated. However, because directors are elected by a plurality vote, abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome on Proposal One.

May I Change or Revoke My Vote After I Return My Proxy Card or After I Have Voted My Shares over the Internet or by Telephone?

Yes. If you are a stockholder of record, you may change or revoke a proxy any time before it is voted by:

If you hold shares in “street name”, you should follow the procedure in the instructions that your nominee has provided to you.

Who Will Bear the Cost of Proxy Solicitation?

We will bear the expense of soliciting proxies. Our officers and regular employees (who will receive no compensation in addition to their regular salaries) may solicit proxies. In addition to soliciting proxies through the mail, our officers and regular employees may solicit proxies personally, as well as by mail, telephone, and electronically from brokerage houses and other stockholders. We will reimburse brokers and other persons for reasonable charges and expenses incurred in forwarding soliciting materials to their clients.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Stockholder Meeting To Be Held on May 11, 202110, 2022

This proxy statement and our Annual Report to Stockholders are available on-line at www.proxyvote.com. These materials will be mailed to stockholders who request them.

How Can I Obtain an Annual Report on Form 10-K?

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 20202021 is available on our website at www.forrester.com/aboutus. If you would like a copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,2021, we will send you one without charge. Please contact Investor Relations, Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, Tel: (617) 613-6000.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT

The following table and notes provide information about the beneficial ownership of our outstanding common stock as of March 15, 202114, 2022 (except as otherwise noted) by:

Except as otherwise indicated, each of the stockholders named in the table below has sole voting and investment power with respect to the shares of our common stock beneficially owned. Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and includes voting or investment power with respect to the shares. Shares subject to exercisable options and vesting restricted stock units include options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of March 15, 202114, 2022 and shares underlying restricted stock units scheduled to vest within 60 days of March 15, 2021.14, 2022.

PROPOSAL ONE:

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Our directors are elected annually by the stockholders. The Board has nominated Jean Birch, David Boyce, Neil Bradford, George Colony, Anthony Friscia, Robert Galford, Warren Romine, Gretchen Teichgraeber and Yvonne Wassenaar to serve one-year terms that will expire at the 20222023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. These individuals all currently serve on our Board. Mr. Romine was first elected by the Board since the last Annual Meeting upon the recommendation of the Compensation and were all elected at last year’s Annual Meeting.Nominating Committee.

The proxies intend to vote each share for which a proper proxy card has been returned or voting instructions received and not revoked in favor of the nominees named above. If you wish to withhold the authority to vote for the election of any of the nominees, your voting instructions must so indicate or your returned proxy card must be marked to that effect.

It is expected that each of the nominees will be able to serve, but if any of them is unable to serve, the proxies reserve discretion to vote, or refrain from voting, for a substitute nominee or nominees.

The following section provides information about each nominee, including information provided by each nominee about his or her principal occupation and business experience for the past five years and the names of other publicly-traded companies, if any, for which he or she currently serves as a director or has served as a director during the past five years. In addition to the information presented with respect to each nominee’s experience, qualifications and skills that led our Board to conclude that he or she should serve as a director, we also believe that each of the nominees has demonstrated business acumen and a significant commitment to our company, and has a reputation for integrity and adherence to high ethical standards.

NOMINEES FOR ELECTION

Jean M. Birch, age 61,62, became a director of Forrester in February 2018. Ms. Birch currently serves as an independent director of Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc., a position she has held since July of 2020. At Charlotte’s Web, Ms. Birch acts as chair of the compensation committee and sits on the audit committee. Ms. Birch also serves as an independent director of CorePoint Lodging, Inc.,Lead Independent Director at NextPoint Financial, a position she has held since September 2018.July of 2021. At CorePoint,NextPoint, Ms. Birch sits onchairs the audit and nominating and governance committees.committee and serves on the compensation committee. Previously, Ms. Birch served on the boardboards of CorePoint Lodging, Inc. from September 2018 until its sale in March 2022 and Jack in the Box Inc. from May of 2019 to February of 2021, and was the Chair of the Board of Papa Murphy’s Holdings, Inc., a position she held from September of 2016 to May of 2019. She joined the PMI board in April of 2015 and, from January through July of 2017, Ms. Birch served as interim President and CEO. Ms. Birch is the President and CEO of Birch Company, LLC., a small consulting practice, a position she has held since the company’s formation in 2007. Ms. Birch has previously served on the board of Darden Restaurants, Inc. from 2014-2016. Additionally, she served on the board of Cosi, Inc. from 2013-2016. Prior to that, from 2009 through 2012, Ms. Birch served as President of IHOP Restaurants, Inc., a division of DineEquity, Inc. We believe Ms. Birch’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include her more than two decades of operating experience leading large consumer businesses and her experience as a public company board member.

David Boyce, age 53,54, became a director of Forrester in June 2017. Mr. Boyce is an investor and advisor on product-led growth (PLG). He teaches PLG at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Business, invests in PLG companies through his own investing entity Formative Ventures, and advises growth companies on PLG via Winning by Design, LLC, a global revenue architecture consultancy working primarily with growth-stage unicorn and pre-unicorn companies. From 2014 until its acquisition by Aurea in 2021, Mr. Boyce was the Chief Strategy Officer of XANT, Inc. (formerly known as InsideSales.com, Inc.), a software company offering a leading sales acceleration platform. Prior to joining

XANT, Mr. Boyce was the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Fundly, Inc., a crowdfunding site for online fundraising from 2010 to 2013. Previously, Mr. Boyce was global VP of Strategy at Oracle from 2005 to 2010. We believe Mr. Boyce’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include his extensive experience as an operating executive at several software companies and his expertise in product, strategy and marketing.

Neil Bradford, age 48,49, became a director of Forrester in February 2018. Mr. Bradford is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of General Index Limited, a start-up provider of energy and commodity pricing data. From 2017 to March 2019, Mr. Bradford served as the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Express, Ltd., an investment ratings and fund research agency based in the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining FE, Mr. Bradford was the Chief Executive Officer of Argus Media, a provider of price assessments, business intelligence and market data for the global energy and commodities markets from 2015 to 2017, where he also served as Chief Operating Officer from 2010 to 2015.markets. In 1997, Mr. Bradford co-founded Fletcher Research Limited, a UK-based technology research firm that was acquired by Forrester in 1999. Mr. Bradford served in executive roles with Forrester until 2006. We believe Mr. Bradford’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include his years of experience in the research and advisory business, having both founded and led companies in the industry, his prior experience as an executive officer of Forrester, and his perspective on European business as a UK citizen having worked for firms headquartered in London.

George F. Colony, age 67,68, is the founder of Forrester and since 1983, he has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. He also has served as Forrester’s President since September 2001, and he previously was Forrester’s President from 1983 to 2000. We believe Mr. Colony’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors and as its Chairman include his extensive experience in the research industry, including more than 3035 years as our chief executive officer, and his significant ownership stake in the Company.

Anthony Friscia, age 65,66, became a director of Forrester in June 2017. Mr. Friscia is currently an independent business consultant. From 2014 to 2016, Mr. Friscia was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Eduventures, Inc., a research and advisory firm that provides proprietary research and strategic advice to higher education leaders. Previously, from 2011 to 2014, Mr. Friscia served as a consultant and special advisor to the President of the New School, a private university in New York City. In 1986, Mr. Friscia founded AMR Research, a provider of research and advice on global supply chain and enterprise technology to operations and IT executives, and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until 2009.2010. We believe Mr. Friscia’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include his extensiveyears of experience in business leadership and providing strategic advice to senior leaders.leaders, including extensive experience as a chief executive officer in the research and advisory business.

Robert M. Galford, age 68,69, became a director of Forrester in November 1996. Since November 2007, Mr. Galford has been the managing partner of the Center for Leading Organizations, an organizational development firm he founded in Concord, Massachusetts. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Galford was a managing partner of the Center for Executive Development, an executive education provider in Boston, Massachusetts. We believe Mr. Galford’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include his many years of organizational development and executive education experience, along with his more recent corporate governance experience as an instructor for the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Warren Romine, age 51, became a director of Forrester in March 2022. Mr. Romine is the founder and managing director of Orchard Knob Capital LLC, an independent financial advisory firm focused on the aerospace, defense and government services markets. From 2017 to January 2022, Mr. Romine was a Managing Director and co-head of the Aerospace and Defense group at KippsDeSanto & Co., an investment bank focused on growth-oriented aerospace, defense and technology companies. Previously, from 2013 to 2017, Mr. Romine was a Managing Director and head of the Aerospace, Defense and Government Services group at FBR & Co., an investment banking and brokerage firm. From 2006 to 2014, Mr. Romine also served as chair of the audit committee of the board of directors of RELM Wireless Corporation, a publicly-traded manufacturer of telecommunications products. We believe that Mr. Romine's qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include his extensive finance and management experience in the investment banking business, his expertise regarding mergers and acquisitions, and his prior experience as a public company board member.

Gretchen G. Teichgraeber, age 67,68, became a director of Forrester in December 2005. Since 2017, Ms. Teichgraeber ishas been the chair of the board of Leadership Connect, a premier information services company with its main office in New York City that publishes biographical and contact data on leaders in the private and public sectors.sectors, and she was previously their CEO from 2009 to 2017. Previously, Ms. Teichgraeber was an independent consultant to digital media companies and various non-profit organizations from 2007 to 2009. From 2000 to 2007, Ms. Teichgraeber was the chief executive officer of Scientific American, Inc., publisher of the science and technology magazine, Scientific American. Prior to joining Scientific American, Ms. Teichgraeber served as general manager, publishing, and vice president, marketing and information services at CMP Media, Inc., a leading provider of technology news and information. We believe Ms. Teichgraeber’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include her significant general management and marketing experience in the publishing and information services business, including on-line and print media.

Yvonne Wassenaar, age 52,53, became a director of Forrester in June 2017. Ms. Wassenaar is the Chief Executive Officer of Puppet, Inc., an information technology automation software company. From 2017 to 2018, Ms. Wassenaar was the Chief Executive Officer of Airware, an enterprise drone solutions company. From 2014 to 2017, Ms. Wassenaar was with New Relic, Inc., a cloud-based SaaS company, most recently as Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining New Relic, Ms. Wassenaar held senior positions at VMware, Inc. from 2010 to 2014. We believe Ms. Wassenaar’s qualifications to serve on our Board of Directors include her thought leadership in the areas of cloud computing, big data analytics and business digitization and her extensive experience in senior leadership positions at technology companies.

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE FOR THE ELECTION OF THE NOMINEES NAMED ABOVE.

Corporate Governance

We believe that good corporate governance is important to ensure that Forrester is managed for the long-term benefit of its stockholders. Based on our continuing review of the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the listing standards of The NASDAQ Stock Market, our Board of Directors has adopted Corporate Governance Guidelines, an amended and restated charter for the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, and a charter for the Compensation and Nominating Committee of the Board.

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines include stock retention guidelines applicable to executive officers and directors. The guidelines, which are described in more detail below in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section, require all directors and executive officers to hold a targeted value of our common stock within specified timeframes, and include restrictions on sales of our common stock by such directors and executive officers until the guidelines have been met. These guidelines may be waived, at the discretion of the Compensation and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors, if compliance with the guidelines would create severe hardship or prevent an executive officer or director from complying with a court order. We currently do not have a policy regarding hedging.

We also have a written code of business conduct and ethics that applies to all of our officers, directors and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, and persons performing similar functions. You can access our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Corporate Governance Guidelines and our current committee charters on our website, at www.forrester.com/aboutus.

Information With Respect to Board of Directors

Board Meetings and Committees

Our Board of Directors has determined that each of the current directors, with the exception of Mr. Colony, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is independent under applicable NASDAQ standards as currently in effect.

Our Board of Directors held five meetings during fiscal 2020.2021. Each director attended at least 75 percent of the aggregate of the meetings of the Board of Directors and of each committee of which he or she is a member. Forrester does not require directors to attend the annual meeting of stockholders. Mr. Colony, who presided at the meeting, attended the 20202021 annual meeting of stockholders, as did Mr. Galford. Historically, very few stockholders have attended our annual meeting and we have not found it to be a particularly useful forum for communicating with our stockholders. The Board of Directors currently has two standing committees, the Audit Committee and the Compensation and Nominating Committee, whose members consist solely of independent directors.

Our Audit Committee consists of four members: Jean M. Birch, Chair, Neil Bradford, Tony Friscia, and Yvonne Wassenaar, each of whom, in addition to satisfying the NASDAQ independence standards, also satisfies the Sarbanes-Oxley independence requirements for audit committee membership. In addition, the Board has determined that Ms. Birch is an “audit committee financial expert” under applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and all of the members of the Audit Committee satisfy the financial literacy standards of NASDAQ. The Audit Committee held fivesix meetings during fiscal 2020.2021. The responsibilities of our Audit Committee and its activities during fiscal 20202021 are described in the committee’s amended and restated charter, which is available on our website at www.forrester.com/aboutus. The charter will also be made available without charge to any stockholder who requests it by writing to Forrester Research, Inc., Attn: Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140.

Our Compensation and Nominating Committee consists of three members: Robert M. Galford, Chair, David Boyce, and Gretchen G. Teichgraeber. The Compensation and Nominating Committee held five meetings during fiscal 2020.2021. The Compensation and Nominating Committee has authority, as specified in the committee’s charter, to, among other things, evaluate and approve the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer, review and approve the compensation of our other executive officers, administer our stock plans, and oversee the development of executive succession plans for the CEO and other executive officers. The committee also has the authority to identify and recommend to the Board qualified candidates for director. The Compensation and Nominating Committee charter is available on our website at www.forrester.com/aboutus. The charter will also be made available without charge to any stockholder who requests it by writing to Forrester Research, Inc., Attn: Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140.

During fiscal 2021, Forrester engaged Mercer to provide general compensation and benefits advice with respect to 2022 and brokerage services. The total fees paid to Mercer with respect to these services were approximately $650,000.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

No person who served during the past fiscal year as a member of our Compensation and Nominating Committee is or was an officer or employee of Forrester, or had any relationship with Forrester requiring disclosure in this proxy statement. During the past

fiscal year, none of our executive officers served as a member of the board of directors of another entity, any of whose executive officers served as one of our directors.

Board Leadership Structure

At the present time, Mr. Colony serves as both Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Colony is a significant stakeholder in Forrester, beneficially owning approximately 41%40% of our outstanding common stock. As such, we believe it is appropriate that he set the agenda for the Board of Directors in addition to serving as the Chief Executive Officer. We also do not believe that the size of the Company warrants the division of these responsibilities.

In 2017, the Board of Directors selected Robert Galford to act as lead independent director. In this role, Mr. Galford presides at executive sessions of the independent directors and will bear such further responsibilities as the Board as a whole may designate from time to time.

The Board’s Role in Risk Oversight; Risk Considerations in our Compensation Programs

The Board’s role in the Company’s risk oversight process includes receiving regular reports from members of management on areas of material risk to the Company, including financial, strategic, operational, cybersecurity, ESG, legal and regulatory risks. The full Board (or the appropriate Committee in the case of risks that are under the purview of a particular Committee) receives these reports from the appropriate manager within the Company. When a committee receives such a report, the Chair of the relevant Committee reports on the discussion to the full Board during the Committee reports portion of the next Board meeting, enabling the full Board to coordinate the risk oversight role, particularly with respect to risk interrelationships.

Our Compensation and Nominating Committee does not believe that our compensation programs encourage excessive or inappropriate risk taking. We structure our pay programs to consist of both fixed and variable compensation, with the fixed base salary portion providing steady income regardless of our stock price performance. The variable components, consisting of cash bonus and stock-based awards, and for our chief sales officer, sales commissions, are designed to reward both short and long-term performance. Targets under our bonus plans are a function of contract value (CV) bookings and profitmodified operating income (described in greater detail in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis below), important financial metrics for our business. For long-term performance, we generally award restricted stock units vesting over four years. We believe that the variable elements of compensation are a sufficient percentage of overall compensation to motivate executives to produce excellent short and long-term results for the Company, while fixed base salary is also sufficiently high such that the executives are not encouraged to take unnecessary or excessive risks. In addition, our bonus plan funding metrics apply company-wide, regardless of function or client group, which we believe encourages relatively consistent behavior across the organization. While sales commissions are not capped, we cap our bonus at 1.95 times target company performance. Therefore, even if Company performance dramatically exceeds target performance, bonus payouts are limited. Conversely, we have a minimum threshold on Company performance under our executive bonus plan approved by the Compensation and Nominating Committee so that the bonus plan is not funded at performance below a certain level. We also believe that our Executive Severance Plan described in detail below, which provides severance compensation in the event of involuntary termination of employment without cause and in connection with a change in control, promotes stability and continuity of operations.

Director Candidates

As noted above, the Compensation and Nominating Committee has responsibility for recommending nominees for election as directors of Forrester. Our stockholders may recommend individuals for this committee to consider as potential director candidates by submitting their names and background to the “Forrester Research Compensation and Nominating Committee”, c/o Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140. The Compensation and Nominating Committee will consider a recommended candidate for the next annual meeting of stockholders only if biographical information and background material are provided no later than the date specified below under “Stockholder Proposals” for receipt of director nominations.

The process that the Compensation and Nominating Committee will follow to identify and evaluate candidates includes requests to Board members and others for recommendations, meetings from time to time to evaluate biographical information and background material relating to potential candidates, and interviews of selected candidates by members of the Compensation and Nominating Committee. Assuming that biographical and background material is provided for candidates recommended by the stockholders, the Compensation and Nominating Committee will evaluate those candidates by following substantially the same process, and applying substantially the same criteria, as for candidates submitted by Board members.

In considering whether to recommend any candidate for inclusion in the Board’s slate of recommended director nominees, including candidates recommended by stockholders, the Compensation and Nominating Committee will apply the criteria set forth in the committee’s charter and in the Corporate Governance Guidelines. These criteria include, among others, the candidate’s integrity, age, experience, commitment, diligence, conflicts of interest, and the ability to act in the interests of all stockholders. Although the

Compensation and Nominating Committee considers as one of many factors in the director identification and nomination process diversity of race, gender and ethnicity, as well as geography and business experience, it has no specific diversity policy. The Compensation and Nominating Committee does not assign specific weights to particular criteria and no particular criterion is necessarily applicable to all prospective nominees. We believe that the backgrounds and qualifications of the directors, considered as a group, should provide a composite mix of experience, knowledge and abilities, including direct operating experience, that will allow the Board to fulfill its responsibilities.

In addition, our by-laws permit stockholders to nominate directors for election at an annual meeting of stockholders, other than as part of the Board’s slate. To nominate a director, in addition to providing certain information about the nominee and the nominating stockholder, the stockholder must give timely notice to Forrester, which, in general,under our advance notice by-law, requires that the notice be received by us no less than 90 nor more than 120 days prior to the anniversary date of the preceding annual meeting of stockholders. In addition, to comply with the universal proxy rules (once effective), stockholders who intend to solicit proxies in support of director nominees other than the company’s nominees must provide notice that sets forth the information required by Rule 14a-19 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 no later than March 11, 2023. In accordance with our by-laws, the 20222023 Annual Meeting will be held on May 10, 2022.9, 2023.

Board Diversity

The following Board Diversity Matrix presents our Board diversity statistics in accordance with Nasdaq Rule 5606, as self-disclosed by our directors. We currently satisfy the minimum objectives of Nasdaq Rule 5605(f)(2) by having at least one director who identifies as female and one director who identifies as a member of an Underrepresented Minority (as defined by the Nasdaq Rules).

Communications from Stockholders

The Board will give appropriate attention to communications on issues that are submitted by stockholders, and will respond if and as appropriate. Absent unusual circumstances or as contemplated by committee charters, the Compensation and Nominating Committee, with the assistance of the Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, will be primarily responsible for monitoring communications from stockholders and will provide copies of summaries of such communications to the other directors as deemed appropriate.

Stockholders who wish to send communications on any topic to the Board should address such communications to the Forrester Research Compensation and Nominating Committee, c/o Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140.

Corporate ResponsibilityEnvironmental, Social and SustainabilityGovernance (ESG)

Forrester recognizes the importance of being accountable not only to our stockholders, but also to a broader range of stakeholders, including our customers, employees and the public in general.

Customer obsessionIn addition to our own internal efforts, we have research teams focusing on corporate values, Diversity and Inclusion (“D&I”), and sustainability. We work closely with senior leaders at our clients to advise them on how they can align their ESG efforts with their businesses. Our goal is at the heart of Forrester’sto effect positive change in society and for our planet through our research, strategy,data, and culture. expertise.

Our culture emphasizes certain key values — including client, courage, collaboration, integrity, and quality — that we believe are critical to deliver Forrester’s unique value proposition of helping business and technology leaders use customer obsession to drive growth. In addition, we seek to foster a culture where employees can be creative, feel supported and empowered, and are encouraged to think boldly about new ideas. As a reflection of these efforts, in 2021, for the fourth time in five years, Forrester was honored with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognizing the Best Places to Work in 2021. Forrester’s CEO, Founder, and Chairman George F. Colony was also named one of Glassdoor’s Top CEOs in 2021.

Attracting, retaining, and developing the best and brightest talent around the globe is critical to the ongoing success of our company. To this end, we focus on attracting, hiring, and the inclusion of all backgrounds and perspectives, with the goals of improving employee retention and engagement, strengthening the quality of our research, and improving client retention and customer experience. We field regular surveys to all of our employees to measure our progress against our goals. In 2021, in addition we have established a Diversity and Inclusion (“to the ongoing activities of our D&I”)&I Council and regional D&I Networks, examples of our efforts with respect to help guide usD&I included: the engagement of an outside consultant to perform a comprehensive assessment of our organization; our organization of global events and celebrations for Black History Month, International Women’s Day, Pride Month, and Global Ability Month; and our formation of various partnerships to attract and access more talent from underrepresented groups.

In 2021, based on employees’ feedback and our research, we made the decision to shift to a fully flexible work model that we call “anywhere work.” As the COVID-19 pandemic wanes and our offices fully reopen, our employees and their teams will be empowered to decide when they will be in these efforts.the office based on their work needs.

We have a robust learning and development program and celebrate and enrich the Forrester culture through training and frequent recognition of achievements. NewTo keep employees participateand teams connected and inspired to do their best work in a three-day training process that focuses on our customer-obsessed strategy, our productsan anywhere work environment, we have enhanced the learning and services, corporate culture, values, and goals. In addition, throughout the year we offerdevelopment opportunities for our employees across a varietybroad range of training coursesinitiatives including our Leadership Development Programnew hire and topics focused on culture, resilience,onboarding, D&I, and change.leadership training. We also support our employees’ efforts to serve in their local communities by offering each employee a paid volunteer day each calendar year. In addition, we and our employees frequently contribute funds or goods to support philanthropic and community giving efforts. Past initiatives have included employee participation in sponsored charitable events and distribution of goods through select disaster relief organizations.

Forrester also recognizes a shared responsibility to respect and protect the environment. Although our facilities and operations have a small ecological footprint, we reduce the environmental impact of our business through various waste reduction practices, including LEED certified/eco-friendly buildings, recycling, and battery disposal. In addition, we have invested in multiple technologies to facilitate remote work that can in many cases reduce the need for travel and the related environmental impacts, and we have implemented a Flex Workour anywhere work policy that should significantly reduce the time spent commuting to most of our major offices.offices, while also lowering our energy consumption and allowing us to use our office spaces more efficiently. Our employee-led Green Teams promote environmental volunteerism along with everyday actions that our employees can take to benefit the environment, both at and away from work.

In 2021, we engaged our sustainability research team, which actively advises our clients on building more sustainable business strategies, to assess our carbon emissions and develop a plan to continue to lessen our environmental impact. While we found that our emissions are in line with industry standards, we are taking steps that will help us reduce our carbon footprint by at least 50% by 2025. In addition to our anywhere work policy, these steps include revisiting our company-wide travel policies to optimize internal and external travel and eliminating emissions from our data center by continuing to accelerate the migration of more of our platforms and services to the cloud.

Our clients trust us with some of their most sensitive confidential information, and we take our obligation to secure it seriously. We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of disclosure of this information, and we attempt to minimize the amount of personally identifiable information regarding third parties in our possession. When the processing of personally identifiable information is unavoidable, we strive to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and, the California Consumer Privacy Act.Act and the California Privacy Rights Act which is scheduled to be effective January 1, 2023. We have also implemented a Privacy Impact Assessment process to be used before we contract with new vendors of products or services that may have access to confidential and/or personal information.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

Executive Summary

We have implemented an executive compensation program that rewards performance. Our executive compensation program is designed to attract, retain and motivate the key individuals who are most capable of contributing to the success of our Company and building long-term value for our stockholders. The elements of our executives’ total compensation are base salary, cash incentive awards, equity incentive awards and other employee benefits. We have designed a compensation program that makes a substantial portion of executive pay variable, subject to increase when performance targets are exceeded, and subject to reduction when performance targets are not achieved.

20202021 Business Results

In 2020, due primarilyThe Company had strong operating results in 2021. Revenue grew by 10% to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we fell short of the financial goals we had set at the beginning of the year, with revenues decreasing$494.3 million, contract value (CV) grew by 2.8%15% to $449 million. Despite this, the Company experienced an increase in contract bookings in the fourth quarter of 2020$345.8 million, and it exceeded or met its adjusted revenue, operating margin anddiluted earnings per share, guidance forat $1.28, were 142% higher than in 2020. As a result, the year.Company significantly exceeded the targets set early in the year under the Company's executive cash incentive plan, as discussed below.

Compensation for Performance

A substantial amount of the total compensation of our executive officers is linked to our performance, both through short-term cash incentive compensation and long-term equity incentive compensation. We believe this aligns our executives’ incentives with our objective of enhancing stockholder value over the longer term.

Cash Compensation. A significant portion of the current cash compensation opportunity for our executive officers is achieved through our Amended and Restated Executive Cash Incentive Plan (the “Executive Cash Incentive Plan”). As described in more detail below, payments under the plan are based on company financial performance metrics (for 2020,2021, booked sales accounts for the Company's CV products, or “bookings”“CV bookings”, and modified operating profit)income). By design, our plan pays more when we perform well and less, or nothing, when we do not.

Equity Awards. Another key component of compensation for our executive officers consists of long-term equity incentives, principally in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). In 2020,2021, all RSUs granted to executive officers vest over time, with 25% to vest annually over four years. We believe these awards have retention value and reflect a balance between short-term financial performance and long-term shareholder return, supporting our performance-based compensation. Consistent with past years, we did not grant equity awards in 20202021 to George Colony, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who is the beneficial owner of approximately 41%40% of our common stock.

Compensation Program Changes in 20202021

Base Salary and Short-Term Cash Incentive Compensation. Based on a review of market data, and taking into account the contributions of the named executive officers and our financial performance in 2019,2020, during its annual executive compensation review our Compensation and Nominating Committee (the “Committee”) increased, effective April 1, 2021, the base salaries of the named executive officers then in office by an average of approximately 0.9%4.7% over 2019,2020, while increasing the target cash incentive bonus amount of the named executive officers then in office by an average of 5.4%5.5% over 2019,2020, as discussed further below.

Executive Cash Incentive Plan. As was the case in the threefour previous years, while the Committee approved the same performance matrix for purposes of both the Executive Cash Incentive Plan and the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan, the Committee decided to place a stronger emphasis on exceeding, rather than just meeting, the target metrics for the executive team. Accordingly, the Committee approved different percentage payouts at various performance levels for the Executive Cash Incentive Plan than the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan, with executive officers achieving less compensation if 20202021 performance were to meet or fall short of the targeted levels, and additional compensation for performance above the targeted levels. In addition, for the first time in 2021, the Committee selected CV product contract bookings instead of total product contract bookings as one of the metrics for measuring the Company's financial performance for purposes of the Executive Cash Incentive Plan. As discussed in further detail below, this change to CV product contract bookings is consistent with the Company's use of CV as one of its key performance measures.

Client RetentionCV Bookings and Acquired Company BookingsForrester Decisions Bonuses. In 2020,2021, in addition to target cash incentive bonuses under the Executive Cash Incentive Plan, the Committee approved additional potential bonuses totaling $150,000$90,000 for Mr. Colony and $50,000 for the other named executive officers upon achievement by the Company of a certain percentagespecified level of improvement in client retention and attainment of specified levels ofCV product contract bookings, for recently acquired business lines, as discussed in more detail below.

below. The Committee also approved an additional potential bonus of $60,000 for Mr. Colony based on achievement of a successful launch of the Company's Forrester Decisions product offering.

Stock Retention Guidelines. As a result of its annual review of the Company's stock retention guidelines described in more detail below, the Committee determined that changes in annual compensation and stock market fluctuations had caused the retention targets of some executive officers to be inconsistent with the goal of the guidelines. Accordingly, as discussed in further detail below, the Committee decided to update the retention targets for all executive officers and directors effective April 1, 2021.

Say on Pay Stockholder Vote. As we have done each year since 2011, in 20202021 we submitted our executive compensation program to an advisory vote of our stockholders and, consistent with the results of our previous say on pay votes, it received the support of 99% of the total votes cast at our annual meeting. We pay careful attention to any feedback we receive from our stockholders about our executive compensation program, including the say on pay vote. The Committee considered this feedback when setting our executive cash compensation program and granting equity awards to executives in 20202021 and will continue to consider stockholder feedback in its subsequent executive compensation decision making.

Compensation Objectives and Strategy

The primary purpose of our executive compensation program is to attract, retain and motivate the key individuals who are most capable of contributing to the success of our Company and building long-term value for our stockholders. Our principal objectives and strategy concerning our executive compensation program are as follows:

These objectives and strategy are reviewed each year by the Committee, which oversees our executive compensation program. In furtherance of these objectives, the Committee takes the following actions each year:

Mr. Colony also plays a substantial role in the compensation process for the other executive officers, primarily by recommending annual goals for the executives reporting directly to him, evaluating their performance against those goals, and providing recommendations on their compensation to the Committee.

The Committee did not engage an independent compensation consultant in 20202021 for its general executive compensation analysis because the members were comfortable relying on their independent review of the market data, surveys and other supporting information provided by management, taking into account that the Company does not offer special perquisites, deferred compensation plans, or other special executive compensation arrangements. The Committee believes it is adequately experienced to address relevant issues and discharge its responsibilities consistent with the Company’s compensation objectives and philosophy.

The Committee has not historically used formal benchmarking data to establish compensation levels but has relied instead on relevant market data and surveys to design compensation packages that it believes are competitive with other similarly situated companies or those with whom we compete for talent. While compensation surveys provide useful data for comparative purposes, the Committee believes that successful compensation programs also require the application of sound judgment and subjective determinations of individual and Company performance.

The Committee believes it is helpful to utilize data compiled from a wide array of companies and believes it important to consider comparative data from companies of comparable size and revenue, operating within a comparable industry, and located or operating within our principal geographic markets. In setting executive compensation for 2020,2021, the Committee primarily considered data from the Radford Global Technology Survey and the Radford Global Sales Survey,Compensation Database, which included companies with annual revenues from $200 million to $1 billion, as well as comparable companies in the industries and geographies applicable to our executives. For each of the Company’s executive officers, the data the Committee reviewed included comparative market percentiles for base salary and total annual cash compensation opportunity (or “on-target earnings”). The Committee determined that the base salaries and on-target earnings of the named executive officers, other than Mr. Colony, were aligned with the comparative market data considering experience, role criticality, and performance and, accordingly, made its decisions regarding 20202021 executive compensation with the goal of maintaining that status.

Since Mr. Colony owns such a substantial percentage of our common stock, the Committee generally does not deem the available market data on chief executive officer compensation as comparable and does not place substantial weight on that data when setting his executive compensation.

Elements of Compensation

Compensation for our named executive officers consists of the following principal components:

We do not have an express policy for weighting different elements of compensation or for allocating between long-term and short-term compensation, but we do attempt to maintain compensation packages that will advance our overall compensation objectives. In reviewing and setting the compensation of each executive officer, we consider the individual’s position with the Company and his or her ability to contribute to achievement of strategic and financial objectives.

In 2020,2021, as illustrated below, base salaries for our named executive officers other than Mr. Colony and Michael Doyle, our former Chief Financial Officer, represented an average of approximately 39.6%32.2% of total target compensation for these individuals, while the base salary for Mr. Colony represented 41.0%41.1% of his total target compensation. Because of Mr. Colony’s significant ownership of our common stock, the Committee generally does not grant equity-based awards to him, resulting in a higher ratio of base salary to total target compensation than that of the other named executive officers. Because Mr. Doyle resigned as an executive officer of the Company effective April 1, 2021, he was not eligible for an annual bonus under our Executive Cash Incentive Plan and did not receive any equity-based awards in 2021.

Base Salary. The Committee approves the base salaries of our named executive officers annually by evaluating the responsibilities of their position, the experience and performance of the individual, and as necessary or appropriate, survey and market data. The base salary of a named executive officer is also considered together with the other components of his or her compensation to ensure that both the executive’s total cash compensation opportunity (or “on-target earnings”) and the allocation between base salary and variable compensation for the executive are in line with our overall compensation philosophy and business strategy. Additionally, the Committee may adjust base salary more frequently than annually to address retention issues or to reflect promotions or other changes in the scope or breadth of an executive’s role or responsibilities.

Our goal is to pay base salaries to our named executive officers that are competitive with the base salaries of companies that are similarly situated or with which we compete to attract and retain executives, while taking into account total on-target earnings, and

remaining consistent with our overall compensation objectives with respect to variable compensation. In March 2020,2021, taking into account the market data discussed above, the respective tenures, experience and performance of the named executive officers and our financial performance in 2019,2020, the Committee decided to increase the base salaries of the named executive officers other thanthen in office, excluding Mr. ColonyDoyle, by an average of 1.1%4.7%, with such changes effective as of April 1, 2020, while leaving2021. Because Mr. Colony’sDoyle ceased to be an executive officer of the Company effective April 1, 2021, no adjustment was made to his compensation. Chris Finn joined as our Chief Financial Officer in September of 2021 with an annual base salary unchanged from 2019.of $410,000, and was not eligible for a compensation adjustment in 2021.

Short-Term Cash Incentive Compensation. A significant portion of each of our named executive officers’ total annual cash compensation is dependent on our achievement of annual financial objectives set forth under our Executive Cash Incentive Plan. Payouts under the plan are made annually in arrears.

An individual named executive officer’s annual bonus payout under the Executive Cash Incentive Plan is based on the following factors, which are discussed in more detail below:

Effective April 1, 2020,2021, as part of its executive compensation reviews, the Committee increased the target cash incentive bonus amounts for each of the named executive officers then in office by an average of approximately 5.4%5.5%, taking into account the Company’s financial performance in 2019,2020, the market data discussed above, and the respective tenures, experience and performance of our named executive officers. After giving effect to these increases, and including Mr. Finn’s annualized target cash incentive bonus of $255,000, the average annual target cash incentive bonus amount for our named executive officers, other than Ms.Mr. Doyle and Kelley Hippler, our Chief Sales Officer, was approximately 88.2%82.0% of that person’s base salary. As of April 1, 2020,2021, Ms. Hippler’s target cash incentive bonus amount under our Executive Cash Incentive Plan was $112,000,$117,000, or 32.6%33.0% of her base salary, because as Chief Sales Officer, a significant portion of her target cash incentive amount was tied to sales commissions. Ms. Hippler’s 20202021 commission-based target cash incentive amount was set at $229,400,$238,000, or 67.0% of her base salary.

For purposes of the Executive Cash Incentive Plan, the financial performance of our Company for 20202021 was measured based on booked sales accounts of our CV products (referred to as “bookings”“CV bookings”) and modified operating profit (formerly describedincome. Generally speaking, we define CV products as “adjusted operating profit”)those services that our clients use over a year’s time and that are renewable periodically, usually on an annual basis. Our CV products primarily consist of our subscription research products. In previous years, the Committee has typically selected total Company bookings (including all CV and non-CV products) as one of the metrics. However, because CV products are our most profitable products and historically our contracts for CV products have renewed at high rates (as measured by our client retention and wallet retention metrics), the same measures used byCompany began focusing on the increase in CV as one of its key metrics in 2021. In light of this, the Committee in connectionselected CV bookings as a more appropriate metric to align the Company's compensation programs with the Executive Cash Incentive Plan in 2019.this focus. The Committee also selected CV bookings as one of the metrics because we believe that CV bookings provide an important measure of our current business activity and estimated future revenues. The Committee selected

We define modified operating profit (“operating profit”), meaningincome to mean the Company’s adjusted operating profit (formerly described as “pro forma operating profit”)income assuming cash incentive compensation payouts under the Executive Cash Incentive Plan and the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan at target levels and excluding amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, costs associated with acquisition activities, stock-based compensation and net gains or losses from investments. The Committee selected modified operating income as the other key metric because we believe modified operating profitincome provides a comprehensive measure of our financial performance that takes into account the importance of both revenue growth and expense management. In addition, by linking payouts under the plan to the Company’s profitability, we provide our employees with the opportunity to share in our profits while assuring that payouts are only made if we achieve a satisfactory, pre-approved level of profitability, taking into account the nature of our business, planned investments to support growth of the business, and the economic environment. Our adjusted operating profit excludes amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, reorganization costs, costs associated with acquisition activities, stock-based compensation and net gains or losses from investments.

The Committee may also adjust the CV bookings and modified operating profitincome metrics, as it deems appropriate, to include or exclude particular non-recurring items to avoid unanticipated results and to promote, and provide appropriate incentives for, actions and decisions that are in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.

The Executive Cash Incentive Plan was structured as follows in 2020,2021, similar in structure to that in 2019:2020:

The Company’s actual CV bookings and modified operating profitincome for 20202021 were $455.0$347.0 million and $37.8$71.2 million, respectively, resulting in 0%180% of each eligible named executive officer’s target award being payable. This illustrates the pay for performance structure of the compensation awarded to our named executive officers, as our 20202021 CV bookings and modified operating profitincome were both substantially belowabove our target levels. Following its determination that no bonuses could be paid to the named executive officers under the Executive Cash Incentive Plan based on our failure to achieve the minimum bookings and operating profit levels, the Committee evaluated the Company’s performance during the year in light of the unprecedented circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and determined to award each of the named executive officers a discretionary cash bonus equal to 50% of such officer’s target award under the Executive Cash Incentive Plan as of December 31, 2020, as is set forth in the Summary Compensation Table under the heading “Bonus.” The Committee chose to make these awards to the named executive officers to recognize their exceptional contributions to the Company in 2020 that resulted in financial results better than estimated at the outbreak of the pandemic, including an increase in contract bookings in the fourth quarter. The total cash incentive plan compensation paid to Ms. Hippler for 20202021 also included commissions of $179,935,$337,482, or 78.4%142% of her targeted commissions for 2020,2021, as set forth in the Summary Compensation Table under the heading “Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation”.

While serving as interim Chief Financial Officer for a portion of 2021, Scott Chouinard continued to participate in the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan rather than the Executive Cash Incentive Plan. Payouts under the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan are made annually in arrears and are based on the employee’s target award, as modified by performance against individual goals. Under the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan, a specified percentage of each employee’s target award is also conditioned upon the Company’s achievement of annual CV bookings and modified operating income goals derived from the Company’s 2021 operating plan that was used to create the annual matrix for the Executive Cash Incentive Plan, as described above. Based on Company and individual performance relative to the applicable goals, in 2021 Mr. Chouinard received $114,487 under the Forrester Employee Bonus Plan, or 163% of his target cash incentive bonus payment. In connection with his additional responsibilities while acting as interim Chief Financial Officer, the Committee also approved three coverage bonuses of $100,000 each for Mr. Chouinard in 2021, with payment being conditioned upon his continued employment with the Company on each of June 30, September 30, and December 31, 2021.

In 2020,2021, the Committee determined to offer the named executive officers twoother than Messrs. Chouinard and Doyle an additional potential bonuses. The first bonus that would be payable if the Company were to achieve a client retention rateCV bookings of 73.9% or higher in 2020, and the second bonus would be payable if the Company were to achieve both $10at least $334.2 million in bookings for its FeedbackNow business and $102.4 million in bookings for its SiriusDecisions product line in 2020.2021. The amount of eachthe potential bonus was $75,000$90,000 for Mr. Colony and $25,000$50,000 for each of the other eligible named executive officers. TheAs noted above, the Company’s actual client retention rate in 2020 was 65%, and the FeedbackNow and SiriusDecisions actualCV bookings totals for 20202021 were $2.9$347.0 million, and $52.8 million, respectively, resulting in noneeach of the eligible named executive officers receiving thesethis additional bonuses.bonus. The Committee also determined to offer Mr. Colony a further additional bonus of $60,000 based on a successful launch of the Company's Forrester Decisions product offering, with such success to be evaluated at the Committee's discretion. Given the better-than-expected performance of Forrester Decisions following its launch in August 2021, the Committee approved payment of this additional bonus to Mr. Colony.

Pursuant to our employment offer letter dated July 23, 2021 with Mr. Finn that was approved by the Committee, Mr. Finn received an additional sign-on bonus of $150,000.

Long-term Equity Incentive Compensation. OurSince 2016, our equity awards to executive officers historically have consisted of stock options and RSUs granted under our equity incentive plan. Beginning in 2016, the Committee revised the Company’s stock-based compensation program for executive officers to consist solely of RSUs,plan, with the number of RSUs awarded to be calculated with reference to a specific compensation value divided by the share price of our common stock on the award date.

All stock-based compensation awards granted to our executive officers are granted by the Committee. We believe that stock-based awards help to motivate and retain executives and also align management’s incentives with long-term stock price appreciation. In general, we believe that time-based equity-based awards serve to encourage retention while further aligning the interests of executives and stockholders, as the awards have value only if the recipient continues to provide service to the Company through the vesting date, and, while the RSUs have immediate compensatory value to recipient upon vesting, increases in our share price provide significant additional compensatory value to the recipient, and decreases in the share price reduce the original compensation value of the award. Neither the Company nor our board of directors, including the Committee, has any plan, program or practice of timing equity incentive awards in coordination with the release or withholding of material non-public information.

In determining the size and nature of stock-based awards for 2020,2021, the Committee considered the aggregate number of stock-based awards outstanding relative to the Company’s total shares outstanding, the average aggregate size of stock-based awards made to executive officers of companies that are similarly situated or with which we compete to attract and retain executives, and the individuals that they believed were most likely to contribute to or influence a return to the Company’s historical growth levels and improvement in the Company’s operating margin. On July 28, 2020,27, 2021, the Committee reviewed and approved the grant of time-based RSUs to each of Michael Doyle,Ms. Hippler, Ryan Darrah, our Chief FinancialLegal Officer, Ms. Hippler, our Chief Sales Officer,and Carrie Johnson, our Chief Research Officer, and Steven Peltzman, our Chief Business TechnologyProduct Officer, effective August 1, 2020,2021, as part of a grant of equity-based compensation to key employees across the Company. Mr. DoyleDarrah was granted 9,0306,059 RSUs, Ms. Hippler was granted 11,11411,018 RSUs, and Ms. Johnson was granted 9,724 RSUs, and Mr. Peltzman was granted 7,6418,814 RSUs. The Committee determined that the RSUs would vest 25% annually over four years.

On October 1, 2021, pursuant to his previously-referenced employment offer letter, Mr. Finn received an award of 20,161 RSUs that would vest 25% annually over four years.

Given Mr. Colony’s significant ownership of our common stock, the Committee did not grant stock options or RSUs to Mr. Colony in 2020.2021.

Severance and Change in Control Agreements. Effective May 15, 2014, we adopted the Forrester Research, Inc. Executive Severance Plan (the “Severance Plan”), applicable to all of our executive officers, including the named executive officers.officers other than Mr. Chouinard. Similar to plans maintained by many other companies, our Severance Plan provides for payments and benefits to our executive officers upon a qualifying termination of employment, including in connection with a change in control. Further detail on the Severance Plan is contained below under the heading “Severance and Change-of-Control Benefits.” We believe that the Severance Plan functions as a retention tool for our executive officers to remain with the Company and enable the executive officers to focus on the continuing business operations and, as applicable, the success of a potential business combination that the Board of Directors has determined to be in the best interests of the shareholders. We believe this results in stability and continuity of operations.

As previously described in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed December 9, 2020, we have entered into a letter agreement dated December 9, 2020 with Mr. Doyle regarding his resignation as Chief Financial Officer as of April 1, 2021 and his provision of transition services to the Company through no later than December 31, 2021. In consideration for this arrangement, the letter provides for the following benefits to be paid or made available to Mr. Doyle in lieu of any amounts under the Severance Plan or otherwise:

These benefits arewere conditioned on a customary release of claims and compliance by Mr. Doyle with his obligations to the Company, including pursuant to his Forrester Employee Confidentiality, Proprietary Rights and Noncompetition Agreement that provides for a one-year post-employment nonsolicitation and noncompetition period, which will commencecommenced on April 1, 2021.

Other Benefits

As employees of our Company, our executive officers are eligible to participate in all Company-sponsored benefit programs on the same basis as other full-time employees, including health and dental insurance and life and disability insurance. In addition, our executive officers are eligible to receive the same employer match under our 401(k) plan as is applicable for all participating employees and to participate in our employee stock purchase plan, pursuant to which participants may elect to purchase shares of our stock on a semi-annual basis at a 15% discount based on the lower of the price of our stock at the beginning and end of each period. We do not offer any supplemental executive health and welfare or retirement programs, or provide any other supplemental benefits or perquisites, to our executives.

Stock Retention Guidelines

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines include stock retention guidelines to further align the interests of our directors and executive officers with those of our stockholders. Members of our executive team and Board of Directors are subject to these stock retention guidelines for so long as they remain an executive officer, or serve as a director, of the Company.

The guidelines require directors of the Company to acquire and hold during their service as a Forrester Board member shares of Forrester’s common stock (“Common Stock”) equal in value to at least two times their total annual compensation from Forrester (including cash retainer and grant date value of equity grants) as in effect on April 23, 2019 (or, if later, the date of commencement of Board service)service or such other date as the Committee shall designate). Directors have five years from April 23, 2019 (or, if later, the date of commencement of Board service) to meet the target stock ownership guideline.

Executive officers of the Company are required to acquire and hold during their service as a Forrester executive team member shares of Common Stock equal in value to at least one times their total annual on-target earnings (defined as base salary plus total annual cash compensation opportunity) as in effect on April 23, 2019 (or, if later, the date of commencement of executive team service)service or such other date as the Committee shall designate). Executive officers with fewer than two years tenure on the executive team as of April 23, 2019 or that become executive officers thereafter have five years from April 23, 2019 (or, if later, the date of commencement of executive team service) to meet the target stock ownership guideline, and officers with two or more years tenure on the executive team as of April 23, 2019 have three years from such date to meet the target stock ownership guideline.

Until such time as a director or officer reaches his or her share ownership guideline, the director or officer may sell shares of Common Stock only to the extent that, subsequent to such sale, such director or officer continues to hold more shares than he or she held as of December 31 of the preceding year. In addition, if a director or officer has not reached his or her share ownership guideline within the required accumulation period, he or she will be required to retain 100% of the net shares of Forrester common stock delivered to him or her upon the exercise or vesting of stock awards held by him or her until such guideline is reached. Net shares are the number of shares remaining after shares are sold or netted to pay the exercise price of stock options and withholding taxes. For directors, the applicable withholding taxes will be presumed to be the minimum withholding tax applicable to an employee. All directors and executive officers are expected to continuously own sufficient shares to meet the guideline once it has been reached. Unexercised stock options and unvested restricted stock units will not count toward meeting the stock ownership guidelines.

These guidelines may be waived, at the discretion of the Committee, if compliance with the guidelines would create severe hardship or prevent an executive officer or director from complying with a court order. The Committee will reassess these guidelines on an annual basis, taking into account factors such as compensation and stock price changes. In April of 2021, the Committee determined that the retention targets for all executive officers and directors would be adjusted, effective immediately, using the average closing stock price of the Company during March 2021 and the on-target earnings (for executive officers) and total compensation (for directors) as of April 1, 2021 for purposes of calculating such targets. Our directors and executive officers have complied in full with these guidelines since their initial adoption.

Impact of Tax and Accounting on Compensation Decisions

As a result of federal tax legislation enacted in December 2017, compensation paid to certain of our executive officers in excess of $1 million per person per year will not be deductible unless it qualifies for transition relief applicable to certain compensation arrangements in place as of November 2, 2017 and not later materially modified.

The Committee believes that the interests of our stockholders are best served if the Committee continues to retain flexibility and discretion to approve and amend compensation plans, agreements and arrangements to support our corporate objectives, even if a plan, agreement or arrangement does not qualify for full or partial tax deductibility and even if an amendment results in a loss or limitation of tax deductibility. Despite the changes as a result of the 2017 tax legislation, the Committee currently expects (consistent with its executive compensation philosophy) to structure executive compensation programs such that a significant portion of executive compensation is linked to our performance.

The Committee also takes into consideration the accounting treatment of the different forms of awards it may grant to executive officers.

Compensation Committee Report

The Compensation and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors has reviewed and discussed the Compensation Discussion and Analysis included in this proxy statement with management and, based on this review and discussion, recommended to the Board of Directors that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this proxy statement.

Compensation and Nominating Committee

Robert M. Galford, Chair

David Boyce

Gretchen G. Teichgraeber

The information contained in the report above shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference in any such filing.

SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE

The following table shows the compensation earned by our Chief Executive Officer, our Chief Financial Officer and each of our three other most highly compensated executive officers as of December 31, 2020.2021, and two other individuals who served as Chief Financial Officer during portions of 2021. We refer to these officers as the “named executive officers.”

GRANTS OF PLAN-BASED AWARDS FOR 20202021

The following table sets forth information with respect to plan-based awards granted to named executive officers in 2020.2021.