Company: RNAC
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001453687-25-000075
Chunk: 54

Company: Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 54
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 of highly-valued executive officers. |     | Annual equity awards that vest over four years and provide a variable “at risk” pay opportunity. Because the ultimate value of these equity awards is directly related to the market price of our Common Stock, and the awards are only earned over an extended period of time subject to vesting, they serve to focus management on the creation and maintenance of long-term stockholder value and also provide retentive value to key employees.                                                                                   |

Our executive officers also participate in the standard employee benefit plans available to all of our employees. In addition, our executive officers are eligible for modest post-employment (severance and change in control) payments and benefits under certain circumstances. Each of these compensation elements is discussed in detail below, including a description of the particular element and how it fits into our overall executive compensation and a discussion of the amounts of compensation paid to our executive officers, including our Named Executive Officers, in 2024 under each of these elements.

#### Base Salary
We believe that a competitive base salary is a necessary element of our executive compensation program, so that we can attract and retain a stable management team. Base salaries for our executive officers are also intended to be competitive with those received by other individuals in similar positions at the companies with which we compete for talent, as well as equitable across the executive team.

Generally, we establish the initial base salaries of our executive officers through arm’s-length negotiation at the time we hire the individual executive officer, taking into account his or her position, qualifications, experience, prior salary level, and the base salaries of our other executive officers.

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Thereafter, the Compensation Committee reviews the base salaries of our executive officers, including our Named Executive Officers, annually and makes adjustments to base salaries as it determines to be necessary or appropriate.

In December 2023, the Compensation Committee reviewed the base salaries of our executive officers, taking into consideration a competitive market analysis performed by Compensia and the recommendations of our CEO (except with respect to his own base salary), as well as the other factors described above. Following this review, the Compensation Committee set the base salaries of our executive officers at levels that it believed were appropriate to maintain their competitiveness. The base salaries of our Named Executive Officers for 2024 were as follows:

| Named Executive Officer        |     | 2023 Base Salary |     | 2024 Base Salary |     | Percentage Adjustment |
| Carsten Brunn, Ph.D.           |     |         $