Company: MFAN
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001140361-25-014577
Chunk: 45

Company: MFA FINANCIAL, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 45
---
 during the term of their employment. From time to time, the Compensation Committee reviews market analyses and considers the advice of its independent compensation consultant in setting base salaries. Consistent with the Compensation Committee’s overall philosophy, the compensation program for the Named Executive Officers is expected to continue to emphasize incentive compensation over base salary. However, the Compensation Committee does not have a pre-set mix or target of base salary to incentive compensation awards for the Named Executive Officers. Annual Incentives. For 2024, we had the following types of annual incentive programs for our Named Executive Officers:

| MFA Financial, Inc. | 38 | 2025 Proxy Statement |

TABLE OF CONTENTS

| • | Pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement, a portion of each of Mr. Knutson and Mr. Wulfsohn’s annual incentive award was formulaically determined based on the achievement of objective performance goals established by the Compensation Committee and a lesser portion of each executive’s annual incentive award was determined based on the discretion of the Compensation Committee. As described below, each component of Messrs. Knutson and Wulfsohn’s respective annual incentive award has a “target” level and the amount of the award that is ultimately paid could be higher or lower than the target. |

| • | Each of Mr. Roper, Ms. Samuels and Mr. Schwartz was eligible for a discretionary annual incentive award based on a subjective assessment by the Compensation Committee, in consultation with Mr. Knutson, of MFA’s annual performance and the annual performance of each individual executive. For Mr. Roper, Ms. Samuels and Mr. Schwartz, no pre-set “target” level for their respective annual incentive award was established. For 2024, the Compensation Committee believed that a discretionary incentive opportunity for these Named Executive Officers provided the committee with flexibility in assessing and rewarding individual performance and individual contributions. Nonetheless, in determining the annual incentive award for each of Mr. Roper, Ms. Samuels and Mr. Schwartz for 2024, the Compensation Committee used as a guide an approach and methodology similar to that used to determine the annual incentive awards for Messrs. Knutson and Wulfsohn. |

Annual Incentive Award for Mr. Knutson and Mr. Wulfsohn Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreements that we have in place with each of Mr. Knutson and Mr. Wulfsohn, each executive was eligible to receive an annual performance-based bonus based on the Company’s and