Company: CIMO
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001206774-25-000244
Chunk: 34

Company: CHIMERA INVESTMENT CORP
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 34
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 Investment Officer and Director until March 15, 2024.

We have divided the discussion of the
key features of our executive compensation program into four parts:

1. Overview

2. Key Design Features and 2024 Actions

3. Governance

4. Other Features and Policies

Overview

Employment Agreements in Effect During 2024

On March 24, 2023, we entered
into one-year employment agreements with each named executive officer effective January 1, 2023, other than Ms. Sung, who entered into
an employment agreement with the Company that became effective on November 9, 2023 in connection with her initial employment with the
Company (the “Sung Employment Agreement”) and Mr. Macdowell, who entered into an employment agreement with the Company that
became effective on December 2, 2024 in connection with his initial employment with the Company (the “Macdowell Employment Agreement”
and together with the Sung Employment Agreement and the other named executive officers’ employment agreements, the “Employment
Agreements”). Mr. Yarlagadda retired in March 2024 and received no 2024 cash or long-term incentive awards, but instead received
certain retirement benefits, separately discussed below under “Departure and Addition of Officers.”

The Employment Agreements that
were entered into in 2023 were part of the ongoing efforts of the Board and compensation committee to explore and implement mechanisms
to align senior executive compensation with our long-term performance and the interests of our stockholders. The compensation committee
worked with the Company’s independent compensation consultant in 2023 to make several changes to how we compensate our named executive
officers that were responsive to our Say-on-Pay vote in 2022 and in the ongoing best interests of our stockholders, in light of the evolving
business environment and strategic direction of the Company. These concepts remained in place for 2024 when each of the Employment Agreements
was extended for a one-year period (or entered into in the case of Mr. Macdowell), except that as permitted by the terms of the Employment
Agreements, the compensation committee exercised its discretion to establish performance metrics for the 2024 annual cash bonus as ROE,
Economic Return and individual performance, weighted 35%, 35% and 30%, respectively, as discussed in more detail below. Accordingly, the
pay mix in our Employment Agreements in effect during 2024 continued to include a significant focus on variable incentive