Company: FFWM
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-036041
Chunk: 71

Company: First Foundation Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 71
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 Independent Compensation Consultant The Compensation Committee at times retains the services of independent consultants to assist with its consideration of the Company’s compensation policies, programs and practices. 43 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pursuant to authority granted to it under its charter, the Compensation Committee continued its engagement with Pearl Meyer as its independent consultant for the fiscal year 2024. Pearl Meyer provides expertise on competitive pay practices and program design and serves as an objective third-party advisor in assessing the reasonableness of compensation levels and performance metrics, as needed. During 2024, Pearl Meyer assisted the Compensation Committee with assessing the competitiveness of our compensation arrangements with our NEOs and informed the Compensation Committee decisions related to 2025. The Compensation Committee used information regarding our compensation arrangements as a benchmarking reference to ascertain whether we have competitive compensation levels with other comparable institutions, in setting compensation target levels, in deciding whether to make any changes in base salary, annual cash incentive awards and long-term equity awards, among other matters. Pearl Meyer reports directly to the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee has conducted an independence assessment of Pearl Meyer in accordance with SEC rules and has determined that Pearl Meyer does not have any conflict of interest relating to the work it is performing for the Compensation Committee. Peer Group In 2024, the Compensation Committee retained Pearl Meyer to prepare a peer group based on the Company’s overall growth as well as changes in the earlier peer group due to merger and acquisition activity. The peer group consists of 20 financial institutions with total assets of between $5 billion and $24 billion as of September 30, 2024, located in ten states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington). These include: Bank of Hawaii Corporation, Cathay General Bancorp, Home Bancshares, Inc., Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc., Hope Bancorp, Inc., ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc., Banner Corporation, CVB Financial Corp., Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, First Financial Bankshares, Inc., BancFirst Corporation, Veritex Holdings, Inc., Stellar Bancorp, Inc., National Bank Holdings Corporation, TriCo Bancshares, Southside Bancshares, Inc., Hanmi Financial Corporation, Central Pacific Financial Corp., Heritage Financial Corporation and Business First Bancshares, Inc. The average total assets of the peer group was $13.4 billion (including pending acquisitions) at the time it was assembled. Components of Executive Compensation We generally allocate executive compensation among three major categories or components: (i) base salary; (ii