Mr. Merkel has been a director of our Company since February 2025 and serves as Chairman of our Board. Mr. Merkel has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer since 2019. Mr. Merkel is Executive Vice Chairman, Executive Managing Director, and General Counsel for the Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. (Cantor) group of companies, including Cantor, CF Group Management, Inc. (CFGM) and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co (CF&Co). Cantor and CFGM are our parent companies and CF&Co is a subsidiary of Cantor and is our affiliate. Mr. Merkel has served as our affiliate BGC Group, Inc.'s (BGC, including its predecessors eSpeed Inc. and BGC Partners, Inc., the latter of which is also referred to herein as BGC Partners, where appropriate) Executive Vice President and General Counsel since 2001. Since February 2025, Mr. Merkel has served as a director of BGC and as Chairman of BGC's board of directors. Mr. Merkel also holds offices at and provides services to various other affiliates of Cantor and provides services to BGC's and Newmark's operating partnerships and subsidiaries, as applicable. Prior to joining Cantor in 1993, Mr. Merkel was Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Goldman Sachs & Co., dedicated to the J. Aron Division, and prior to that, he was an associate with the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Prior to that, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Merkel received a Bachelor's degree with a major in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.