COMPENSATION PLANS

The Company has adopted share-based compensation plans to reward and provide long-term incentive for directors and key employees of the Company. These plans provide for the granting of stock, stock options, stock-settled stock appreciation rights ("SSARs"), and restricted stock units (“RSUs”), as designated by the Company's Board of Directors upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee of the Board. The Company uses authorized and unissued shares to satisfy share award exercises. At December 31, 2015, there were 415,104 shares available for grant under the various share-based compensation plans.

Total share-based compensation expense that was charged against income was $3.6 million, $2.9 million, and $5.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013 respectively. The total income tax benefit/(expense) recognized in additional paid in capital for share-based compensation arrangements was $0.4 million, $0.2 million, and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.

Employee Stock Options and Stock-settled Stock Appreciation Rights

In determining compensation cost for stock options and SSARs, the Black-Scholes option-pricing model is used to estimate the fair value on date of grant. There were no grants of employee stock options or SSARs during the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, or 2013.

Stock options have been granted to key employees with exercise prices equal to the market price of the Company's common stock at the date of grant and 10-year contractual terms. Stock options have a vesting schedule of three to five years. The SSARs are subject to continued employment, have a 10-year contractual term and vest ratably over five years. Neither stock options nor SSARs carry voting or dividend rights until exercised. At December 31, 2015, there was no remaining unrecognized compensation expense related to stock options and SSARs and all outstanding awards are vested. Various information related to the stock options and SSARs is shown below.



(in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Compensation expense	$	50	$	103	$	213
Intrinsic value of option exercises on date of exercise	$	74	$	226	$	300
Cash received from the exercise of stock options	$	126	$	149	$	2,040

Following is a summary of the employee stock option and SSAR activity for 2015.



(in thousands, except share and per share data)	Shares		Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2015	401,581		$	19.24
Granted	—		—
Exercised	(13,478	)	21.54
Forfeited	—		—
Outstanding at December 31, 2015	388,103		$	19.15	2.8 years	$	3,569
Exercisable at December 31, 2015	388,103		$	19.15	2.8 years	$	3,569

Restricted Stock Units

The Company awards nonvested stock, in the form of RSUs to employees. RSUs are subject to continued employment and vest ratably over three to five years. Vesting is accelerated upon a change in control or the employee meeting certain retirement criteria. RSUs do not carry voting or dividend rights until vested. Sales of the units are restricted prior to vesting. Various information related to the RSUs is shown below.



(in thousands)	2015		2014		2013
Compensation expense	$	725	$	945	$	1,142
Total fair value at vesting date	809		913		828
Total unrecognized compensation cost for nonvested stock units	942		1,462		2,168
Expected years to recognize unearned compensation	1.7 years		2.7 years		3.6 years

A summary of the status of the Company's RSU awards as of December 31, 2015 and changes during the year then ended is presented below.



	Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2015	139,849		$	13.81
Granted	6,088		20.69
Vested	(58,679	)	13.79
Forfeited	(904	)	13.33
Outstanding at December 31, 2015	86,354		$	14.31

Stock Plan for Non-Management Directors

The Company has adopted a Stock Plan for Non-Management Directors, which provides for issuing up to 200,000 shares of common stock to non-management directors as compensation in lieu of cash. At December 31, 2015, there were 42,222 shares of stock available for issuance under the Stock Plan for Non-Management Directors.

Various information related to the Director Plan is shown below.



(in thousands, except share and per share data)	2015		2014		2013
Shares issued	16,283		23,135		16,990
Weighted average fair value	$	24.43	$	19.20	$	15.40
Compensation expense	$	373	$	329	$	262

Employee Stock Issuance

Restricted stock was issued to certain key employees as part of their compensation. The restricted stock may be in the form of a one-time award or paid in pro rata installments. The stock is restricted for at least 2 years and upon issuance may be fully vested or vest over 5 years. The Company recognized $0.2 million, $0.1 million, and $0.6 million of stock-based compensation expense for the shares issued to the employees in 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. The Company issued 14,110, 34,034, and 37,943 shares in 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.

Long-term incentives

The Company has entered into long-term incentive agreements with certain key employees. These awards are conditioned on certain performance criteria and market criteria measured against a group of peer banks over a 3 year period for each grant. The awards contain minimum (threshold), target, and maximum (exceptional) performance levels. In the event of a change in control, as defined in the plan, the awards will vest at a minimum of the target level. The amount of the awards are determined at the end of the 3 year vesting and performance period. In January 2016, the Company issued 159,094 shares to employees upon completion of the 2013-2015 performance cycle. In February 2015, the Company issued 122,470 shares to employees upon completion of the 2012-2014 performance cycle. In February 2014, the Company issued 146,700 shares to employees upon completion of the 2011-2013 performance cycle. Information related to the outstanding awards at December 31, 2015 is shown below.



(in thousands, except share and per share data)	2014 - 2016 Cycle		2015 - 2017 Cycle
Shares issuable at target	107,642		126,000
Maximum shares issuable	141,577		157,250
Unrecognized compensation cost	$	746	$	1,454
Weighted average grant date fair value	$	16.84	$	19.21

The Company recorded $2.7 million, $1.8 million and $3.2 million of stock-based compensation expense for these awards during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

401(k) plans

The Company has a 401(k) savings plan which covers substantially all full-time employees over the age of 21. The amount charged to expense for the Company's contributions to the plan was $1.6 million, $1.4 million and $1.2 million for 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.