Company: ADAMM
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001273685-25-000038
Chunk: 54

Company: ADAMAS TRUST, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 54
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 or is within the five-year window to satisfy compliance, with our Employee Stock Ownership Guidelines.

For more information on the share ownership of our executive officers, see “Share Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Our Directors and Executive Officers” herein.

#### Scope of Authority of Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee has overall responsibility for approving, evaluating and, in some cases, recommending to our Board of Directors, on an annual basis, director and officer compensation plans, policies and programs, including determining salaries, annual cash incentive awards, long-term equity incentive awards, restricted stock awards, employment, change in control and termination arrangements and director fees. Pursuant to its charter, the Compensation Committee has the sole authority to retain, terminate and pay any compensation consultant to be used to assist in the evaluation of director and senior executive compensation, as well as the authority to retain special legal, accounting or other consultants to advise the committee and may form subcommittees and delegate its authority to such subcommittees.

#### Role of Our Independent Compensation Consultant
The Compensation Committee first engaged Pearl Meyer in the fall of 2019 to serve as its independent compensation consultant on executive and director compensation matters for 2020. The Compensation Committee has continued to utilize Pearl Meyer as its independent compensation consultant each year since 2019. In 2023 and 2024, Pearl Meyer consulted with and provided feedback to the Compensation Committee on the various features of our executive compensation programs and participated in calls with members of management and the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee also had Pearl Meyer conduct a review of the Company's executive compensation program again in both the fall of 2023 and 2024, including an analysis of industry peers. Pearl Meyer reported directly to the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee reviews annually Pearl Meyer’s performance and provides Pearl Meyer with direct feedback during its engagement.

The Compensation Committee recognizes that it is essential to receive objective advice from its compensation advisers. To that end, the Compensation Committee assessed the independence of Pearl Meyer pursuant to the Compensation Committee’s charter and SEC rules and concluded that Pearl Meyer is and continues to be independent. In addition, the Compensation Committee concluded that Pearl Meyer's work for the Compensation Committee has not raised any conflicts of interest.

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#### Process for Setting Executive Compensation
Overview

The Compensation Committee has primary responsibility for reviewing, setting and approving the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer and reviewing, approving and recommending to our Board of Directors compensation for our other NEOs in a manner that is effective and consistent with our overall executive compensation strategy. The Compensation Committee reviews on an