Company: VRE
Filing Date: 2025-04-29
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000924901-25-000035
Chunk: 54

Company: Veris Residential, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-29
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 54
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 to the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee closely examines the safeguards and steps that FW Cook takes to ensure that its executive compensation consulting services are objective. The Compensation Committee takes into consideration that:

• The Compensation Committee hired and has the authority to terminate the engagement of its consultants for executive compensation related services;

• The Compensation Consultant is engaged by and reports directly to the Compensation Committee for all executive compensation services; and

• The Compensation Consultant has direct access to members of the Compensation Committee during and between meetings.

In 2024, FW Cook did not perform, directly or indirectly through an affiliate, any services for the Company other than services provided for the Compensation Committee. Based on a consideration of factors deemed relevant to the Compensation Committee regarding FW Cook, including without limitation the independence factors specified in Section 303A.05 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, including the nature of the services provided, the amount of the compensation consultant’s fees, its policies and procedures to prevent conflicts of interest, its business or personal relationships with our directors and executive officers, and its stock ownership in us, the Compensation Committee concluded that FW Cook is independent and that the work that it performs for the Compensation Committee has not raised any conflict of interest.

#### PROCESS FOR DETERMINING COMPENSATION
As input into the process of setting pay opportunities for 2024, the Compensation Committee considered a competitive analysis of pay levels and program design practices used by a peer group consisting of the following thirteen REITs (collectively, the “Peer Group REITs”):

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| American Assets Trust, Inc.                 |     | Elme Communities                |
| Apartment Income REIT Corp.                 |     | Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. |
| Apartment Investment and Management Company |     | Essex Property Trust, Inc.      |
| Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc.             |     | Independence Realty Trust, Inc. |
| Brandywine Realty Trust                     |     | JBG SMITH Properties            |
| Camden Property Trust                       |     | UDR, Inc.                       |
| Centerspace                                 |     |                                 |

The Compensation Committee used this analysis to evaluate the competitiveness of base salary, target annual cash incentives, equity awards and target total compensation opportunities for the named executive officers, including the assessment of individual components of compensation. The Compensation Committee did not target a specific percentile of the Peer Group REITs for any compensation determinations but used the compensation data from the Peer Group REITs as a factor in determining the appropriaten