Company: CULP
Filing Date: 2025-08-15
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000950170-25-109242
Chunk: 25

Company: CULP INC
Filing Date: 2025-08-15
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 25
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 These determinations are made annually. In each case, the Board considers all relevant facts and circumstances and applies the independence standards of the NYSE. In addition, the Board has adopted the categorical standards set forth in the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines to assist in the determination of director independence, which conform to, or are more exacting than, the independence requirements in the NYSE listing standards.

Applying the independence standards described above, the Board has determined that the following current directors and/or nominees are independent within the meaning of the listing standards of the NYSE and the Company’s categorical standards of independence: John A. Baugh, John Douglas Collier, Sharon A. Decker, Kimberly B. Gatling, Lynn D. Heatherton, Fred A. Jackson, Alexander Jones, and William L. Tyson. These determinations are based primarily on a review of the responses of our directors to questions regarding employment and compensation history, affiliations and family and other relationships, and on discussions with directors.

Board Leadership Structure and Lead Independent Director; Executive Sessions of Non-Management Directors and Independent Directors

The roles of Board chair and chief executive officer are filled separately by two individuals. Mr. Saxon, who serves as Board chair, is a non-employee director who also provided consulting services to the Company as a strategic advisor in fiscal 2025. The Board believes, and our Corporate Governance Guidelines provide, that the Board should have flexibility to decide whether it is best for the Company at a given point in time for the roles of the chief executive officer and chair of the Board to be separate or combined and, if separate, whether the chair should be selected from the independent directors or be an employee. The Board believes that the complementary leadership skills of Mr. Saxon as chair and Mr. Culp as chief executive officer are currently serving the Board and the Company well.

Non-management Board members (which consists of Mr. Saxon and the independent directors) meet separately from the other directors at regularly scheduled executive sessions, without the presence of management directors or executive officers of the Company (except to the extent that the non-management directors request the attendance of any management directors or executive officers). These meetings normally occur quarterly. Independent Board members meet separately from other directors in an executive session at least once per fiscal year (and more frequently upon request from the independent Board members), without the presence of other directors or executive officers of the Company. The non-management directors and independent directors have designated a lead independent director to preside at these meetings, to advise management and to otherwise act