UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

(Rule 14a-101)

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities

Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No.)

VerifyMe, Inc.

(Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

VERIFYME, INC.
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
JUNE 10, 20216, 2023

The annual meeting of stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of VerifyMe, Inc. will be held on Thursday,Tuesday, June 10, 20216, 2023, at 10:12:00 a.m.p.m., Eastern Time. The Annual Meeting will be conducted as a virtual meeting of stockholders by means of a live webcast. We believe that hosting a virtual meeting will enable greater stockholder participation from any location, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic.location. You will be able to participate in the virtual annual meeting, vote your shares and submit questions during the annual meeting via the internet by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021.VRME2023. There will not be a physical meeting location and you will not be able to attend the Annual Meeting in person. As always, we encourage you to vote your shares prior to the meeting.

The Annual Meeting is being held for the following purposes, which are more fully described in the accompanying proxy statement:

Our board of directors has fixed the close of business on April 21, 202112, 2023, as the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to notice of and to vote at the Annual Meeting and at any adjournment of the Annual Meeting.

We are following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “e-proxy” rules that allow public companies to furnish proxy materials to stockholders over the internet. The “e-proxy” rules remove the requirement for public companies to automatically send stockholders a full, printed copy of proxy materials and allow them instead to deliver to their stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice of Internet Availability”) and to provide online access to the documents. The Notice of Internet Availability provides instructions on how to view our proxy materials for the Annual Meeting on the internet and vote and request a printed copy of the proxy materials. These “e-proxy” rules allow us to provide you with the information you need, while lowering the cost of delivery and reducing the environmental impact of our Annual Meeting.

	By Order of the Board of Directors
	Patrick WhiteScott Greenberg President andInterim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman

Rochester, New YorkLake Mary, Florida

April 28, 202124, 2023

Your Vote is Important. Whether or not you expect to attend the Annual Meeting, we hope you will vote as soon as possible. You may vote by the internet, by telephone, or, if you requested and received paper copies of the proxy materials by mail, by mailing a proxy card or voting instruction form. We encourage you to vote using the internet, as it is the most cost-effective way to vote. Even if you have voted by internet, telephone or proxy card, you may still vote via the internet if you attend the virtual meeting. If you own your shares through a broker, we encourage you to follow the instructions provided by your broker about how to vote. Unless you provide your broker with voting instructions, your broker may notcannot vote your shares on non-discretionary items such on the proposal to elect the six director nominees, the proposal for say-on-pay or the proposal for the 2021 stock purchase plan.nominees.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VERIFYME, INC.

PROXY STATEMENT

FOR THE 20212023 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THESE PROXY MATERIALS AND VOTING

Why am I receiving these materials?

The board of directors of VerifyMe, Inc. (“VerifyMe,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”), a Nevada corporation, is providing these proxy materials to you on the internet, or has delivered printed versions to you by mail, and is soliciting your proxy to vote at the annual meeting of stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) to be held on Thursday,Tuesday, June 10, 2021,6, 2023, at 10:12:00 a.m.p.m., Eastern Time, or at any adjournment or postponement of the meeting, for the purposes set forth in this proxy statement and in the accompanying notice of annual meeting of stockholders.

The Annual Meeting will be conducted as a virtual meeting of stockholders by means of a live webcast. You will be able to attend the Annual Meeting online, vote your shares, and submit your questions during the meeting via the internet by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021.VRME2023. There will not be a physical meeting location and you will not be able to attend in person. We invite you to attend the Annual Meeting and request that you vote on the proposals described in this proxy statement. However, you do not need to attend the meeting to vote your shares. Instead, you may vote by the internet, by telephone or by mailing a proxy card or voting instruction form.

We are making these proxy materials available to stockholders on or about April 28, 2021.24, 2023.

Why did I receive a one-page notice in the mail regarding the internet availability of proxy materials instead of a full set of proxy materials?

We are following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC”) “e-proxy” rules that allow public companies to furnish proxy materials to stockholders over the internet. The “e-proxy” rules remove the requirement for public companies to automatically send stockholders a full, printed copy of proxy materials and allow them instead to deliver to their stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice of Internet Availability”) and to provide online access to the documents. As a result, we mailed the Notice of Internet Availability to many of our stockholders on or about April 28, 2021.24, 2023.

The Notice of Internet Availability provides instructions on how to:

In addition, stockholders may request to receive proxy materials in printed form by mail or electronically by e-mail on an ongoing basis. Choosing to receive your future proxy materials by e-mail will save us the cost of printing and mailing documents to you and will reduce the environmental impact of printed materials.

What is included in these proxy materials?

These proxy materials include:

If you request and receive printed versions of the proxy materials by mail, these proxy materials also include a copy of the proxy card.

What am I voting on?

The board of directors is soliciting your proxy in connection with the Annual Meeting to be held on Thursday,Tuesday, June 10, 2021,6, 2023, at 10:12:00 a.m.p.m., Eastern Time, and any adjournment or postponement thereof. You are voting on the following proposals:

How does the board of directors recommend I vote?

Our board of directors recommends that the stockholders vote their shares:

Who can vote at the Annual Meeting?

Only stockholders at the close of business on April 21, 2021,12, 2023, the record date for the Annual Meeting, will be entitled to notice of and to vote at the Annual Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. As of the record date, there were 7,420,8119,357,321 shares of our common stock outstanding and entitled to vote. Holders of our outstanding preferred stock are not entitled to vote.

Stockholders of Record: Shares Registered in Your Name. If on April 21, 2021,12, 2023, your shares of our common stock were registered directly in your name with our transfer agent, West Coast Stock Transfer, Inc., then you are a stockholder of record.

Beneficial Owners: Shares Registered in the Name of a Broker or Bank. If on April 21, 2021,12, 2023, your shares of our common stock were held in an account at a brokerage firm, bank, dealer or other similar organization, then you are the beneficial owner of shares held in “street name” and these proxy materials are being forwarded to you by that organization. The organization holding your account is considered the stockholder of record for purposes of voting at the Annual Meeting. As a beneficial owner, you have the right to direct your broker or other agent on how to vote the shares in your account or you may work with your broker to arrange to vote your shares directly. You are also invited to participate in the Annual Meeting. Your broker, trustee or nominee has enclosed or provided voting instructions for you to use in directing the broker, trustee or nominee on how to vote your shares.

For instructions on how to vote your shares at the Annual Meeting, see the “How do I vote?” section below.

Can I attend the Annual Meeting in person?

We will be hosting the Annual Meeting only by means of a live webcast. You will not be able to attend the meeting in person. Please be assured that you will be afforded the same rights and opportunities to participate in the virtual meeting as you would at an in-person meeting. You will be able to listen to the Annual Meeting, submit questions and vote by going to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021.VRME2023. If you wish to listen to the Annual Meeting, but do not wish to submit questions or vote during the Annual Meeting, you may go to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021VRME2023 and log in as a guest.

The Annual Meeting webcast will start at 10:12:00 a.m.p.m., Eastern Time, on Thursday,Tuesday, June 10, 2021.6, 2023. We encourage you to access the meeting website prior to the start time to allow time for check in.

How do I register to attend the Annual Meeting?

You do not need to register to attend the Annual Meeting webcast. Follow the instructions on your Notice of Internet Availability or proxy card (if you requested a printed copy of the proxy materials) to access the Annual Meeting. See “Can I attend the Annual Meeting in person?” above.

How can I submit a question at the Annual Meeting?

Stockholders may submit questions during the Annual Meeting at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021,VRME2023, the virtual meeting website, after accessing the Annual Meeting with their 16-digit unique control number found on the Notice of Internet Availability or proxy card (if you requested a printed copy of the proxy materials) and by following the instructions available on the virtual meeting website. We request that questions submitted during the meeting include your contact information.

We will respond to questions directly related to matters being voted on at the Annual Meeting during the Annual Meeting. We will respond to other questions received during the Annual Meeting promptly after the meeting. Questions regarding personal matters, including those related to employment, are not pertinent to Annual Meeting matters and therefore will not be answered.

What is “householding” and how does it impact me?

We have adopted a process called “householding” for mailing proxy materials in order to reduce printing and mailing expenses. The SEC householding rules allow us to deliver a single Notice of Internet Availability to stockholders of record who share the same address. If you share an address with another stockholder and have received only one Notice of Internet Availability, but you would prefer to continue receiving a separate Notice of Internet Availability, you may request a separate copy of the Notice of Internet Availability at no cost to you by writing to the Corporate Secretary of the Company at VerifyMe, Inc., 75 S. Clinton Ave., Suite 510 Rochester, New York 14604,801 International Parkway, Fifth Floor, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, Attention: Corporate Secretary, or by calling (585) 736-9400. Alternatively, if you are currently receiving multiple copies of the Notice of Internet Availability at the same address and wish to receive a single copy in the future, you may contact us by calling or writing to us at the telephone number or address given above.

If you are a beneficial owner, the bank, broker or other holder of record may deliver only one copy of the Notice of Internet Availability to stockholders who have the same address unless the bank, broker or other holder of record has received contrary instructions from one or more of the stockholders. If you wish to receive a separate copy of the Notice of Internet Availability, now or in the future, you may contact us at the address or telephone number above and we will promptly deliver a separate copy. Beneficial owners sharing an address who are currently receiving multiple copies of the Notice of Internet Availability and wish to receive a single copy in the future should contact their bank, broker or other holder of record to request that only a single copy be delivered to all stockholders at the shared address in the future.

What does it mean if I receive more than one Notice of Internet Availability or voting instruction card?

If you receive more than one Notice of Internet Availability or voting instruction card, your shares are registered in more than one name or are registered in different accounts. Please vote using each Notice of Internet Availability or voting instruction card to ensure that all of your shares are voted.

Where can I view the proxy materials on the internet?

We are making this proxy statement and voting instructions available to stockholders on or about April 28, 2021,24, 2023, at www.proxyvote.com. We are also making our 20202022 Annual Report on Form 10-K available at the same time and by the same method. The 20202022 Annual Report on Form 10-K is not a part of the proxy solicitation material and is not incorporated herein by reference.

How can I receive a printed copy of the proxy materials, including the annual report?

Stockholder of Record. You may request a printed copy of the proxy materials by any of the following methods:

Beneficial Owner. You may request a printed copy of the proxy materials by following the instructions provided to you by your broker, bank or nominee.

How do I vote?

Stockholder of Record. If you are a stockholder of record, there are four ways to vote:

Whether or not you plan to attend the meeting, we urge you to vote to ensure your vote is counted. You may still attend the meeting and vote your shares if you have already voted by proxy. Only the latest vote you submit will be counted. For instructions on how to change your vote, see the “Can I change my vote or revoke my proxy?” section below.

Beneficial Owner. If you hold your shares in “street name” as a beneficial owner of shares registered in the name of your broker, bank or nominee (“broker”), you must vote your shares in the manner prescribed by your broker. Your broker has enclosed or otherwise provided a voting instruction card for you to use in directing the broker how to vote your shares. Check the voting instruction card used by that organization to see if it offers internet or telephone voting.

Instead of directing your broker how to vote your shares, you may elect to attend the Annual Meeting and vote your shares during the meeting. Instructions on how to vote during the Annual Meeting webcast are posted at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/VRME2021.VRME2023. Votes submitted during the Annual Meeting must be received no later than the closing of the polls at the Annual Meeting.

How many votes do I have?

On each matter to be voted upon, you have one vote for each share of common stock you owned as of April 21, 2021,12, 2023, the record date for the Annual Meeting.

What is the quorum requirement?

A quorum of stockholders is necessary to hold a valid meeting. A quorum will be present if at least a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote are “present” at the meeting. As of the record date, there were 7,420,8119,357,321 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote.

If you are a stockholder of record, your shares will be counted as “present” at the meeting if:

If your shares are held in street name, your shares will be counted as “present” at the meeting if your broker has voted on a discretionary item or your broker has otherwise voted based on your instructions.

Abstentions and broker non-votes on non-discretionary items will be counted towards the quorum requirement. If there is no quorum, a majority of the shares present at the meeting and entitled to vote may adjourn the meeting to another date.

How many votes are needed to approve each proposal?

The table below shows the vote required to approve each of the proposals described in this proxy statement, assuming the presence of a quorum, in person or by proxy, at the Annual Meeting.

How are votes counted?

For Proposal 1, you may vote “FOR” or “WITHHOLD” with respect to each of the nominees. In tabulating the voting results for the election of directors, only “FOR” votes are counted. If you elect to abstain in the election of directors, the abstention will not impact the outcome of the election. Broker non-votes are not counted and will not impact the outcome of the vote.

You may vote “FOR,” “AGAINST” or “ABSTAIN” with respect to Proposals 2 3 and 4.3. In tabulating the voting results for these proposals, “FOR” and “AGAINST” votes are counted. For Proposals 2 3, and 4,3, abstentions are not counted and will not impact the outcome of the vote. With respect to ProposalsProposal 2, and 3, broker non-votes are not counted and will not impact the outcome of the vote. A broker will have discretionary authority to vote on Proposal 43 relating to the ratification of the selection of our independent registered public accounting firm.

Who counts the votes?

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.The Carideo Group has been appointed inspector of election by the Company and will tabulate votes at the Annual Meeting.

What happens if I do not give specific voting instructions?

Stockholder of Record. If you are a stockholder of record and you do not cast your vote, no votes will be cast on your behalf on any of the items of business at the Annual Meeting. However, if you submit a proxy but no instructions are given, the shares represented by the proxy will be voted on your behalf in accordance with the recommendations of our board of directors as follows:

In the event other business properly comes before the Annual Meeting or at any adjournment or postponement of the meeting, the individuals named in the proxy will vote the shares represented by the proxy in their discretion.

Beneficial Owner. If you are a beneficial owner and you do not provide your broker with specific voting instructions, or if you do not obtain a legal proxy that gives you the right to vote the shares electronically via the internet at the Annual Meeting, your broker is not permitted to, and will not, vote your shares on your behalf, and your shares will not be counted with respect to Proposal 1 Proposal 2, and Proposal 3,2, which are non-routine proposals. Your broker, trustee or nominee has discretionary authority to vote your uninstructed shares with respect to Proposal 4,3, which is a routine proposal. Uninstructed shares with respect to which your broker does not have discretionary authority are known as “broker non-votes.”

Can I change my vote or revoke my proxy?

If you are a stockholder of record, you may change your vote by revoking your proxy at any time before it is voted at the Annual Meeting in any one of following ways:

If you hold your shares in street name, contact your broker or other organization regarding how to revoke your instructions and change your vote. You may change your vote prior to the meeting by submitting a later-dated vote on the internet or by telephone, or by participating in the Annual Meeting webcast and by submitting a later vote during the meeting.

How can I find out the voting results of the Annual Meeting?

Preliminary voting results will be announced at the Annual Meeting. Final voting results will be published in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days after the Annual Meeting.

Who is paying for this proxy solicitation?

Our board of directors is soliciting proxies for use at the Annual Meeting, and we will bear the cost of the proxy solicitation. In addition to solicitation by mail, our directors, officers and employees may solicit proxies personally, by telephone, email or other means of communication. We will not compensate any of these persons for soliciting proxies on our behalf. We will reimburse brokerage firms and other persons representing beneficial owners of shares for their expenses in forwarding solicitation material to such beneficial owners. In addition, we have retained Advantage Proxy, Inc., a professional proxy solicitation firm, which will assist us in delivering the proxy materials and soliciting proxies for a fee of approximately $7,500.

When are stockholder proposals and director nominations due for next year’s annual meeting?

At our annual meeting of stockholders each year, our board of directors submits to stockholders its nominees for election as directors. In addition, the board of directors may submit other matters to the stockholders for action at the annual meeting.

Our stockholders may submit proposals for inclusion in the proxy materials. These proposals must satisfy the requirements of Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). To be considered for inclusion in next year’s proxy materials, you must submit your proposal in writing by December 29, 2021,26, 2023, to our Corporate Secretary, 75 S. Clinton Ave., Suite 510, Rochester, New York 14604.801 International Parkway, Fifth Floor, Lake Mary, Florida 32746.

Our Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), provide that if you, as a stockholder, want to recommend a nominee for director you must provide a notice, delivered to or mailed and received at our office not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the preceding year’s annual meeting. Stockholder notices must set forth the specific information as more fully described in our Bylaws. Assuming our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders is held on the same date as the Annual Meeting, then written notice of a nomination for our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders must be delivered to or mailed and received by our Corporate Secretary at our principal office, 75 S. Clinton Ave., Suite 510, Rochester, New York 14604, no later than January 28, 2022.

In addition, our Bylaws provide that for you to properly bring business before a meeting you must timely provide timelya notice in writing to our Corporate Secretary. To be timely, your notice must be delivered to or mailed and received at our office not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the preceding year’s annual meeting. Stockholder notices must set forth the specific information as more fully described in our Bylaws. Assuming our 20222024 annual meeting of stockholders is held on the same date as the Annual Meeting, then written notice of a nomination for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders must be delivered to or mailed and received by our Corporate Secretary at our principal office, 75 S. Clinton Ave., Suite 510, Rochester, New York 14604,801 International Parkway, Fifth Floor, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, no later than January 28, 2022.March 8, 2024.

If you have any questions or need assistance with voting, please contact our proxy solicitor Advantage Proxy, Inc. toll free at 1-877-870-8565 or collect at 206-870-8565 or by email to ksmith@advantageproxy.com.

PROPOSAL ONE:
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

The number of directors is established by the board and is currently set at six. At the Annual Meeting, the six persons listed below will be nominated as directors. Mr. Gardner, a current director whose term expires this year, was not nominated for reelection at the Annual Meeting to serve an additional term. The term of office of each person elected as a director will continue until the next annual meeting or until his successor has been elected and qualified, or until the director’s earlier death, resignation or removal.

All of the board’s nominees for director, except for David Edmonds, were elected at the last annual meeting and all were recommended by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our board of directors. All nominees have consented to serve if elected. In the event that any nominee should be unable to serve or for good cause will not serve, the proxies will be voted for the election of such other persons as the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may recommend, provided that proxies cannot be voted for a greater number of persons than the number of nominees named in this proxy statement.

On April 15, 2021, our Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Norman Gardner, retired from our board of directors and ceased to be a director of our company. As a result of his retirement, Mr. Gardner is not standing for re-election and the number of directors was reduced from seven to six. Upon the retirement of Mr. Gardner on April 15, 2021, the board of directors of the Company appointed Scott Greenberg to serve as Chairman of the board of directors. As a result, Mr. Greenberg also became the chair of the Executive Committee of the board.

The SEC’s rules require us to briefly discuss the particular experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led our board of directors to conclude that each director or nominee for director should serve on our board of directors. We have provided this discussion in a separate paragraph immediately below the biographical information of each director.

The board of directors unanimously recommends a vote FOR the election as directors each of the nominees listed below.

Nominees for Election as Directors:

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Board Meetings

The board of directors held 68 meetings during fiscal year 2020.2022. Each director then in office attended at least 75% of the total of board meetings and meetings of board committees on which he served during fiscal year 2020.2022.

Director Independence

The listing standards of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. No director will qualify as independent unless the board affirmatively determines that the director has no relationship with us that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Based upon the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules and regulations, our board has determined that Chris Gardner,each of Marshall Geller, Howard Goldberg, Arthur Laffer, and Adam H. Stedham are independent and that David Edmonds will be an independent director if elected. Scott Greenberg and Arthur Laffer are independent. Patrick White, President andwas appointed as our Interim Chief Executive Officer effective March 15, 2023 and our Executive Chairman on April 7, 2022, and is not consideredan independent because he is our employee.director.

Board Leadership Structure

We separateAlthough the board has not adopted a formal policy regarding the separation of the roles of the Executive Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the board because we believe that our corporate governance is most effective when these positions are not held by the same person. The board recognizes the differences between the two roles and believes that separating them allows each person to focus on his individual responsibilities. Under this leadership structure, our Chief Executive Officer can focus his attention on generating sales, overseeing sales and marketing, and managing the day-to-day company operations, while our Executive Chairman can focus his attention on board responsibilities.

Although the board has not adopted a formal policy regarding the separation of the roles of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer, we believe that having separate positions is the appropriate leadership structure for us at this time. Depending on the circumstances, other leadership models, such as combining the role of Executive Chairman with the role of Chief Executive Officer, might be appropriate. For example, Patrick White, our previous Chief Executive Officer, resigned as our CEO and as a director of the Company effective March 14, 2023. In connection with his resignation the board appointed Scott Greenberg to serve as the Interim Chief Executive Officer in addition to his position as Executive Chairman. Accordingly, the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman are currently combined. We expect that Mr. Greenberg will serve as both our CEO and Executive Chairman during the interim period between Mr. White’s resignation and the time that a new Chief Executive Officer is appointed. Our board of directors intends to periodically review our leadership structure.

Non-Executive Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director

In addition to an Executive Chairman, we have appointed Marshall Geller to serve as our non-executive Vice Chairman of our board. The board of directors has also appointed a lead independent director, currently Howard Goldberg, in order to promote independent leadership of the board. TheOur non-executive vice chairman or lead independent director presidespreside over the executive sessions of the independent directors if the Chairman of the board is not andirectors. Our lead independent director chairs board meetings in the Non-Executive Vice Chairman’s absence and is available to engage directly with major stockholders where appropriate. The guidance and direction provided by the lead independent director reinforce the board’s independent oversight of management and contribute to communication among members of the board of directors.

Board Committees

The board of directors has established an Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Executive Committee, and Mergers & Acquisitions Committee. In 2018, the board also established a Finance and Uplisting Committee whose members consisted of Messrs. Geller (Chair), Goldberg and Laffer, which met once in 2020 and was dissolved on July 14, 2020. The table below shows the number of meetings held by our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee during fiscal year 20202022 and the names of the directors who served on these committees during fiscal year 20202022 and are currently serving on each committee.

Each committee acts pursuant to a written charter adopted by our board of directors. The current charters for each board committee are available on our website, www.verifyme.com under the heading, “Investors” and the subheading, “Corporate Governance.” The information contained on our website is not a part of this proxy statement.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee monitors the integrity of our financial statements, monitors the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, monitors the performance of our internal audit function and the auditors, and monitors our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. The Audit Committee has the sole authority and responsibility to select, evaluate and engage independent auditors for the Company. The Audit Committee reviews with the auditors and with the Company’s financial management our annual and interim financial statements and all matters relating to the annual audit of the Company. The Audit Committee also prepares the audit committee report that the SEC requires to be included in our annual proxy statement.

The Audit Committee is a separately-designatedseparately designated standing committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act. The board of directors has determined that each member of the audit committee meets the independence and financial literacy requirements applicable to audit committee members under the Nasdaq listing standards and SEC rules. The board of directors has further determined that Mr. GreenbergStedham qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC.

Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee reviews, recommends and approves salaries and other compensation of the Company’s executive officers, and administers the Company’s equity incentive plans (including reviewing, recommending and approving stock option and other equity incentive grants to executive officers).

The Compensation Committee meets in executive session to determine the compensation of the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. In determining the amount, form, and terms of such compensation, the Committee considers the annual performance evaluation of the Chief Executive Officer conducted by the board in light of our goals and objectives relevant to Chief Executive Officer compensation, competitive market data pertaining to Chief Executive Officer compensation at comparable companies, and such other factors as it deems relevant, and is guided by, and seeks to promote, the best interests of the Company and its stockholders.

In addition, subject to existing agreements, the Compensation Committee determines the salaries, bonuses, and other matters relating to compensation of the executive officers of the Company using similar parameters. It sets performance targets for determining periodic bonuses payable to executive officers. It also reviews and makes recommendations to the board regarding executive and employee compensation and benefit plans and programs generally, including employee bonus and retirement plans and programs (except to the extent specifically delegated to a board appointed committee with authority to administer a particular plan). In addition, the Compensation Committee approves the compensation of non-employee directors and reports it to the full board.

The Compensation Committee also reviews and makes recommendations with respect to stockholder proposals related to compensation matters. The committee administers the Company’s equity incentive plans, including the review and grant of stock options and other equity incentive grants to executive officers and other employees and consultants.

The Compensation Committee may, in its sole discretion and at the Company’s cost, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser. The Compensation Committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any compensation consultant, legal counsel and other adviser retained by the committee.

The board of directors has determined that each member of the Compensation Committee meets the independence requirements applicable to compensation committee members under the Nasdaq listing standards.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee identifies individuals qualified to become members of the board, consistent with criteria approved by the board; recommends to the board the director nominees for the next annual meeting of stockholders or special meeting of stockholders at which directors are to be elected; recommends to the board candidates to fill any vacancies on the board; develops, recommends to the board, and reviews the corporate governance guidelines applicable to the Company; and oversees the evaluation of the board and management.

In recommending director nominees for the next annual meeting of stockholders, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee ensures the Company complies with its contractual obligations, if any, governing the nomination of directors. It considers and recruits candidates to fill positions on the board, including as a result of the removal, resignation or retirement of any director, an increase in the size of the board or otherwise. The committee conducts, subject to applicable law, any and all inquiries into the background and qualifications of any candidate for the board and such candidate’s compliance with the independence and other qualification requirements established by the committee. The committee also recommends candidates to fill positions on committees of the board.

In selecting and recommending candidates for election to the board or appointment to any committee of the board, the committee does not believe that it is appropriate to select nominees through mechanical application of specified criteria. Rather, the committee shall consider such factors at it deems appropriate, including, without limitation, the following: personal and professional integrity, ethics and values; experience in corporate management, such as serving as an officer or former officer of a publicly-held company; experience in the Company’s industry; experience as a board member of another publicly-held company; diversity of expertise and experience in substantive matters pertaining to the Company’s business relative to other directors of the Company; practical and mature business judgment; and composition of the board (including its size and structure).

The committee develops and recommends to the board a policy regarding the consideration of director candidates recommended by the Company’s stockholders and procedures for submission by stockholders of director nominee recommendations.

In appropriate circumstances, the committee, in its discretion, will consider and may recommend the removal of a director, in accordance with the applicable provisions of our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. If we are subject to a binding obligation that requires director removal structure inconsistent with the foregoing, then the removal of a director shall be governed by such instrument.

The committee oversees the evaluation of the board and management. It also develops and recommends to the board a set of corporate governance guidelines applicable to us, which the committee shall periodically review and revise as appropriate. In discharging its oversight role, the committee is empowered to investigate any matter brought to its attention.

The board of directors has determined that each member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee meets the director independence requirements of the Nasdaq listing standards.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee acts on behalf of the board between regularly scheduled board meetings, and subject to certain limitations imposed by applicable legal or regulatory requirements, may exercise during such intervals, all of the powers of the board in the management of the business, affairs and property of our Company other than: (i) the filling of vacancies on the board; (ii) approving or adopting, or recommending to the shareholders, any action or matter; (iii) adopting, amending or repealing the our Amended and Restated Bylaws; and (iv) those matters that are specifically delegated to other committees of the board or that are under active review by the board or a board committee, unless the board specifically determines otherwise.

Mergers & Acquisitions Committee

The Mergers & Acquisitions Committee is empowered to review and assess, and assist the board in reviewing and assessing, potential mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investments. In addition, the committee is empowered to assist management in identifying and reviewing merger and acquisition opportunities and is charged with assessing the associated risk to the Company and making recommendations with respect to the terms thereof to the board. The committee is also charged with planning of, and evaluating the execution of, integrations of merger and acquisition transactions.transactions and meets on a weekly basis.

Board Diversity

Our Board believes that diversity can strengthen board performance. While we do not have a formal policy on diversity, the board considers diversity to include the skill set, background, reputation, type and length of business experience, diversity with respect to characteristics, such as gender, race and ethnicity of the board members as well as a particular nominee’s contributions to that mix. The board believes that diversity brings a variety of ideas, judgments and considerations that benefit the Company and its stockholders. Although there are many other factors, the board seeks individuals with experience on operating and growing businesses.

The following matrix discloses the gender and demographic backgrounds of our board as self-identified by its members in accordance with the newly enacted Nasdaq Listing Rule 5606.

Director Attendance at Annual Meetings

Although the Company does not have a policy regarding director attendance of our annual meeting of stockholders, board members are encouraged to attend. Patrick White and Norman GardnerScott Greenberg attended the 20202022 annual meeting of stockholders.

Role of the Board in Risk Oversight

The Company’s risk management function is overseen by the board. This oversight is conducted in part through the board’s committees. Our Audit Committee focuses on risks associated with financial matters, particularly financial reporting and disclosures, accounting, internal control over financial reporting, financial policies, and compliance with legal and regulatory matters related to accounting and financial reporting. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee focuses on the oversight of risks associated with our corporate governance, including board membership and structure. Our Compensation Committee focuses on the oversight of risks arising from our compensation policies and programs.

While our board committees have certain oversight responsibilities, the full board retains responsibility for general oversight of risk. Our Executive Chairman works closely together with other members of the board when material risks are identified on how to best address such risks. If the identified risk poses an actual or potential conflict with management, our independent directors may conduct the assessment. In addition, our management keeps the board apprised of material risks and provides its directors access to all information necessary for them to understand and evaluate how these risks interrelate, how they affect us, and how management addresses those risks.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

The board has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code of Ethics”) that applies to all of our employees, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Although not required, the Code of Ethics also applies to our directors. The Code of Ethics provides written standards that we believe are reasonably designed to deter wrongdoing and promote honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships, full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure and compliance with laws, rules and regulations and the prompt reporting of illegal or unethical behavior, and accountability for adherence to the Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics is available on our website at www.verifyme.com/code-of-conduct. The information contained on our website is not a part of this proxy statement.

Anti-Hedging Policy

We have a no hedging policy that prohibits directors, officers and employees from engaging in transactions that hedge or offset any decrease in the market value of equity securities granted as compensation.

Stockholder Communications

Stockholders may send correspondence by mail to the full board of directors or to individual directors. Stockholders should address correspondence to the board of directors or individual board members in care of: VerifyMe, Inc., 75 S. Clinton Ave, Suite 510, Rochester, New York 14604,801 International Parkway, Fifth Floor, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, Attention: Corporate Secretary.

All stockholder correspondence will be compiled by our Corporate Secretary and forwarded as appropriate. In general, correspondence relating to corporate governance issues, long-term corporate strategy, or similar substantive matters will be forwarded to the board of directors, the individual director, one of the aforementioned committees of the board, or a committee member for review. Correspondence relating to ordinary business affairs or those matters more appropriately addressed by our officers or their designees will be forwarded to such persons accordingly.

MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

We are currently served by fourseven executive officers, Mr. White,Greenberg, Ms. Gezerlis, Mr. Goldstein, Ms. Meyers, Mr. Kole, Mr. Volk, and Mr. Fliderman.Wang.

Patrick WhiteScott Greenberg, age 68,66, is our President andInterim Chief Executive Officer.Officer and Executive Chairman. Additional information about Mr. WhiteGreenberg can be found under “Proposal One: Election of Directors.”

Margaret Gezerlis, age 40,42, has been our Chief Financial Officer since May 2018.2018 and was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in February 2022. In November 2018, Ms. Gezerlis became our employee. Ms. Gezerlis was previously an employee of the CFO Squad LLC from February 2018 until November 2018, where she worked as an independent contractor for the Company. Previously, Ms. Gezerlis was a Financial Reporting Manager at Bankrate.com from March 2017 until February 2018. Prior to her position at Bankrate.com, Ms. Gezerlis was a financial reporting manager for Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:WPRT), previously Fuel Systems Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:FSYS), from September 2015 to November 2016, a senior financial analyst from March 2014 to September 2015 and a performance services manager for Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK) from June 2012 to March 2014.. Ms. Gezerlis holds an international accounting qualification from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Keith Goldstein, age 53,55, has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company since February 2022. Mr. Goldstein was acting Chief Operating Officer of the Company since September 2017. Mr. Goldstein is the manager and principal of POC Advisory Group, LLC, which provides business advisory services, since May 2017. We contractcontracted with POC Advisory Group, LLC for Mr. Goldstein’s services.services until he became an employee of our Company in February 2022. Mr. Goldstein was the Chief Executive Officer of Infinacom, a provider of biometric based security solutions, from April 2018 until March 2019. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of ABCorp., North America, a supplier of secure payment, retail and identification cards, vital record and transaction documents, systems and services to governments and financial institutions, from 2011 until April 2017, and has provided professional sales and advisory services to ABCorp. since April 2017.

Sandy Fliderman, age 44, has been the Company’s Chief Technology Officer since 2015. Mr. Fliderman is the President and Co-Founder of Industry FinTech Inc. since February 1, 2017. Prior to his current role with the Company, Mr. Fliderman was the Chief Information Officer at VEEDIMS, LLC, an Internet of Things technology company specializing in data collection and distribution in the aerospace and marine industries. In addition, IT/IS, R&D and Operations, Mr. Fliderman lead the charge for VEEDIMS, LLC to attain the AS9100 and ISO9001:2008 certifications needed to do business in the aerospace markets. Mr. Fliderman started his career working on the trading floor at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) for a number of years before founding the NYC based digital creative agency called Zaah where he was Chief Technology Officer and Founder for almost 15 years. Mr. Fliderman was co-inventor on a number of patents and created the technology behind VerifyMe.

Nancy Meyers, age 53, has been the Company’s Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations since February 2022. Prior to joining the Company in September 2021, Ms. Meyers had several accounting and financial reporting roles at GP Strategies Corporation, ultimately serving as Manager of Financial Reporting from October 2017 until May 2021. Ms. Meyers is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and brings over 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operations.

Curt Kole, age 69, has been the Executive Vice President of the Company since March 15, 2023 and Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Strategy of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary PeriShip Global, LLC since April 2022. Prior to this Mr. Kole served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development of PeriShip, LLC from May 2017 until April 2022. Mr. Kole has over 30 years of sales, marketing, and leadership experience in the transportation and logistics industry. Having spent over 17 of these years at FedEx® Custom Critical, Mr. Kole was intimately involved in the development of their highly-specialized Cold Chain suite of services and was directly involved in their entry into the Pharmaceutical market. Following his experience at FedEx®, Mr. Kole spent a combined 10 years in the truckload and global cryogenics spaces, has been an established panelist on Cold Chain logistics at numerous industry conferences, and is a current member of both the Parenteral Drug Association and Health and Personal Care Logistics Council.

Fred G. Volk, III, age 55, has been the Vice President, Operations of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary PeriShip Global, LLC since April 2022. Prior to this Mr. Volk served as Vice President of Operations of PeriShip, LLC from September 2001 until April 2022. Mr. Volk has over 22 years of supply chain expertise, which includes many years at FedEx®. Throughout his tenure there, he worked in multiple leadership positions across the Transportation, Logistics, and Customer Service spaces, allowing him to become intimately familiar with the principles required for operational effectiveness. With later experiences in leadership positions at various local law enforcement agencies, Mr. Volk’s acumen spans from supply chain management to compliance, and beyond.

Jack Wang, age 63, has been the Chief Information Officer of the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary PeriShip Global, LLC since April 2022. Prior to this Mr. Wang served as Chief Information Officer of PeriShip, LLC from December 2011 to 2016 and from 2018 until April 2022. From 2016 to 2018 Mr. Wang served as Chief Information Officer for IMEX Global Solutions, an international logistics company that distributes parcels, publication and business mail worldwide. Prior to joining PeriShip, Mr. Wang served as the head of IT operations and development at the Package Portfolio division of United Parcel Service. At UPS, Mr. Wang managed IT services for worldwide package operations. Before UPS, Mr. Wang was the managing director of Continental Airlines, where he was responsible for strategic system architecture and development as well as providing IT services for many of the airline's customer facing systems. Many of the core systems that Mr. Wang instituted at Continental Airlines were eventually selected as the baseline systems for the new United Airlines. Mr. Wang holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from State University of New York at New Paltz.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

This proxy statement contains information about the compensation earned and paid to our named executive officers during fiscal year 20202022 and fiscal year ended December 31, 20192021 (“fiscal year 2019”2021”)., or only fiscal year 2022 if the individual was not a named executive officer for fiscal year 2021. For fiscal year 2020,2022, in accordance with the executive compensation disclosure rules and regulations of the SEC, we determined that the following officers were our named executive officers:

Summary Compensation Table

Employment and Consulting Agreements with Named Executive Officers

Patrick White - Chief Executive Officer

The Company entered into an Employment Agreement, dated as of August 15, 2017, with Patrick White, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, with an annual salary of $200,000. Mr. White agreed to defer $50,000 each year until August 15, 2019 in order to improve the Company’s liquidity. On August 13, 2019, Mr. White entered into an Amendment to his Employment Agreement, extending it for one year at the same base annual salary of $200,000 and deferring the $100,000 he was owed and $50,000 of his current salary until August 15, 2020. In connection with the Amendment, the board granted Mr. White immediately vesting incentive stock options under the Company’s 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”) for 10,000 shares of common stock that expires five-years from the date of grant with an exercise price of $7.00 per share. On April 16, 2020, we awarded Mr. White a restricted stock award of 37,500 shares of our common stock in lieu of the $150,000 in deferred salary. The restricted stock award vestedvests in full one-year from the date of grant, subject to Mr. White’s continued services as an officer and employee on April 16, 2021.the vesting date. In the event of Mr. White’s termination without cause, Mr. White iswas entitled to receive any unpaid salary and expenses, a payment equal to 12 months of his salary, and a continuation of benefits for six months. In connection with his 2017 Employment Agreement and a Consulting Agreement, dated as of June 2, 2017, he received grants of options for 100,000 shares of common stock that expire five years from the date of grant with an exercise price of $3.50 per share, and on April 17, 2018, he received options for 40,000 shares of common stock which expire five years from the date of grant and have an exercise price of $3.50 per share. These awards were amended in April 2020 to extend the term such that the options expire eight years from the date of grant. All of Mr. White’s stock options are vested. InUnder his Employment Agreement, in the event Mr. White iswas terminated or his title as Chief Executive Officer changeschanged within 12 months following a change in control, Mr. White will bewould have been entitled to receive any unpaid salary and expenses, a payment equal to 18 months of his salary at the rate in effect on the date of such termination, and a continuation of benefits for a period of 18 months. On May 19, 2020, we agreed to extend Mr. White’s Employment Agreement until August 15, 2021 and to include automatic renewal provisions for one-year terms. On August 15, 2020, the deferral of Mr. White’s salary ended and his salary was restored to its full amount of $200,000. On October 12, 2020, we and Mr. White entered into a further amendment to Mr. White’s employment agreement to increasedincrease Mr. White’s annual base salary to $280,000, effective immediately. In addition, the term of Mr. White’s Employment Agreement will bewould have been extended for a period of not less than 18 months from and after a Change of Control (as the term is defined in the Employment Agreement), and Mr. White’s surviving spouse or estate will bewould have been entitled to certain payments upon his death following a Change of Control. On February 16, 2022, upon the expiration of his prior Employment Agreement, the Company entered into a new employment with Mr. White, effective as of February 15, 2022 entitling him to a bonus of 1% of all organic sales over $1,500,000. Mr. White was also issued restricted stock units equal to 70% of his base salary, totaling 61,250 under the Company’s 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”).

On March 14, 2023, the Company and Patrick White agreed that Mr. White would resign as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Effective as of March 15, 2023, the Company and Mr. White entered into a Separation Agreement and Release of all Claims (the “Separation Agreement”) whereby Mr. White voluntarily elected to resign as Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the Company, and from any position held with the Company’s subsidiaries, including PeriShip Global, LLC, effective March 14, 2023 (the “Separation Date”). Pursuant to the Separation Agreement, the Company Agreed to pay Mr. White his salary through the Separation Date and severance payments totaling $158,866.67, or the equivalent of six and a half months of Mr. White base salary and six months of health care benefit supplement payments, to be paid through September 30, 2023. In addition, the Company awarded Mr. White 111,364 restricted stock units, with a grant date value equal to 70% of his annual base salary, each such unit representing the contingent right to receive one share of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, subject to the terms of the Company’s 2020 Plan. These restricted stock units, except as otherwise provided in the award agreement, vest within three years in equal tranches provided the Company’s stock price exceeds $2.75 and $3.75 per share for twenty consecutive trading days. In connection with the grant of the restricted stock units Mr. White forfeited his outstanding award of 61,250 restricted stock units granted in connection with his employment agreement effective February 15, 2022.

Pursuant to the Separation Agreement, Mr. White’s employment agreement effective as of February 25, 2022, was terminated on March 14, 2023, with certain covenants in the employment agreement relating to the ownership of intellectual property, confidential information, non-solicitation and non-competition surviving its termination. The Separation Agreement also includes customary representations, warranties for agreements of its type.

Keith Goldstein - Acting Chief Operating Officer

On September 1, 2017, the Company entered into a six-month Consulting Agreement pursuant to which Mr. Goldstein served as our acting Chief Operating Officer and received a monthly fee of $10,000 per month plus 4% of any sales made by Mr. Goldstein on behalf of the Company. Mr. Goldstein was granted options to purchase 40,000 shares of our common stock with an exercise price of $2.00 per share and a five-year term that vested in equal monthly increments over the initial six-month term.

On March 1, 2018, the Company amended the Consulting Agreement with POC Advisory Group, LLC, an entity controlled by Mr. Goldstein, for a one-year term which expired on February 28, 2019, under which Mr. Goldstein received a monthly fee of $12,500 per month. The amendment provided Mr. Goldstein with additional options to purchase 20,000 shares of our common stock with an exercise price of $10.51 per share that have a five-year term. Options with respect to 10,000 shares vested upon execution of the amendment and options with respect to the remaining 10,000 shares vested on February 28, 2019. The amendment also terminated Mr. Goldstein’s right to the 4% sales commission. In February 2019, the Company agreed to renew Mr. Goldstein’s agreement on a month-to-month basis on the terms of the amendment, pending board approval of a new agreement. On April 9, 2019, we entered into a Second Amendment to the Consulting Agreement with POC Advisory Group, LLC.

On March 1, 2021, the Company entered into an Amended and Restated Consulting Agreement with POC Advisory Group, LLC. The key provisions of the Amended and Restated Consulting Agreement include the following:

The Consulting Agreement providesprovided for the extension of the expiration date to March 1, 2026 for the Consultant’s existing options to purchase an aggregate of 80,000 shares of Company common stock, and providesprovided Mr. Goldstein with a 2% sales commission on sales in excess of $500,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, excluding sales related to acquired businesses. The Consulting Agreement, as amended, may becould have been terminated at any time by the Company for cause. If terminated without cause, Mr. Goldstein iswould have been entitled to any unpaid fees and any unpaid and accrued expenses. The Consulting Agreement, as amended, containscontained non-compete provisions prohibiting Mr. Goldstein from competing with us during the term of the Consulting Agreement and for one year after termination.

On February 16, 2022, the Company entered into a new employment with Mr. Goldstein, effective as of February 15, 2022, which superseded in its entirety the Consulting Agreement, entitling him to a bonus of 1% of all organic sales over $1,500,000 and an increase in base salary to $235,000. Mr. Goldstein was also issued restricted stock units equal to 70% of his base salary, totaling 51,407 under the Company’s 2020 Plan.

Effective as of March 15, 2023, the Company increased Mr. Goldstein’s annual base salary to $255,000.

Margaret Gezerlis - Chief Financial OfficerCurt Kole – Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Strategy of PeriShip Global, LLC

On May 17, 2018, we appointed Margaret Gezerlis as our Chief Financial Officer and entered into a Consulting Agreement with Ms. Gezerlis under whichApril 22, 2022, the Company agreed to pay Ms. Gezerlis a $1,000 signing bonus and a consulting fee of $1,500 per month. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Gezerlis had been an employee of the CFO SquadCompany’s wholly owned Subsidiary PeriShip Global, LLC since February 2018 and had provided services to the Company through her employment at CFO Squad LLC.

On November 15, 2018, we entered into an Employment Agreement with Ms. GezerlisMr. Kole with an initial term of one year,two years, which automatically renews for additional one-year terms until either party gives 30-day60-day notice of non-renewal or otherwise terminatesterminated the agreement according to its terms. Under the Employment Agreement, Ms. Gezerlisemployment agreement, Mr. Kole is entitled to an annual base salary of $84,000 per year as well as a monthly stipend of $1,000 in lieu of benefits. The Employment Agreement also provides that Ms. Gezerlis’ annual base salary will increase to $145,000 upon the successful listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange. On June 18, 2020, upon the listing of our common stock and warrants to purchase common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market, Ms. Gezerlis’ annual base salary increased to $145,000 and she received the money accrued for the interim salary increase.$230,000. Additionally, pursuant to the Employment Agreement,employment agreement, on March 11, 2019, Ms. GezerlisApril 22, 2022, Mr. Kole was granted optionsawarded restricted stock units with a grant date value equal to purchase 2,000 shareshis annual base salary, each such unit representing the contingent right to receive one share of the Company’s common stock, at an exercisepar value $0.001 per share, subject to the terms of the Company’s 2020 Plan. These restricted stock units, except as otherwise provided in the award agreement, will vest, subject to continuous employment and other conditions, as follows: 50% if the Company’s common stock price exceeds $5.00 per share for a period of $16.0520 consecutive days, and the remaining 50% if the Company’s common stock price exceeds $7.00 per share.share for a period of 20 consecutive days, in each case prior to the two-year anniversary of the grant date. Pursuant to the employment agreement Mr. Kole will receive a commission of 1.5% on eligible annual sales in excess of $30,000,000, increasing to 2.0% on eligible annual sales in excess of $32,000,000. The options vested quarterly in equal installments over one year. The Employment Agreement canemployment agreement may be terminated by ususe for cause, by Mr. Kole without good reason, or by Ms. Gezerlis for good reason. Additionally, by its terms the Employment Agreement terminates automatically upondelivering a change of control.non-renewal notice. If terminated by us without cause or by Ms. GezerlisMr. Kole with good reason Ms. Gezerlis isMr. Kole will be entitled to any accrued andbut unpaid base salary and expenses, a payment equal to 12 months of herhis then base salary if the Employment Agreement is terminated during the initial two year term or a payment equal to 6 months of his then base salary if the Employment Agreement is terminated after the initial two year term, and six months of benefits. If the Employment Agreement terminates due to a change of control of our company, Ms. Gezerlis will be entitled to a payment equal to 18 months of her then base salary and 18 months of benefits. If terminated upon us givinga non-renewal notice, of non-renewal and she remains employed until the end of the respective term, Ms. Gezerlis isMr. Kole will be entitled to any accrued and unpaid salary and expenses and six monthsprior to the effective date of benefits.

On January 7, 2020, Ms. Gezerlis received a grant of stock options for 4,000 shares of common stock that expire in five-years which are exercisable at $3.50 per share and vest quarterly over 2020 subject to continued service as an officer on each applicable vesting date. In April 2020, the Company approved a salary increase of $4,000 per month, effective January 1, 2020, to a total of $11,000 per month, for Ms. Gezerlis, half of which we deferred and paid in full upon the closing of our June 2020 public offering of our securities. Ms. Gezerlis now receives the full amount of the salary increase on a monthly basis. On May 7, 2020, Ms. Gezerlis became entitled to receive a commission equal to 5.0% of the gross sales price of Company products and services sold by Ms. Gezerlis beginning on April 21, 2020.his termination.

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

The following table sets forth the outstanding equity awards for our Named Executive Officers as of December 31, 2020.2022.

(1)

Pay Versus Performance

This disclosure has been prepared in accordance with the SEC’s pay versus performance rules in Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K under the 1934 Act (“Item 402(v)”). The following tables and related disclosures provide information about (i) the total compensation (“SCT Total”) of our principal executive officer (“PEO”) and our non-PEO Named Executive Officers (collectively, the “Other NEOs”) as presented in the Summary Compensation Table on page 17, (ii) the “compensation actually paid” (“CAP”) to our PEO and our Other NEOs, as calculated pursuant to Item 402(v), (iii) certain financial performance measures, and (iv) the relationship of the CAP to those financial performance measures.

1. Names of PEO and Other NEOS

Fiscal Year 2022

PEO: Patrick White, our previous Chief Executive Officer who resigned as our CEO and as a director of the Company effective March 14, 2023.

Other NEOs: Keith Goldstein, our President and Chief Operating Officer and Curt Kole, EVP, Global Sales and Strategy of PeriShip Global, LLC.

Fiscal Year 2021:

PEO: Patrick White, our previous Chief Executive Officer who resigned as our CEO and as a director of the Company effective March 14, 2023.

Other NEOs: Keith Goldstein, our President and Chief Operating Officer and Margaret Gezerlis, EVP and Chief Financial Officer

2. Adjustments to Calculate Compensation Actually Paid to PEO and Average Compensation Actually Paid to Other NEOs

The table below describes the adjustments, each of which is required by SEC rules, to calculate CAP Amounts from the SCT Total of our PEO and our Other NEOs. The SCT Total and CAP Amounts do not reflect the actual amount of compensation earned by or paid to our executives during the applicable years, but rather are amounts determined in accordance with Item 402(v).

Relationship Between Compensation Actually Paid to our PEO and the Average of the Compensation Actually Paid to the Other NEOs and the Company's TSR and Net Income (Loss).

The Company is providing the following graphs of the relationships between information presented in the Pay Versus Performance table, including CAP to our PEO and non-PEO NEOs, as required by Item 402(v). Due to the nature of the Company’s operations, the Company does not believe there is a correlation between the CAP to our PEO or the average CAP to our Other NEOs to the Company’s net income (loss) in 2022. Beginning in fiscal year 2022, the Company has awarded its PEO and Other NEOs, performance restricted stock which convert into common stock on a one-for-one basis, vesting over a period of two to three years, in two tranches, depending on certain criteria being met in relation to the Company’s listed stock price, aligning performance with total shareholder return.

Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $14,398 thousand, compared to net income of $3,612 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to the impairment of G3 VRM Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) that we had co-sponsored of $10,932 thousand during 2022 compared to an unrealized gain on the SPAC of $8,371 in 2021, partially offset by a gain on extinguishment of debt of $326 thousand and the changes related to the acquisition of the PeriShip Global business.

The information provided above under the "Pay Versus Performance" heading will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing, except to the extent the Company specifically incorporates such information by reference.

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

Our directors are eligible to receive options, restricted stock and other equity linked grants under our equity incentive plans. The Compensation Committee of the Board has approved a director compensation is determinedpolicy (“Director Compensation Policy”) to govern the annual compensation payable to directors for their service on our Board. The Compensation Committee has reserved the right to make any necessary, appropriate or desirable changes to the terms of the Policy.

As amended, on the first business day following the date a quorum of stockholders meets and votes on proposals in an annual basis.meeting of stockholders, each non-employee director that does not have a separate compensation arrangement with the Company will receive an award of either restricted stock units or restricted stock under the 2020 Plan (or a successor stockholder-approved plan thereto) with a grant date fair value equal to $100,000, and if such non-employee director serves as a Board committee chair or as the Lead Independent Director, he or she will also receive an additional award of restricted stock units or restricted stock award under the 2020 Plan (or a successor stockholder-approved plan thereto) with a grant date fair equal to $25,000, regardless of the number of Board committees the non-employee director chairs. A non-employee director may specify before the date that is 15 days preceding the annual meeting of stockholders of the year prior to the year of grant whether he or she would prefer to receive his or her awards to be granted in the following year to be in the form of restricted stock units or restricted stock; provided, however, such choice will not be binding on the Committee. The number of shares of the Company’s common stock subject to each award of restricted stock units or restricted stock will be determined by dividing the grant date fair value by the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the most recent day immediately preceding the date of grant on which the shares of stock were tradeable. The restricted stock units or restricted stock granted pursuant to the Director Compensation Policy will vest in full on the earlier of the one-year anniversary of the date of grant subject to the non-employee director’s continued service to the Board through such date, or the death or disability of the non-employee director, and will be payable upon the earlier of the director’s separation from service as a director or, upon an earlier payment date elected by the director, provided that the election is made no later than the date that is 15 days preceding the annual meeting of stockholders of the year prior to the year of grant.

The following table sets forth information about the compensation earned by or paid to our directors during our fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.2022. Please refer to the “Summary Compensation Table” above for compensation earned by Mr. White as a member of the board of directors.

directors during fiscal year 2022.

The table below sets forth the unexercised options held by each of our non-employee directors outstanding as of December 31, 2020.2022.

(2) The options have an expiration date of January 6, 2025 and an exercise price of $3.505.

(3) 20,000 options have an expiration date of January 6, 2025 and an exercise price of $3.505. 3,000 options expire on May 27, 2025 and have an exercise price of $5.295.

(4) 20,000 options have an expiration date of January 6, 2025 and an exercise price of $3.505. 5,000 options expire on May 27, 2025 and have an exercise price of $5.295.

(5) 20,000 options have an expiration date of January 6, 2025 and an exercise price of $3.505. 3,000 options expire on April 16, 2025 and have an exercise price of $4.025.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF MANAGEMENT
AND CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS

The following table sets forth the number of shares of our common stock beneficially owned as of April 21, 2021,12, 2023, by: (i) those persons known by us to be owners of more than 5% of its common stock; (ii) each director; (iii) our named executive officers (as disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table); and (iv) our executive officers and directors as a group. Unless otherwise specified in the notes to this table, the address for each person is: VerifyMe, Inc., 75 S. Clinton Avenue, Suite 510, Rochester, New York 14604.801 International Parkway, Fifth Floor, Lake Mary, Florida 32746. We also have 0.85 share of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock outstanding held by the Estate of Claudio Ballard.

* indicates less than 1%

The beneficial ownership for each of our non-employee directorstable above does not include grants of 29,002 restricted stock units, which convert into common stock on a one-for-one basis, that were granted under the VerifyMe, Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, and vest on January 19, 2022,following grants:

DELINQUENT SECTION 16(a) REPORTS

Section 16(a) of the boardExchange Act, requires directors, officers and greater than 10% shareholders to file with the SEC reports of directors.ownership and changes in ownership regarding their holdings in company securities. During our fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, all of our directors and officers timely complied with the filing requirements of Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, except for Mr. Kole, Mr. Volk, Mr. Wang and Ms. Meyers, who each filed one late report disclosing one transaction. In making this statement, we have relied upon the written representations of our directors and officers, and copies of the reports that they have filed with the SEC.

PROPOSAL TWO:
TO APPROVE, ON AN ADVISORY BASIS, APPROVAL OF THE COMPENSATION OF OUR NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (“SAY-ON-PAY”);SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE 2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

Section 14A ofAmendment to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires us to provide our shareholders with the opportunity to vote to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of our named executive officers (referred to as a “say-on-pay” vote). At our 2018 annual meeting of shareholders, we recommended, and our shareholders approved, that we hold this non-binding, advisory vote on executive compensation every three years. Our board of directors subsequently adopted this preference, and we are providing our shareholders with a say-on-pay vote this year. The next required vote on the frequency of the advisory vote on executive compensation will occur at our 2024 annual meeting of shareholders.

The primary goal of our compensation program is to align the interests of our named executive officers with those of our shareholders to achieve long-term growth. As detailed in the “Executive Compensation” section of this proxy statement, our objectives with respect to executive compensation are to attract, motivate, and retain a highly-qualified and effective executive management team. Our compensation policies are designed to motivate our management to achieve our business objectives, to reward them for achievement, to foster teamwork, to support our core values and to contribute to our long-term success. Our compensation policies for our named executive officers are designed to link pay to both performance, taking into account the level of difficulty associated with each executive’s responsibilities, and shareholder returns over the long term. To achieve these objectives, our compensation committee, in conjunction with a third-party compensation consultant, when appropriate, reviews and evaluates our executive compensation program. In addition, our executive compensation program ties a substantial portion of each executive’s overall compensation to attainment of key business and operational goals. The “Executive Compensation” section of this proxy statement describes in detail our executive compensation program and the decisions made by our compensation committee.

We are asking our shareholders to indicate their support and approval for our named executive officer compensation as described in the “Executive Compensation” section of this proxy statement. We believe that our compensation program for our named executive officers is designed to create value for our shareholders over the long term and appropriately aligns pay with performance.

For the reasons summarized above, and as discussed in more detail in the “Executive Compensation” section of this proxy statement, our board of directors is asking our shareholders to vote for the following advisory resolution:

RESOLVED, that the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers, as disclosed pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K, including the compensation tables, and related narrative discussion, is hereby approved.

The say-on-pay vote is advisory, and therefore it is not binding on our compensation committee or our board of directors. Nevertheless, our board of directors and our compensation committee value the opinions expressed by shareholders in their vote on this proposal and will consider the outcome of the vote in deciding whether to take any action as a result of the vote and when making future compensation decisions for our named executive officers.

Vote Required

The affirmative vote of a majority of the shares cast on this proposal is required for approval of the say-on-pay proposal.

The board of directors recommends that you vote FOR the proposal to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of our named executive officers (“say-on-pay”).

PROPOSAL THREE:
TO APPROVE THE COMPANY’S 2021 STOCK PURCHASE PLAN;Plan

We are asking our stockholders to approve the adoption of the Second Amendment to the Company’s 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, (the “Second Amendment”) to (i) increase the number of shares available under the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2020 Plan”) by 1,000,000 shares, which will also extend the term of the 2020 Plan to June 6, 2033, and (ii) increase the annual cap on director compensation by $50,000.

The 2020 Plan was adopted by our Board on August 10, 2020 and approved by our stockholders on September 30, 2020. The First Amendment to the VerifyMe, Inc. 2021 Stock Purchase2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”). Our board of directors (the “Board”)was adopted by our Board on March 28, 2022 and approved andby our stockholders on June 9, 2022. The Second Amendment was adopted the 2021 Planby our Board on April 26, 2021, subject17, 2023 and is now being submitted to stockholderour stockholders for their approval. The 2021Second Amendment will become effective on June 10, 2021, upon the approval of the 2021 Plan by our stockholders.stockholder approval.

The closing stock price of a share of the Company’s common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Stock Market on April 21, 2021,12, 2023, our record date, was $4.17.$1.785.

Description of the 20212020 Plan

The full text of the 20212020 Plan and the First Amendment are attached to this proxy statement as Appendix A and the full text of the Second Amendment is attached to this proxy statement as Exhibit A.Appendix B. The principal terms of the 20212020 Plan as amended by the Second Amendment are described below, but the description is qualified in its entirety by reference to the 20212020 Plan itself.and the Second Amendment. In the event of a conflict between the description and the terms of the 20212020 Plan itself,or the Second Amendment, the terms of the 20212020 Plan or Second Amendment will govern. The Second Amendment will not become effective unless approved by our stockholders.

Purpose

The purpose of the 20212020 Plan is to provide eligiblepromote stockholder value and our future success by providing appropriate retention and performance incentives to employees directors and consultantsnon-employee directors of the Company or its affiliates, and any other individuals who perform services for the Company or its designated affiliates with an opportunity to purchase shares of common stock, thereby increasing their interest in the Company’s continued success. The 2021 Plan is not intended to qualify as an employee stock purchase plan under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).affiliates.

Administration

The 2021Except as noted below, the 2020 Plan will be administered by the Compensation Committee (the “Committee”) of the Board. Under the 20212020 Plan, each member of the Committee is required to be, and currently is, both a “non-employee director”“Non-Employee Director” within the meaning of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and a non-employee director meeting the independence requirements for compensation committee members under the rules and regulations of the exchange on which the Company’s shares of common stock are traded.

As administrator, theThe Committee haswill have the authority to construe, interpretselect the employees and applyother individuals (other than non-employee directors) to receive awards under the 2020 Plan, to determine the type, size and terms of the 2021award to be made to each individual selected, to determine the time when awards will be granted, to establish performance objectives, and to prescribe the form of award agreement. The Committee is also authorized to interpret the 2020 Plan and the awards granted under the 2020 Plan, to establish, amend and rescind any rules and regulations relating to the 2020 Plan, and to establish suchmake any other limitationsdeterminations that it deems necessary or procedures asdesirable for the Committee determines advisable that are consistent withadministration of the 20212020 Plan. The Committee may authorize any one or more of its members or any officer or employee of the Company to at act as the administrator of the 2021 Plan andor any affiliate to execute and deliver documents or to take any other action on behalf of the Committee with respect to offerings under the 2021 Plan,awards made or to be made to participants, subject to the requirements of applicable laws.

No memberlaw, including without limitation, Section 16 of the Board or the Committee, nor the administrator shall be personally liable for any action, determination or interpretation made in good faith with respect to the 2021 Plan, and all members of the Board and the Committee, and the administrator shall be fully protected by the Company in respect to any such action, determination or interpretation, and the Company will indemnify such individuals against any such liability.

Authorized SharesExchange Act.

The maximum numberBoard has all the powers otherwise vested in the Committee by the terms of sharesthe 2020 Plan in respect of common stock reserved and available for issuance under the 2021 Plan will be 500,000 shares. Shares of common stock issued pursuantawards granted to the 2021 Plan may be authorized but unissued shares, treasury shares, reacquired shares or any combination thereof.non-employee directors.

Offerings

Unless the administrator determines otherwise, the 2021 Plan will have consecutive offering periods, with a new offering period commencing on the first trading day on or after March 1 and September 1 of each year, and terminating, respectively, on the last trading day on or before the following August 31 and February 28. 

Eligible Individuals

Eligible individualsNotwithstanding the foregoing, except for an offering will include: (a) each employeepermitted adjustments in connection with a corporate transaction or recapitalization, neither the Committee nor the Board may, without the prior approval of the stockholders of the Company, or a designated affiliate, unless otherwise excluded by the administrator for such offering; (b) each member of the Board, unless otherwise excluded by the Board for such offering; and (c) each consultant who is designated by the administrator to participate in the offering; in each case, who has been or will have been in the employment or service of the Company and its affiliates for at least three months prior to the applicable enrollment date. An eligible consultant must be a natural person who provides bona fide services to the Company or a designated affiliate (other than services in connection with the offer or sale of securities in a capital-raising transaction or which(a) reduce, directly or indirectly, promotethe per-share exercise price of an outstanding option or maintain a market for the Company’s securities).

As of April 21, 2021, approximately 1 employee and 5 non-employee directors would have been eligible to participate in the 2021 Plan had it been in place as of such date. No consultants would have been eligible to participate in the 2021 Plan had it been in place as of such date because no consultants have yet been designated as eligible to participate in the 2021 Plan, but the Company estimates that approximately 6 consultants will be allowed to participate in the 2021 Plan ifstock appreciation right after it is approved by our stockholders.

Participation

An eligible individual may participate ingranted; (b) cancel an offering under the 2021 Plan by submitting to the Companyoption or its designated representative, at least 10 days prior to the applicable enrollment date, a properly completed subscription agreement authorizing contributions in the form provided by the administrator for such purpose, or by following an electronic or other enrollment procedure determined by the administrator.

At the time an eligible individual who is an employee enrolls in an offering, he or she may elect to have payroll deductions made on each pay day during the offering period in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per offering period. A participating employee may not change his or her payroll deductions during an offering period, unless otherwise provided by the administrator.

The administrator may permit all participants in an offering to contribute amounts by cash, check or other means set forth in the subscription agreement prior tostock appreciation right when the exercise date of an offering period; provided, however, the aggregate contributions of a participant by any means for an offering may not exceed $25,000 per offering period.

If an offering period is any period other than six months, then the foregoing $25,000 limits will be adjusted proportionately to reflect the lengthprice of the offering period.

All contributions made for a participant will be credited to hisoption or her plan account. No interest will accrue on the contributions of a participant credited to his or her plan account.

A participant may withdraw all, but not less than all, the contributions credited to his or her plan account and not yet used to exercise his or her option under the plan at any time before the 10-day period preceding an exercise date. In the event of withdrawal, a participant’s option for the offering period will be automatically terminated, and no further contributions for the purchase of shares will be made for such offering period.

Grant of Options

On the enrollment date of each offering period, each participant will be granted an option to purchase up to a number of shares of common stock determined by dividing such participant’s contributions accumulated prior to the applicable exercise date by the applicable purchase price; provided that in no event will a participant be permitted to purchase during an offering period more than that number of whole shares of common stock determined by dividing $25,000 byappreciation right exceeds the fair market value of a share in exchange for cash or another award (other than in connection with a change in control); or (c) take any other action that is treated as a repricing under United States generally accepted accounting principles or by the rules or regulations of common stockthe exchange on which the Company’s shares are traded.

No member of the Committee and no officer of the Company will be liable for anything done or omitted to be done by him or her, by any other member of the Committee or by any officer of the Company in connection with the performance of duties under the 2020 Plan, except for his or her own willful misconduct or gross negligence, or as expressly provided by applicable law, and the Company will indemnify each member of the Committee and officer of the Company against any such liability.

Eligible Participants

Employees and non-employee directors of the Company or its affiliates, and other individuals who perform services for the Company or any of its affiliates, are eligible to receive awards under the 2020 Plan. As of April 12, 2023, approximately 55 persons, including 6 executive officers, 5 non-employee directors and approximately 49 other individuals may be considered for awards under the 2020 Plan.

Except for the Director Compensation Policy discussed in the Section titled “Director Compensation”, neither the Committee nor the Board has made any decisions with respect to the individuals who may receive awards under the 2020 Plan on or after stockholder approval of the Second Amendment on June 6, 2023, or the amount or nature of future awards.

Authorized Shares

If the Second Amendment is approved, the maximum number of shares available for grant and issuance under the 2020 Plan will be (a) 3,069,110, plus (b) the number of shares available for issuance under the Company’s 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”) on September 30, 2020.

Awards will be counted against the available share reserve on the enrollment date of such offering period and further providedgrant, based on the maximum number of shares that ifmay be issued pursuant to the offering period is any period other than six months, then the foregoing limit shall be adjusted proportionatelyaward. Any shares of Common Stock related to reflect the length of the offering period. An option and a participant’s rights and interestawards issued under the option,2020 Plan or the 2017 Plan that are forfeited, canceled, expired or otherwise terminated without the issuance of shares of Common Stock for any reason will be added back and again be available for issuance under the 2020 Plan. In addition, shares of Common Stock that are retained or reacquired by the Company to satisfy the exercise price or purchase price of an award or to satisfy the tax withholding obligation in connection with an award, as well as any shares of Common Stock covered by an award that is settled in cash, will be added back and again be available for issuance under the 2020 Plan.

Awards granted through the assumption of, or substitution for, outstanding awards previously granted by a company acquired by the Company or any affiliate, or with which the Company or any affiliate combines, will not reduce the maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may not be sold, assigned or transferred, hypothecated or encumbered.issued under the 2020 Plan.

Types of Awards

The purchase price2020 Plan allows for the granting of sharesthe following types of commonawards: stock acquired pursuantoptions (both incentive stock options and nonqualified stock options); stock appreciation rights; restricted stock; restricted stock units; and other stock-based awards. Each award granted under the 2020 Plan is subject to an award agreement containing the particular terms and conditions of that award, subject to the exercise of an option will belimitations imposed by the lesser of 85% of the fair market value of a share (a) on the enrollment date, and (b) on the exercise date. The administrator may provide that the purchase price for an offering will be based solely on the fair market value of a share on the enrollment date or solely on the fair market value of a share on the exercise date, and may provide for the purchase price for an offering to be based on a percentage of the fair market value of a share greater (but in no event less) than 85%.2020 Plan.

Stock Options. A stock option is the right to purchase a specified number of shares for a specified exercise price. Stock options may be either (a) incentive stock options, which are stock options that meet the requirements under Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), or (b) nonqualified stock options, which are stock options that do not meet the requirements of Section 422 of the Code or that are designated as a nonqualified stock option. Only employees of the Company and certain of its affiliates may receive awards of incentive stock options, and incentive stock options are subject to additional limitations. Stock options (other than stock options assumed or granted in substitution for outstanding stock options of a company acquired by the Company or any affiliate) are subject to the following: (i) the exercise price shall be equal to or greater than the fair market value of the shares subject to such stock option on the date of grant; and (ii) the expiration date shall be no later than 10 years from the date of grant. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that on the expiration date of a nonqualified stock option, (a) the exercise of the option is prohibited by applicable law, or (b) shares of Common Stock may not be purchased or sold by certain employees or directors of the Company due to the “black-out period” under a Company policy or a “lock-up” agreement undertaken in connection with an issuance of securities by the Company, the Committee may, to the extent permitted by Section 409A of the Code, extend the expiration date of the nonqualified stock option, but not beyond a period of 30 days following the end of the legal prohibition, black-out period or lock-up agreement period, and provided further that no extension may be made if the exercise price of the option is above the fair market value of a share of Common Stock on the initial expiration date. The exercise price may be payable either in (1) cash, (2) if permitted by the Committee, by delivery of irrevocable instructions to a broker to deliver promptly the proceeds from the sale of shares, (3) if permitted by the Committee, by tendering shares previously acquired, (4) if permitted by the Committee, by withholding shares that would otherwise be issued having a fair market value on the exercise date equal to the exercise price, or (5) any combination of the foregoing.

EffectStock Appreciation Rights. A stock appreciation right is a right to receive cash or other property based on the increase in the value of Certain Events During Offering Perioda share over the per share exercise price. Stock appreciation rights (other than stock appreciation rights assumed or granted in substitution for outstanding stock appreciation rights of a company acquired by the Company or any affiliate) are subject to the following: (a) the exercise price shall be equal to or greater than the fair market value of the shares subject to such stock appreciation right on the date of grant; and (b) the expiration date shall be no later than 10 years from the date of grant. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that on the expiration date of a stock appreciation right, (a) the exercise of the stock appreciation right is prohibited by applicable law, or (b) shares of Common Stock may not be purchased or sold by certain employees or directors of the Company due to the “black-out period” under a Company policy or a “lock-up” agreement undertaken in connection with an issuance of securities by the Company, the Committee may, to the extent permitted by Section 409A of the Code, extend the expiration date of the stock appreciation right, but not beyond a period of 30 days following the end of the legal prohibition, black-out period or lock-up agreement period, and provided further that no extension may be made if the exercise price of the stock appreciation right is above the fair market value of a share of Common Stock on the initial expiration date.

UponRestricted Stock. Restricted stock is an award of shares that is subject to vesting conditions. Prior to the expiration of the vesting period, a participant’s ceasingparticipant who has received an award of restricted stock has the right to vote and to receive dividends on the underlying unvested shares, subject, however, to the restrictions and limitations imposed pursuant to the 2020 Plan and award agreement.

Restricted Stock Units. A restricted stock unit is an award that is valued by reference to shares, which may be paid to a participant upon vesting in shares, cash or other property.

Other Stock-Based Awards. An other stock-based award is an eligible individual, foraward denominated or payable in shares, other than a stock option, stock appreciation right, restricted stock or restricted stock unit. Other stock-based awards may be settled in cash, shares or other property.

Performance Awards. The Committee may grant awards of restricted stock, restricted stock units or other stock-based awards as “performance awards,” with the vesting or payment of such awards based on the achievement of specified performance objectives. Performance objectives may be based upon the attainment of specific or per-share amounts of, or changes in, one or more, or a combination of two or more, of the following: (i) earnings including operating income, economic income, economic net income, earnings before or after taxes, earnings before or after interest, depreciation, amortization, or extraordinary or special items or book value per share (which may exclude nonrecurring items); (ii) pre-tax income or after-tax income; (iii) earnings per common share (basic or diluted); (iv) operating profit; (v) revenue, revenue growth or rate of revenue growth; (vi) return on assets (gross or net), return on investment, return on capital, or return on equity; (vii) returns on sales or revenues; (viii) operating expenses; (ix) stock price appreciation; (x) cash flow, free cash flow, cash flow return on investment (discounted or otherwise), net cash provided by operations, or cash flow in excess of cost of capital; (xi) implementation or completion of critical projects or processes; (xii) economic value created; (xiii) cumulative earnings per share growth; (xiv) operating margin or profit margin; (xv) common stock price or total stockholder return; (xvi) cost targets, reductions and savings, productivity and efficiencies; (xvii) strategic business criteria, consisting of one or more objectives based on meeting specified market penetration, geographic business expansion, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, human resources management, supervision of litigation, information technology, and goals relating to acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and similar transactions, and budget comparisons; (xviii) personal professional objectives, including any reason,of the foregoing performance goals, the implementation of policies and plans, the negotiation of transactions, the development of long-term business goals, formation of joint ventures, research or development collaborations, and the completion of other corporate transactions; (xix) such personother performance objectives determined by the Committee in its sole discretion; and (xx) any combination of any of the foregoing. The Committee may provide that, in measuring the achievement of the performance objectives, an award may include or exclude items such as realized investment gains and losses, extraordinary, unusual, non-recurring or infrequently recurring items, asset write-downs, effects of force majeure events (such as a pandemic), accounting changes, currency fluctuations, acquisitions, divestitures, reserve-strengthening and other non-operating items. Performance goals may be expressed in terms of attaining a specified level of the particular criteria or the attainment of a percentage increase or decrease in the particular criteria, and may be applied to one or more of the Company or an affiliate, or a division or strategic business unit of the Company or an affiliate, or may be applied to the performance of the Company relative to a market index, a group of other companies or a combination thereof, or other pre-established target or designated comparison group, all as determined by the Committee. Performance goals may include a threshold level of performance below which no payment will be deemedmade (or no vesting will occur), levels of performance at which specified payments will be made (or specified vesting will occur), and a maximum level of performance above which no additional payment will be made (or at which full vesting will occur).

Dividend Equivalents. Awards other than stock options and stock appreciation rights may include the right to have electedreceive dividends or dividend equivalents, subject to withdrawsuch terms, conditions, restrictions or limitations, if any, as the Committee may establish.

Award Limitations

Non-Employee Director Award Limitation. If the Second Amendment is approved, the aggregate of (a) the grant date fair value for financial reporting purposes of any awards granted during any fiscal year to a non-employee director, and (b) the total amount of any cash fees or other property paid to such non-employee director during the fiscal year, in respect of the director’s service as a member of the Board during such year, shall not exceed $350,000. The independent members of the Board may make exceptions to this limit for a non-executive chair of the Board, provided that the non-employee director receiving such additional compensation may not participate in the decision to award such compensation.

Incentive Stock Options. Incentive stock options may be granted only to employees of the Company or an affiliate, provided such affiliate is also a “parent corporation” of the Company within the meaning of Section 424(e) of the Code or a “subsidiary corporation” of the Company within the meaning of Section 424(f) of the Code, on the date of grant. The aggregate fair market value (determined as of the time the incentive stock option is granted) of the shares of Common Stock with respect to which incentive stock options are exercisable for the first time by any individual during any calendar year (under all plans of the Company and its affiliates) shall not exceed $100,000, and any incentive stock option or portions thereof which exceed such limit (according to the order in which they were granted) will be treated as a nonqualified stock option. If, at the time an incentive stock option is granted, the employee recipient owns (after application of the rules contained in Section 424(d) of the Code) shares of Common Stock possessing more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the Company or its subsidiaries, then: (a) the exercise price for such incentive stock option will be at least 110% of the fair market value of the shares of Common Stock subject to such incentive stock option on the date of grant; and (b) such incentive stock option will not be exercisable after the date five years from the offering and the contributions credited todate such participant’s plan account during the offering period but not yet used to purchaseincentive stock option is granted. The maximum number of shares of commonCommon Stock that may be issued under the 2020 Plan pursuant to incentive stock will be returned to the participant (or,options may not exceed, in the caseaggregate, 1,000,000.

Transferability. A participant’s rights in an award may be assigned or transferred only in the event of death; provided, however, that the Committee may allow a participant to assign or transfer without consideration an award (other than an incentive stock option) to one or more members of his or her death,immediate family, to a partnership of which the executor, administratoronly partners are the participant or personal representativemembers of the estateparticipant’s immediate family, or to a trust established by the participant for the exclusive benefit of the participant), and such participant’s option will be automatically terminated.

In the eventparticipant or one or more members of the proposed dissolution or liquidation of the Company, or a change in control of the Company, during an offering period, each outstanding option will be cancelled by the administrator as of a date prior to the effective date of the dissolution, liquidation or change in control, and all contributions shall be refunded to the participants.

Exercise of Options

Unless a participant withdraws from an offering, his or her immediate family. Incentive stock option formay not be transferable by a participant other than by will or the purchaselaws of shares of common stock willdescent and distribution and may only be automatically exercised onexercisable during the exercise date, and the maximum number of whole shares of common stock subject to the option will be purchased for such participant at the applicable purchase price with the accumulated contributions from his or her plan account. No fractional shares of common stock may be purchased. Any funds left over in a participant’s account after the exercise date will be returned tolifetime by the participant.

If the administrator determines that, on a given exercise date, the number of shares of common stock with respect to which options are to be exercised may exceed (a) the number of shares of common stock that were available for sale under the 2021 Plan on the enrollment date of the applicable offering period, or (b) the number of shares of common stock available for sale under the 2021 Plan on such exercise date, the administrator may in its sole discretion provide that the Company will make a pro rata allocation of the shares of common stock available for purchase on such enrollment date or exercise date, as applicable, in as uniform a manner as will be practicable and as it will determine in its sole discretion to be equitable among all participants exercising options to purchase common stock on such exercise date.

Tax Withholding

The Companyexercise or payment of awards and designated affiliates will have the authority and right to deduct or withhold from any payment made, or requireissuance of shares under the 2020 Plan is conditioned upon a participant making satisfactory arrangements for the satisfaction of any liability to remit to the Company or designated affiliate, thewithhold federal, state, local or localforeign income or other taxestaxes. In accordance with rules established by the Committee, the required by law totax withholding obligations may be withheldsettled in cash, or with respectshares, including shares that are part of the award that gives rise to the exercisewithholding requirement.

Effect of Certain Events

Death, Disability or other taxable eventTermination. The Committee may include in an award agreement provisions related to the death, disability or termination of any option. The administrator may permitemployment or service of a participant, to elect to pay a portionincluding without limitation the acceleration of the exercisability, vesting or allsettlement of, such taxesor the lapse of restrictions or deemed satisfaction of performance objectives with respect to, an option, at such time and in such manner as the administrator deems to be appropriate, including, but not limited to, by authorizing the Company to withhold, or agreeing to surrender to the Company on or about the date such tax liability is determinable, shares of common stock or other property, or any combination thereof, that would otherwise be distributed, or have been distributed, as the case may be, pursuant to the option having a fair market value equal to the amount required to be withheld.award.

Delivery of Shares

As soon as reasonably practicable after each exercise date on which a purchase of shares of common stock occurs, the Company will arrange the delivery to each participant of the shares purchased upon exercise of his or her optionChange in a form determined by the administrator (in its sole discretion) and pursuant to rules established by the administrator.Control. The CompanyCommittee may permit or require that shares be deposited directly with a broker designated by the Company orprovide in an award agreement provisions relating to a designated agent“change in control” of the Company, including without limitation the acceleration of the exercisability, vesting or settlement of, or the lapse of restrictions or deemed satisfaction of performance objectives with respect to, an award.

“Change in control” generally means the occurrence of any one or more of the following events:

No change in control shall be deemed to have occurred by virtue of the consummation of any transaction or series of integrated transactions immediately following which the record holders of the capital stock of the Company may utilize electronicimmediately prior to such transaction or automated methodsseries of share transfer. Thetransactions continue to have substantially the same proportionate ownership in an entity which owns all or substantially all of the assets of the Company may require that shares be retained withimmediately following such brokertransaction or agent for a designated periodseries of time, and/or may establish procedures to permit tracking of dispositions of shares.transactions.

Holding Period

Except as otherwise permitted by the administrator for tax withholding, shares of common stock received by a participant pursuant to the exercise of an option must be held for a period of at least 90 days following the exercise date.

Recoupment

AmendmentNotwithstanding anything in the 2020 Plan or in any award agreement to the contrary, the Company will be entitled to the extent required by applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 10D of the Exchange Act and any regulations promulgated with respect thereto) or stock exchange listing conditions, in each case as in effect from time to time, to recoup compensation of whatever kind paid under the 2020 Plan by the Company at any time.

Adjustments

In the event of any change in the outstanding shares of the Company by reason of any corporate transaction or change in corporate capitalization such as a stock split, reverse stock split, stock dividend, split-up, split-off, spin-off, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, rights offering, reorganization, combination, consolidation, subdivision or exchange of shares, a sale by the Company of all or part of its assets, any distribution to stockholders other than a normal cash dividend, partial or complete liquidation of the Company or similar event, the Committee or Board, as applicable, shall adjust the (a) the class and aggregate number of shares available under the 2020 Plan; (b) the class, number and exercise price of outstanding stock options and stock appreciation rights granted under the 2020 Plan; and (c) the class and number of shares subject to any other awards granted under the 2020 Plan and the terms of such awards (including, without limitation, any applicable performance goals), as may be determined to be appropriate by the Committee or Board.

Amendments and Termination

The 20212020 Plan may be amended in whole or in part at any time and from time to time by the Board. AnBoard, and the terms of any outstanding award under the 2020 Plan may be amended from time to time by the Committee (or Board as applicable) in its discretion provided that no amendment to the 2021 Plan mustmay be approved by our stockholdersmade without stockholder approval if such amendment would authorize(a) increase the salenumber of more shares than are then authorizedavailable for issuancegrant under the 2021 Plan or would reduce2020 Plan; (b) change the class of persons eligible to receive incentive stock options; (c) decrease the minimum purchase price.stock option or stock appreciation right exercise price; or (d) amend or repeal the prohibitions against repricing or exchange. No amendment may adversely affect in a material manner any right of a participant under an award without his or her written consent.

The 20212020 Plan may be suspended in whole or in part at any time and from time to time by the administrator.Board. The 20212020 Plan willshall terminate upon the adoption of a resolution of the Board terminating the 20212020 Plan. No optionIf the Second Amendment is approved, no award may be granted under the 20212020 Plan after the date that is 10 years from the date the 2021 PlanSecond Amendment or any subsequent amendment was last approved and adopted by the stockholders of the Company. No termination of the 2020 Plan shall materially alter or impair any of the rights or obligations of any person, without his or her consent, under any award granted under the 2020 Plan.

New Plan Benefits

Except for non-employee directors subject to our Director Compensation Policy discussed in the Section titled “Director Compensation”, benefits or amounts to be received by or allocated to participants and the number of shares to be granted under the 2020 Plan cannot be determined at this time because the amount and form of grants to be made to any eligible participant in any year is determined at the discretion of the Committee or Board, as applicable. There are no commitments to make awards to any named executive officers, executive officers as a group, or employees as a group.

The table below sets forth the benefits or amounts that will be received annually by our stockholders.current non-employee directors under the 2020 Plan pursuant to the Director Compensation Policy. Since the number of shares to be issued to each non-employee director pursuant to the Director Compensation Policy is a function of the Fair Market Value on the grant date, dependent on the value of the underlying shares of common stock at the time grant, the actual number of awards to be issued to the non-employee directors under the 2020 Plan is an estimate based on the closing stock price of a share of the Company’s common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Stock Market on April 12, 2023, our record date.

Aggregate Awards Granted

The following table sets forth information with respect to the number of shares subject to awards previously granted to the following listed individuals and specified groups under the 2020 Plan since its inception through April 12, 2023, our record date:

Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences of 2020 Plan Awards

The following discussion is intended to provide only a general outline of the U.S. federal income tax consequences of participation in the 20212020 Plan and the receipt and exercise of options, and sale of shares acquired from such exercise,awards or payments thereunder by participants subject to U.S. taxes. It does not address any other taxes imposed by the United States, taxes imposed by any state or political subdivision thereof or foreign jurisdiction, or the tax consequences applicable to participants who are not subject to U.S. taxes. The discussion set forth below does not purport to be a complete analysis of all potential tax consequences relevant to participantsrecipients of awards, particular circumstances.circumstances, or all awards available under the 2020 Plan. It is based on U.S. federal income tax law and interpretational authorities as of the date of this proxy statement, which are subject to change at any time.

Options granted under the 2021 Plan are not intended to qualify for favorable federal income tax treatment associated withNonqualified stock options granted under an employee. A participant who exercises a nonqualified stock purchase plan under Section 423 of the Code.

A participating employee will be taxed on amounts withheld by payroll deductions for the purchase of shares of common stock as if such amounts were actually received, and all other contributions made by a participant will be made on an after-tax basis.

When an option is automatically exercised on the exercise date for an offering, a participant will recognizerecognizes taxable ordinary income in the year the stock option is exercised in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares purchased on the exercise date over the exercise price paid.price. Subject to applicable provisions of the Code, including Section 162(m), the Company is entitled to a tax deduction in an amount equal to the ordinary income recognized by the participant. Any gain or loss realized by the participant upon the subsequent disposition of the shares will be taxed as short-term (if held one year or less) or long-term (if held more than one year) capital gain, but will not result in any further deduction for the Company.

New Plan Benefits

Participation in the 2021 Plan is voluntary and depends on each eligible individual’s election to participate. Accordingly, the benefits or amounts that will be received with respect to future purchases under the 2021 Plan are not determinable. For the same reasons, we cannot determine what benefits or amounts would have been received if the 2021 Plan had been in place during the last completed fiscal year.

Incentive stock options. A participant who exercises an incentive stock option does not recognize ordinary income at the time of exercise (although, the participant may be subject to alternative minimum tax), and the Company is not entitled to a tax deduction. Upon the disposition of the shares obtained from the exercise of the incentive stock option more than two years after the date of grant and more than one year after the date of exercise, the excess of the sale price of the shares over the exercise price of the incentive stock option is taxed as long-term capital gain. If the shares are sold within two years of the grant date and/or within one year of the date of exercise, the excess of the fair market value of the shares on the date of exercise (or sale proceeds if less) over the exercise price is taxed as ordinary income, and, subject to applicable provisions of the Code, including Section 162(m), the Company is entitled to a tax deduction for this amount; any remaining gain is taxed as short-term capital gain, without a Company tax deduction.

Stock appreciation rights. A participant who exercises a stock appreciation right recognizes taxable ordinary income in the year the stock appreciation right is exercised in an amount equal to the cash and/or the fair market value of any shares or other property received. Subject to applicable provisions of the Code, including Section 162(m), the Company is entitled to a tax deduction in an amount equal to the ordinary income recognized by the participant.

Restricted stock and restricted stock units. A participant normally will not recognize taxable income and the Company will not be entitled to a deduction upon the grant of shares of restricted stock, restricted stock units or other stock-based awards. When the restricted stock vests, the restricted stock units settle or the other stock-based awards are paid or settle, the participant will recognize taxable ordinary income in an amount equal to the fair market value of the shares or other property received at that time, less the amount, if any, paid for the shares, and, subject to applicable provisions of the Code, including Section 162(m), the Company will be entitled at that time to a deduction in the same amount. However, a participant may elect to recognize taxable ordinary income in the year shares of restricted stock are granted in an amount equal to the excess of their fair market value at the grant date, determined without regard to certain restrictions, over the amount, if any, paid for the shares. In that event, subject to applicable provisions of the Code, including Section 162(m), the Company will be entitled to a deduction in such year in the same amount. Any gain or loss realized by the participant upon the subsequent disposition of shares received will be taxed as short-term or long-term capital gain, but will not result in any further deduction for the Company.

Equity Compensation Plan Information as of December 31, 20202022

Vote Required

The affirmative vote of a majority of the shares cast on this proposal is required for approval of the 2021 Plan.Second Amendment.

The board of directors recommends that youa vote FOR

the proposal to approveapproval of the 2021 Stock PurchaseSecond Amendment to our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan.

PROPOSAL FOUR:THREE:
RATIFICATION OF THE APPOINTMENT OF
OUR INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

The Audit Committee has selected the accounting firm of MaloneBailey, LLP (“MaloneBailey”) to serve as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.2023. The stockholders are being asked to ratify the Audit Committee’s selection of MaloneBailey.

Stockholder ratification of the selection of MaloneBailey is not required by our Bylaws or otherwise. However, the board is submitting the selection of our independent registered accounting firm to the stockholders for ratification as a matter of good corporate governance. If the stockholders fail to ratify this appointment, the Audit Committee may, but is not required to, reconsider whether to retain MaloneBailey. Even if the appointment is ratified, the Audit Committee in its discretion may direct the appointment of a different accounting firm at any time during the year if it determines that such a change would be in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders. We have been advised by MaloneBailey that a representative will be present at the Annual Meeting and will be available to respond to appropriate questions. We intend to give such representative an opportunity to make a statement if he or she should so desire.

The board of directors recommends that you vote FOR the proposal to ratify the selection of MaloneBailey, LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.2023.

Fees for Professional Services Provided by MaloneBailey, LLP

The following table shows fees for professional services provided by MaloneBailey during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,2022, which we refer to as fiscal year 20202022 and the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019,2021, which we refer to as fiscal year 2019.2021.

We did not incur any audit-related fees in fiscal years 2020 or 2019.

Policy on Pre-Approval of Retention of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Audit Committee pre-approves all audit and permissible non-audit services on a case-by-case basis. In its review of non-audit services, the Audit Committee considers whether the engagement could compromise the independence of our independent registered public accounting firm, and whether the reasons of efficiency or convenience is in our best interest to engage our independent registered public accounting firm to perform the services. All of the services provided, and fees charged by MaloneBailey were approved by our Audit Committee.

Independence Analysis by Audit Committee

The Audit Committee considered whether the provision of the services described above was compatible with maintaining the independence of MaloneBailey and determined that the provision of these services was compatible with the firm’s independence.

REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE

In connection with our financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,2022, the Audit Committee has: (1) reviewed and discussed the audited financial statements with management; (2) discussed with the independent registered public accounting firm (the “Auditors”) the matters required to be discussed by the applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the SEC; and (3) received the written disclosures and the letter from the Auditors required by applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding the Auditors’ communications with the audit committee concerning independence, and has discussed with the Auditors their independence.

Based on the review and discussions referred to in items (1) through (3) of the above paragraph, the Audit Committee recommended to the board of directors that the audited financial statements be included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020,2022, for filing with the SEC.

Scott Greenberg,Adam Stedham, Chair

Marshall Geller

Howard Goldberg

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS

The following is a summary of transactions since January 1, 20192022 to which we have been a party in which the amount involved exceeded the lesser of $120,000 or one percent of the average of our total assets at the end of the last two recent fiscal years and in which any of our executive officers, directors, director nominees or beneficial holders of more than five percent of our capital stock had or will have a direct or indirect material interest, other than compensation arrangements which are described under the sections of this proxy statement entitled “Executive Compensation” and “Director Compensation.”

On March 6, 2020,April 12, 2022, we completedentered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Securities Purchase Agreement”) with the offeringPurchasers identified therein (the “Purchasers”) providing for the issuance and sale to the Purchasers of $1,992,000an aggregate of senior secured convertible debentures880,208 shares of our common stock the (“Common Shares”), a pre-funded warrant to purchase up to 675,000 shares of our common stock (the “2020 Debentures”“Pre-Funded Warrant”) and 498,000 warrants to purchase up to 1,555,208 shares of common stock (the “2020“Common Warrants” and together with the Common Shares and the Pre-Funded Warrant, the “Securities”). Certain for gross proceeds to the Company of ourapproximately $5.0 million. The Pre-Funded Warrant is exercisable immediately and shall terminate when fully exercised and has an exercise price of $0.001. The Common Warrants will be exercisable for a period of five years commencing six months from the date of issuance and have an exercise price of $3.215 per share. Both the Common Warrants and Pre-Funded Warrant contain price adjustment provisions which may, under certain circumstances, reduce the applicable exercise price. We closed this transaction on April 14, 2022. In connection with this transaction, the Company paid the placement agent, Maxim Group LLC, a cash fee of approximately $340,000 at closing. Four of the Company’s directors, Scott Greenberg, Marshall Geller, Chris Gardner and officersDr. Arthur Laffer, directly or through their affiliates, participated in the offering as follows:

On June 22, 2020, we completedPurchasers and acquired an underwritten public offeringaggregate of units (the “Units”) consisting of one share of our common stock93,312 Common Shares and a warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price equal to $4.60 per share of common stock. The public offering price was $4.60 per Unit. Marshall Geller purchased 7,000 Units in the offering for an approximate purchase price of $32,000, and Arthur Laffer purchased 10,800 Units in the offering for an approximate purchase price of $50,000.93,312 Common Warrants.

Also on June 22, 2020, immediately upon closing ofApril 12, 2022, in connection with the offering described above,Securities Purchase Agreement, we cancelledentered into a Registration Rights Agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with the 2020 Warrants issuedPurchasers. Under the Registration Rights Agreement, we are required to the four directors and the entity related to Sandy Fliderman and in lieu thereof, the directors and the entity related to Sandy Fliderman received 0.4 share of common stock for each share formerly underlying such cancelled 2020 Warrant. Asfile a result, Chris Gardner received 5,000 shares of common stock with approximate value of $23,000; Marshall Geller received 10,000 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $46,000; Scott Greenberg received 2,000 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $9,000; and Arthur Laffer and the entity related to Sandy Fliderman each received 8,000 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $37,000.

Also on June 22, 2020, immediately uponregistration statement (the “Registration Statement”) within 75 calendar days after the closing of the offering described above,sale of the 2020 Debentures issuedSecurities. Our failure to meet the four directorsfiling deadlines and other requirements set forth in the entity relatedRegistration Rights Agreement may subject us to Sandy Fliderman were automatically converted into shares of common stock and warrants to purchase shares of common stock. As a result, Chris Gardner received 16,009 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 16,009 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $74,000; Marshall Geller received 31,941 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 31,941 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $150,000; Scott Greenberg received 6,403 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 6,403 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $30,000; Arthur Laffer received 25,600 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 25,600 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $120,000; and the entity related to Sandy Fliderman received 25,614 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 25,614 shares of common stock with an approximate value of $120,000.monetary penalties.

In addition, on April 12, 2022, in connection with the Securities Purchase Agreement, we entered into lock-up agreements (collectively the “Lock-Up Agreements”) with our executive officers and directors. Under the Lock-Up Agreements, our executive officers and directors agreed to lock-up all Common Shares beneficially owned by them for a period of ninety (90) after the date of the Securities Purchase Agreement.

OTHER MATTERS

As of the date of this proxy statement, the board of directors does not know of any other matters that are to be presented for action at the Annual Meeting. Should any other matter come before the Annual Meeting, the persons named in the enclosed proxy will have discretionary authority to vote all proxies with respect to the matter in accordance with their judgment.

APPENDIX A

VERIFYME, INC.

2021 STOCK PURCHASE2020 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

Section 1.            Purpose

The purpose of the VerifyMe, Inc. 2021 Stock Purchase2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) is to provide Employees, Directorspromote stockholder value and Consultantsthe future success of VerifyMe, Inc. (the “Company”) by providing appropriate retention and its Designated Affiliates with an opportunityperformance incentives to purchase shares of Common Stock, thereby increasing their interest in the Company’s continued success. The Plan is not intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Section 423 of the Code. The Plan will become effective on the date on which it is approved by the stockholdersemployees and non-employee directors of the Company and shall continue until terminated in accordance with Section 6.2.its Affiliates (as defined below), and any other individuals who perform services for the Company or its Affiliates.

Section 2.            Definitions

2.1       “Administrator” means the Committee, or the individual(s) to which authority to administer the Plan has been delegated.

2.2         “Affiliate” means any entity in which the Company has a direct or indirect equity interest of 50 percent or more, any entity included in the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company and any other entity in which the Company has a substantial ownership interest and which has been designated as an Affiliate for purposes of the Plan by the AdministratorCommittee in its sole discretion.

2.2         “Award” means any form of incentive or performance award granted under the Plan to a Participant by the Committee pursuant to any terms and conditions that the Committee may establish and set forth in the applicable Award Agreement. Awards granted under the Plan may consist of: (a) Options granted pursuant to Section 7; (b) Stock Appreciation Rights granted pursuant to Section 8; (c) Restricted Stock granted pursuant to Section 9; (d) Restricted Stock Units granted pursuant to Section 9; and (e) Other Stock-Based Awards granted pursuant to Section 10.

2.3         “Award Agreement” means the written or electronic document(s) evidencing the grant of an Award to a Participant.

2.4         “Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.

2.42.5         “Change in Control” hasmeans the meaning givenhappening of any of the following:

(a)       any Exchange Act Person becomes the owner, directly or indirectly, of securities of the Company representing more than 50 percent of the combined voting power of the Company’s then outstanding securities other than by virtue of a merger, consolidation or similar transaction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a Change in Control will not be deemed to occur (A) on account of the acquisition of securities of the Company by an investor, any affiliate thereof or any other Exchange Act Person from the Company in a transaction or series of related transactions the primary purpose of which is to obtain financing for the Company through the issuance of equity securities or (B) solely because the level of ownership held by any Exchange Act Person (the “Subject Person”) exceeds the designated percentage threshold of the outstanding voting securities as a result of a repurchase or other acquisition of voting securities by the Company reducing the number of shares outstanding, provided that if a Change in Control would occur (but for the operation of this sentence) as a result of the acquisition of voting securities by the Company, and after such termshare acquisition, the Subject Person becomes the owner of any additional voting securities that, assuming the repurchase or other acquisition had not occurred, increases the percentage of the then outstanding voting securities owned by the Subject Person over the designated percentage threshold, then a Change in Control will be deemed to occur;

(b)       there is consummated a merger, consolidation or similar transaction involving (directly or indirectly) the Company and, immediately after the consummation of such merger, consolidation or similar transaction, the stockholders of the Company immediately prior thereto do not own, directly or indirectly, either (A) outstanding voting securities representing more than 50 percent of the combined outstanding voting power of the surviving entity in such merger, consolidation or similar transaction or (B) more than 50 percent of the combined outstanding voting power of the parent of the surviving entity in such merger, consolidation or similar transaction, in each case in substantially the same proportions relative to each other as their ownership of the outstanding voting securities of the Company immediately prior to such transaction;

(c)       there is consummated a sale, lease, exclusive license or other disposition of all or substantially all of the consolidated assets of the Company and its Affiliates, other than a sale, lease, license or other disposition of all or substantially all of the consolidated assets of the Company and its Affiliates to an entity, more than 50 percent of the combined voting power of the voting securities of which are owned by stockholders of the Company in substantially the same proportions relative to each other as their ownership of the outstanding voting securities of the Company immediately prior to such sale, lease, license or other disposition;

(d)       individuals who, immediately following the Effective Date, are members of the Board (the “Incumbent Board”) cease for any reason to constitute at least a majority of the members of the Board within any 24-month period; provided, however, that if the appointment or election (or nomination for election) of any new Board member was approved or recommended by a majority vote of the members of the Incumbent Board then still in office (other than as a result of any settlement of a proxy or consent solicitation contest or any action taken to avoid such a contest), such new member will, for purposes of the Plan, be considered as a member of the Incumbent Board; or

(e)       the complete dissolution or liquidation of the Company.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, a “Change in Control” will not be deemed to have occurred by virtue of the consummation of any transaction or series of integrated transactions immediately following which the record holders of the capital stock of the Company immediately prior to such transaction or series of transactions continue to have substantially the same proportionate ownership in an entity which owns all or substantially all of the assets of the Company immediately following such transaction or series of transactions.

In addition, solely with respect to any Award that constitutes “deferred compensation” subject to Section 409A and that is payable on account of a Change in Control (including any installments that are accelerated on account of a Change in Control), a Change in Control will occur only if such event also constitutes a “change in the Company’ 2020 Equity Incentive Plan,ownership,” “change in effective control,” or a “change in the ownership of a substantial portion of assets” of the Company as amendedthose terms are defined by Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) of the Treasury Regulations, but only to the extent necessary to establish a time or restated from time, and including any successor plan thereto.form of payment that complies with Section 409A, without altering the definition of Change in Control for purposes of determining whether a Participant’s rights to such Award become vested or otherwise unconditional upon the Change in Control.

2.52.6         “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the Treasury Regulations promulgated and other official guidance issued thereunder.

2.62.7         “Committee” means the Compensation Committee of the Board, or any successor committee that the Board may designate to administer the Plan, provided such Committee consists of two or more individuals. Each member of the Committee must be (a) a “Non-Employee Director” within the meaning of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act, and (b) a non-employee director meeting the independence requirements for compensation committee members under the rules and regulations of the Exchange on which the shares of Common Stock are traded. References to “Committee” include persons to whom the Committee has delegated authority pursuant to Section 3.4.

2.72.8            “Common Stock” means the common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company, and stock of any other class or company into which such shares may thereafter be changed.

2.82.9            “Company” means VerifyMe, Inc., a Nevada corporation.

2.92.10          “ConsultantDisability” meanswith respect to a natural person who provides bona fide servicesParticipant, has the meaning assigned to such term under the long-term disability plan maintained by the Company or an Affiliate in which such Participant is covered at the time the determination is made, and if there is no such plan, means the permanent inability as a Designated Affiliate (other than services in connection withresult of accident or sickness to perform any and every duty pertaining to such Participant’s occupation or employment for which the offer or saleParticipant is suited by reason of securitiesthe Participant’s previous training, education and experience; provided that, for Incentive Stock Options, Disability will mean a “permanent and total disability” as defined by Section 22(e) of the Code; and provided further, that to the extent an Award subject to Section 409A is payable upon a Participant’s Disability, a Disability will not be deemed to have occurred for such purposes unless the circumstances would also result in a capital-raising transaction or which directly or indirectly promote or maintain a market for“disability” within the Company’s securities) and who is designated bymeaning of Section 409A, unless otherwise provided in the Administrator to participate in an Offering.

2.10    “Contributions” means the payroll and any alternative forms of contributions permitted under Section 5.4(b) to fund the purchase of shares of Common Stock pursuant to the Plan.

Award Agreement.

2.11          “Designated Affiliate” means any Affiliate that is designated to participate in an Offering. Unless the Administrator determines otherwise for an Offering, each Affiliate shall be a Designated Affiliate.

2.12       “Director” means a non-employee member of the Board.

2.13       “Eligible Individual” for an Offering means (a) each Employee, unless otherwise excluded by the Administrator for such Offering, (b) each Director, unless otherwise excluded by the Board for such Offering, and (c) each Consultant who is designated by the Administrator to participate in the Offering; in each case who has been or will have been in the employment or service of the Company and its Affiliates for at least three months prior to the applicable Enrollment Date.

2.14       “Employee” means an individual treated as an employee of the Company or a Designated Affiliate. For purposes of the Plan, the employment relationship will be treated as continuing intact where a Participant transfers employment between the Company and/or Designated Affiliates and while an individual is on sick leave or other leave of absence that the Company or Designated Affiliate employing the individual approves or is legally protected under applicable laws. Where a period of leave of absence exceeds three months and the individual’s right to reemployment is not guaranteed either by statute or by contract, the employment relationship will be deemed to have terminated three months and one day following the commencement of such leave.

2.15       “EnrollmentEffective Date” means the first Trading Daydate on which the Plan is approved by the stockholders of each Offering Period.the Company.

2.162.12          “Exchange” means the Nasdaq Stock Market, or such other principal securities market on which the shares of Common Stock are traded.

2.172.13          “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the regulations and interpretations thereunder.

2.182.14          “Exercise DateExchange Act Person” means any natural person, entity or “group” (within the last Trading Daymeaning of each Offering Period.Section 13(d) or 14(d) of the Exchange Act), except that “Exchange Act Person” will not include (i) the Company or any Affiliate, (ii) any employee benefit plan of the Company or any Affiliate or any trustee or other fiduciary holding securities under an employee benefit plan of the Company or any Affiliate, (iii) an underwriter temporarily holding securities pursuant to an offering of such securities, (iv) an entity owned, directly or indirectly, by the stockholders of the Company in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of stock of the Company; or (v) any natural person, entity or “group” (within the meaning of Section 13(d) or 14(d) of the Exchange Act) that, as of the Effective Date, is the owner, directly or indirectly, of securities of the Company representing more than 50 percent of the combined voting power of the Company’s then outstanding securities.

2.192.15          “Fair Market Value” of a share of Common Stock as of any specific date means the per share closing price reported by the Exchange on such date, or, if there is no such reported closing price on such date, then the per share closing price reported by the Exchange on the last previous day on which such closing price was reported.reported, or such other value as determined by the Committee in accordance with applicable law. The Fair Market Value of any property other than shares of Common Stock means the market value of such property as determined by the Committee using such methods or procedures as it may establish from time to time.

2.202.16          “OfferingIncentive Stock Option” means an offerOption that qualifies as an incentive stock option under Section 422 of the Plan ofCode.

2.17          “Nonqualified Stock Option” means an Option forthat does not qualify as an Incentive Stock Option or which is designated a specified Offering Period.Nonqualified Stock Option.

2.21       “Offering Period” means, the periods established in accordance with Section 5.2 during which Contributions may be made for the exercise of an Option granted pursuant to the Plan on the applicable Exercise Date.

2.222.18          “Option” means thea right to purchase shares of Common Stock at a specified exercise price that is granted subject to certain terms and conditions pursuant to the Plan for an Offering.Section 7, and includes both Incentive Stock Options and Nonqualified Stock Options.

2.232.19          “Other Stock-Based Award” means an Award denominated in shares of Common Stock that is granted subject to certain terms and conditions pursuant to Section 10.

2.20          “Participant” means an Eligible Individualindividual who elects to participatehas been granted an Award under the Plan, or in an Offering.the event of the death of such individual, the individual’s beneficiary.

2.21          “Person” means any individual, corporation, firm, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, estate, trust, business association, organization, or other entity.

2.22          “Prior Plan” means the VerifyMe, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan.

2.23          “Restricted Period” means the period during which Restricted Stock may not be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged, hypothecated or otherwise disposed of.

2.24          “Plan AccountRestricted Stock” means a bookkeeping account establishedan Award of shares of Common Stock that is granted subject to certain terms and maintained by the Company in the name of each Participant.conditions pursuant to Section 9.

2.25          “Purchase PriceRestricted Stock Unit” means an amount equal to 85% of the Fair Market ValueAward of a shareright to receive shares of Common Stock on the Enrollment Date(or an equivalent value in cash or on the Exercise Date, whicheverother property, or any combination thereof) that is lower. The Administrator may provide that the Purchase Price for an Offering will be based solely on the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the Enrollment Date or solely on the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock the Exercise Date,granted subject to certain terms and may provide for the Purchase Price for an Offeringconditions pursuant to be based on a percentage of the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock greater (but in no event less) than 85%.Section 9.

2.26          “Section 409A” means Section 409A of the Code.

2.27          “Trading DayStock Appreciation Right” means a dayright to receive (without payment to the Company) cash, shares of Common Stock or other property, or any combination thereof, as determined by the Committee, based on which the Exchangeincrease in the value of a share of Common Stock over the per share exercise price, that is listed is open for trading.granted subject to certain terms and conditions pursuant to Section 8.

2.28          “Treasury Regulations” means the tax regulations promulgated under the Code.

Section 3.             Administration

3.1          Administration and Authority. Except as otherwise specified herein, the Plan will be administered solely by the Administrator. The AdministratorCommittee. Subject only to Section 3.2, the Committee has all the powers vested in it by the terms of the Plan set forth herein, including the full andsuch powers to include exclusive discretionary authority to construe,select the employees and other individuals to be granted Awards under the Plan, to determine the type, size and terms of the Award to be made to each individual selected, to determine the time when Awards will be granted, to establish performance objectives, to prescribe the form of Award Agreement and to modify the terms of any Award that has been granted. The Committee is authorized to interpret the Plan and applythe Awards granted under the Plan, to establish, amend and rescind any rules and regulations relating to the Plan, and to make any other determinations that it deems necessary or desirable for the administration of the Plan. The Committee may correct any defect or supply any omission or reconcile any inconsistency in the Plan or in any Award in the manner and to the extent the Committee deems necessary or desirable to carry it into effect. Any decision of the Committee in the interpretation and administration of the Plan, as described herein, will lie within its sole and absolute discretion and will be final, conclusive and binding on all parties concerned.

3.2          Non-Employee Director Awards. In respect of Awards granted to non-employee directors of the Company or its Affiliates, the Board has all the powers otherwise vested in the Committee by the terms of the Plan set forth herein, including the exclusive authority to select the non-employee directors to be granted Awards under the Plan, to determine the type, size and terms of the Award to be made to each non-employee director selected, to modify the terms of any Award that has been granted to a non-employee director, to determine the time when Awards will be granted to non-employee directors and to establish such other limitations or procedures asprescribe the Administrator determines in its sole discretion advisable that are consistent withform of the Plan. All actions taken and all interpretations and determinationsAward Agreement embodying Awards made byunder the Administrator in good faith shall be final and binding upon all Participants,Plan to non-employee directors.

3.3          Repricing Prohibited Absent Stockholder Approval. Notwithstanding any provision of the Plan, except for adjustments pursuant to Section 12, neither the Board nor the Committee may, without the prior approval of the stockholders of the Company, and all other interested persons. All expenses and liabilities incurred by(a) reduce, directly or indirectly, the Administratorper-share exercise price of an outstanding Option or Stock Appreciation Right after it is granted; (b) cancel an Option or Stock Appreciation Right when the exercise price of the Option or Stock Appreciation Right exceeds the Fair Market Value of a Share in exchange for cash or another Award (other than in connection with a Change in Control); or (c) take any other action that is treated as a repricing under United States generally accepted accounting principles or by the administrationrules or regulations of the Plan shall be borne by the Company.Exchange.

3.23.4          Delegation. The Committee may authorize any one or more of its members or any officer or employee of the Company to at act as the Administrator of the Plan and to execute and deliver documents or to take any other action on behalf of the Committee with respect to Offerings under the Plan,Awards made or to be made to Participants, subject to the requirements of applicable laws.law, including without limitation, Section 16 of the Exchange Act.

3.33.5          Indemnification. No member of the BoardCommittee and no officer of the Company will be liable for anything done or omitted to be done by him, by any other member of the Committee nor the Administrator shall be personally liable foror by any action, determination or interpretation made in good faith with respect to the Plan, and all membersofficer of the Board and the Committee, and the Administrator shall be fully protected by the Company in respect to any such action, determinationconnection with the performance of duties under the Plan, except for his own willful misconduct or interpretation,gross negligence, or as expressly provided by applicable law, and the Company will indemnify such individualseach member of the Committee and officer of the Company against any such liability.

Section 4.             Participation

4.1          Eligible Individuals. Consistent with the purposes of the Plan, subject to Section 3.2, the Committee will have exclusive power to select the employees and non-employee directors of the Company and its Affiliates and other individuals performing services for the Company and its Affiliates who may participate in the Plan and be granted Awards under the Plan.

4.2          Condition to Receipt of Awards. Unless otherwise waived by the Committee, no prospective Participant will have any rights with respect to an Award unless and until such Participant has executed an Award Agreement evidencing the Award, delivered a fully executed copy thereof to the Company, and otherwise complied with the applicable terms and conditions of such Award.

Section 5.             Shares Subject to Plan

5.1          Maximum Number of Shares that May Be Issued.

(a)       Available Shares. Subject to adjustment as provided in Section 4.2,12, the maximum number of shares of Common Stock reserved and available for grant and issuance pursuant to the Plan as of the Effective Date will be 500,000.(i) 1,069,110, plus (ii) the number of shares of Common Stock available for issuance under the Prior Plan on the Effective Date. If the Plan is approved by the stockholders of the Company on the Effective Date, no awards may be granted under the Prior Plan on or after the Effective Date.

(b)       Share Counting. For purposes of counting shares against the maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued under the Plan as described in Section 5.1(a), on the date of grant, Awards denominated solely in shares of Common Stock (such as Options and Restricted Stock) and other Awards that may be exercised for, settled in or convertible into shares of Common Stock will be counted against the Plan reserve on the date of grant of the Award based on the maximum number of shares that may be issued pursuant to the Award, as determined by the Committee.

(c)       Shares Added Back. Shares of Common Stock related to Awards issued under the Plan or the Prior Plan that are forfeited, canceled, expired or otherwise terminated without the issuance of shares of Common Stock will be added back and again available for issuance under the Plan. In addition, shares of Common Stock that are retained or reacquired by the Company to satisfy the exercise price or purchase price of an Award or to satisfy the tax withholding obligation in connection with an Award, as well as any shares of Common Stock covered by an Award that is settled in cash, will be added back and again be available for issuance under the Plan.

(d)       Source of Shares. Shares of Common Stock issued pursuant to the Plan may be authorized but unissued shares, treasury shares, reacquired shares or any combination thereof. Until

(e)       Assumed or Substituted Awards. Awards granted through the assumption of, or substitution for, outstanding awards previously granted by a company acquired by the Company or any Affiliate, or with which the Company or any Affiliate combines, will not reduce the maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued under the Plan as described in Section 5.1(a).

(f)       Fractional Shares. No fractional shares of Common Stock may be issued under the Plan, and unless the Committee determines otherwise, an amount in cash equal to the Fair Market Value of any fractional share of Common Stock that would otherwise be issuable will be paid in lieu of such fractional share of Common Stock. The Committee may, in its sole discretion, cancel, terminate, otherwise eliminate or transfer or pay other securities or other property in lieu of issuing any fractional share of Common Stock.

Section 6.             Awards Under Plan

6.1          Types of Awards. Awards under the Plan may include one or more of the following types: Options, Stock Appreciation Rights, Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units and Other Stock-Based Awards.

6.2          Dividend Equivalents. Other than with respect to Options or Stock Appreciation Rights, the Committee may choose, at the time of the grant of an Award or any time thereafter up to the time of the Award’s payment, to include or to exclude as part of such Award an entitlement to receive cash dividends or dividend equivalents, subject to such terms, conditions, restrictions or limitations, if any, as the Committee may establish. Dividends and dividend equivalents will be paid in such form and manner (i.e., lump sum or installments), and at such times as the Committee will determine.

6.3          Transferability. An Award and a Participant’s rights and interest under the Award, may not be sold, assigned or transferred, hypothecated or encumbered in whole or in part either directly or by operation of law or otherwise (except in the event of a Participant’s death) including, but not by way of limitation, execution, levy, garnishment, attachment, pledge, bankruptcy or in any other manner; provided, however, that the Committee may allow a Participant to assign or transfer without consideration an Award (other than an Incentive Stock Option) to one or more members of his immediate family, to a partnership of which the only partners are issued (asthe Participant or members of the Participant’s immediate family, or to a trust established by the Participant for the exclusive benefit of the Participant or one or more members of his immediate family.

6.4          Award Agreement. Unless otherwise determined by the Committee, each Award will be evidenced by an Award Agreement in such form as the appropriate entry onCommittee will prescribe from time to time in accordance with the booksPlan, including a written agreement, contract, certificate or other instrument or document containing the terms and conditions of an individual Award granted under the Plan which may, in the discretion of the Company, be transmitted electronically. Each Award and Award Agreement will be subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan.

6.5          Method of Payment. The Committee may, in its discretion, settle any Award through the payment of cash, the delivery of shares of Common Stock or other property, or a combination thereof, as the Committee determines or as specified by the Plan or an Award Agreement. Any Award settlement, including payment deferrals, may be subject to conditions, restrictions and contingencies as the Committee determines.

6.6          Death, Disability and Termination. The Committee may include in an Award Agreement provisions related to the death, Disability or termination of employment or service of a Participant, including without limitation the acceleration of the exercisability, vesting or settlement of, or the lapse of restrictions or deemed satisfaction of performance objectives with respect to, an Award.

6.7          Change in Control. The Committee may include in an Award Agreement provisions related to a Change in Control, including without limitation the acceleration of the exercisability, vesting or settlement of, or the lapse of restrictions or deemed satisfaction of performance objectives with respect to, an Award.

6.8          Forfeiture Provisions. The Committee may, in its discretion, provide in an Award Agreement that an Award will be canceled if the Participant, without the consent of the Company, while employed by or providing services to the Company or any Affiliate or after termination of such employment or service, violates a non-competition, non-solicitation or non-disclosure covenant or agreement, or otherwise engages in activity that is in conflict with or adverse to the interest of the Company or any Affiliate, including fraud or conduct contributing to any financial restatements or irregularities, as determined by the Committee in its sole discretion. Notwithstanding the foregoing, none of the non-disclosure restrictions in this Section 6.8 or in any Award Agreement will, or will be interpreted to, impair the Participant from exercising any legally protected whistleblower rights (including under Rule 21F under the Exchange Act).

6.9          Recoupment Provisions. Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or in any Award Agreement to the contrary, the Company will be entitled to the extent required by applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 10D of the Exchange Act and any regulations promulgated with respect thereto) or Exchange listing requirement, in each case as in effect from time to time, to recoup compensation of whatever kind paid under the Plan by the Company at any time.

6.10          Non-Employee Director Award Limitation. The aggregate of (a) the grant date fair value for financial reporting purposes of any Awards granted during any fiscal year to a non-employee director, and (b) the total amount of any cash fees or other property paid to such non-employee director during the fiscal year, in respect of the director’s service as a member of the Board during such year, may not exceed $300,000. The independent members of the Board may make exceptions to this limit for a non-executive chair of the Board, provided that the non-employee director receiving such additional compensation may not participate in the decision to award such compensation.

Section 7.             Options

7.1          Grant of Options. The Committee may grant Awards of Options. The Committee may grant Incentive Stock Options provided the terms of such grants comply with Section 7.4 and the requirements of Section 422 of the Code. Each Option granted under the Plan will comply with the following terms and conditions, and with such other terms and conditions as the Committee, in its discretion, may establish.

7.2          Exercise Price; Expiration Date. Except for Options granted through the assumption of, or substitution for, outstanding awards previously granted by a company acquired by the Company or any Affiliate, or with which the Company or any Affiliate combines, the exercise price will be equal to or greater than the Fair Market Value of the shares of Common Stock subject to such Option on the date that the Option is granted. The Committee in its discretion will establish the expiration date of an Option; provided that in no event will the expiration date be later than 10 years from the date that the Option is granted. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that on the expiration date of a duly authorizedNonqualified Stock Option, (a) the exercise of the Nonqualified Stock Option is prohibited by applicable law, or (b) shares of Common Stock may not be purchased or sold by certain employees or directors of the Company due to the “black-out period” under a Company policy or a “lock-up” agreement undertaken in connection with an issuance of securities by the Company, the Committee may, to the extent permitted by Section 409A, extend the expiration date of the Nonqualified Stock Option, but not beyond a period of 30 days following the end of the legal prohibition, black-out period or lock-up agreement period, and provided further that no extension may be made if the exercise price of the Nonqualified Stock Option is above the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the initial expiration date.

7.3          Exercisability. The Option will not be exercisable unless the Option has vested, and payment in full of the exercise price for the shares of Common Stock being acquired thereunder at the time of exercise is made in such form as the Committee may determine in its discretion, including, but not limited to:

(a)       cash;

(b)       if permitted by the Committee, by instructing the Company to withhold a number of shares of Common Stock that would otherwise be issued having a Fair Market Value equal to the applicable portion of the exercise price being so paid;

(c)       if permitted by the Committee, by tendering (actually or by attestation) to the Company a number of previously acquired shares of Common Stock that have been held by the Participant for at least six months (or such short period, if any, determined by the Committee in consideration of applicable accounting standards) and that have a Fair Market Value equal to the applicable portion of the exercise price being so paid;

(d)       if permitted by the Committee, by authorizing a third party to sell, on behalf of the Participant, the appropriate number of shares of Common Stock otherwise issuable to the Participant upon the exercise of the Option and to remit to the Company a sufficient portion of the sale proceeds to pay the entire exercise price and any tax withholding resulting from such exercise; or

(e)       any combination of the foregoing.

7.4          Limitations for Incentive Stock Options. The terms and conditions of any Incentive Stock Options granted hereunder will comply with the requirements of Section 422 of the Code. Incentive Stock Options may be granted only to employees of the Company or an Affiliate, provided such Affiliate is also a “parent corporation” of the Company within the meaning of Section 424(e) of the Code or a “subsidiary corporation” of the Company within the meaning of Section 424(f) of the Code, on the date of grant. The aggregate Fair Market Value (determined as of the time the Incentive Stock Option is granted) of the shares of Common Stock with respect to which Incentive Stock Options are exercisable for the first time by any individual during any calendar year (under all plans of the Company and its Affiliates) may not exceed $100,000, and any Incentive Stock Option or portions thereof which exceed such limit (according to the order in which they were granted) will be treated as a Nonqualified Stock Option. Incentive Stock Option may not be transferable by a Participant other than by will or the laws of descent and distribution and may only be exercisable during the Participant’s lifetime by the Participant. If, at the time an Incentive Stock Option is granted, the employee recipient owns (after application of the rules contained in Section 424(d) of the Code) shares of Common Stock possessing more than 10 percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the Company or its subsidiaries, then: (a) the exercise price for such Incentive Stock Option will be at least 110 percent of the Fair Market Value of the shares of Common Stock subject to such Incentive Stock Option on the date of grant; and (b) such Incentive Stock Option will not be exercisable after the date five years from the date such Incentive Stock Option is granted. The maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued under the Plan pursuant to Incentive Stock Options may not exceed, in the aggregate, 1,000,000.

Section 8.             Stock Appreciation Rights

8.1          Grant of Stock Appreciation Rights. The Committee may grant Awards of Stock Appreciation Rights. Each Award of Stock Appreciation Rights granted under the Plan will comply with the following terms and conditions, and with such other terms and conditions as the Committee, in its discretion, may establish.

8.2          Exercise Price; Expiration Date. Except for Stock Appreciation Rights granted through the assumption of, or substitution for, outstanding awards previously granted by a company acquired by the Company or any Affiliate, or with which the Company or any Affiliate combines, the exercise price will be equal to or greater than the Fair Market Value of the shares of Common Stock subject to such Stock Appreciation Right on the date that the Stock Appreciation Right is granted. The Committee in its discretion will establish the expiration date of a Stock Appreciation Right; provided that in no event will the expiration date be later than 10 years from the date that the Stock Appreciation Right is granted. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that on the expiration date of a Stock Appreciation Right, (a) the exercise of the Stock Appreciation Right is prohibited by applicable law, or (b) shares of Common Stock may not be purchased or sold by certain employees or directors of the Company due to the “black-out period” under a Company policy or a “lock-up” agreement undertaken in connection with an issuance of securities by the Company, the Committee may, to the extent permitted by Section 409A, extend the expiration date of the Stock Appreciation Right, but not beyond a period of 30 days following the end of the legal prohibition, black-out period or lock-up agreement period, and provided further that no extension may be made if the exercise price of the Stock Appreciation Right is above the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the initial expiration date.

8.3          Exercisability. Stock Appreciation Rights may not be exercisable unless the Stock Appreciation Rights have vested.

8.4          Exercise and Settlement. An Award of Stock Appreciation Rights entitles the Participant to exercise such Award and to receive from the Company in exchange therefore, without payment to the Company, that number of shares of Common Stock having an aggregate Fair Market Value equal to (or, in the discretion of the Committee, less than) the excess of the Fair Market Value of one share of Common Stock, at the date of such exercise, over the exercise price per share, times the number of shares of Common Stock for which the Award is being exercised. The Committee will be entitled in its discretion to elect to settle the obligation arising out of the exercise of a Stock Appreciation Right by the payment of cash or other property, or any combination thereof, as determined by the Committee, equal to the aggregate Fair Market Value of the shares of Common Stock it would otherwise be obligated to deliver.

Section 9.             Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units

9.1          Grant of Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units. The Committee may grant Awards of Restricted Stock or Restricted Stock Units. Each Award of Restricted Stock or Restricted Stock Units under the Plan will comply with the following terms and conditions, and with such other terms and conditions as the Committee, in its discretion, may establish.

9.2          Restricted Stock Issuance. Shares of Common Stock issued to a Participant in accordance with the Award of Restricted Stock may be issued in certificate form or through the entry of an uncertificated book position on the records of the Company’s transfer agent and registrar. The Company may impose appropriate restrictions on the transfer of or broker selectedsuch shares of Common Stock, which will be evidenced in the manner permitted by law as determined by the Company),Committee in its discretion, including but not limited to (a) causing a legend or legends to be placed on any certificates evidencing such Restricted Stock, or (b) causing “stop transfer” instructions to be issued, as it deems necessary or appropriate.

9.3          Vesting Conditions. The vesting of an Award of Restricted Stock or Restricted Stock Units may be conditioned upon the attainment of specific performance objectives as the Committee may determine, including but not limited to such performance objectives described in Section 11.2.

9.4          Stockholder Rights. Unless otherwise determined by the Committee in its discretion, prior to the expiration of the Restricted Period, a Participant to whom an Award of Restricted Stock has been made will only have ownership of such shares of Common Stock, including the rights of an unsecured creditorright to vote the same and to receive dividends or other distributions made or paid with respect to such shares of Common Stock, subject, however, to the restrictions and no rightlimitations imposed thereon pursuant to votethe Plan or receive dividendsAward Agreement.

Section 10.         Other Stock-Based Awards

10.1       Grant of Other Stock-Based Awards. The Committee may grant Other Stock-Based Awards. Each Other Stock-Based Award granted under the Plan will comply with the following terms and conditions, and with such other terms and conditions as the Committee, in its discretion, may establish.

10.2       Vesting Conditions. The vesting of Other Stock-Based Awards may be conditioned upon the attainment of specific performance objectives as the Committee may determine, including but not limited to such performance objectives described in Section 11.2.

10.3       Settlement. The Committee will be entitled in its discretion to settle the obligation under an Other Stock-Based Award by the payment of cash, shares of Common Stock or other property, or any combination thereof.

Section 11.          Performance Awards

11.1       Grant of Performance Awards. The Committee may grant Awards of Restricted Stock, Restricted Stock Units or Other Stock-Based Awards as “Performance Awards,” with the vesting or payment of such Awards based on the achievement of specified performance objectives.

11.2       Performance Objectives.

(a)       Amounts earned under Performance Awards will be based upon the attainment of performance objectives established by the Committee. Such performance objectives may vary by Participant and by Award, and may be based upon the attainment of specific or per-share amounts of, or changes in, one or more, or a combination of two or more, of the following: (i) earnings including operating income, economic income, economic net income, earnings before or after taxes, earnings before or after interest, depreciation, amortization, or extraordinary or special items or book value per share (which may exclude nonrecurring items); (ii) pre-tax income or after-tax income; (iii) earnings per common share (basic or diluted); (iv) operating profit; (v) revenue, revenue growth or rate of revenue growth; (vi) return on assets (gross or net), return on investment, return on capital, or return on equity; (vii) returns on sales or revenues; (viii) operating expenses; (ix) stock price appreciation; (x) cash flow, free cash flow, cash flow return on investment (discounted or otherwise), net cash provided by operations, or cash flow in excess of cost of capital; (xi) implementation or completion of critical projects or processes; (xii) economic value created; (xiii) cumulative earnings per share growth; (xiv) operating margin or profit margin; (xv) common stock price or total stockholder return; (xvi) cost targets, reductions and savings, productivity and efficiencies; (xvii) strategic business criteria, consisting of one or more objectives based on meeting specified market penetration, geographic business expansion, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, human resources management, supervision of litigation, information technology, and goals relating to acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and similar transactions, and budget comparisons; (xviii) personal professional objectives, including any of the foregoing performance goals, the implementation of policies and plans, the negotiation of transactions, the development of long-term business goals, formation of joint ventures, research or development collaborations, and the completion of other rightscorporate transactions; (xix) such other performance objectives determined by the Committee in its sole discretion; and (xx) any combination of any of the foregoing. The Committee may provide that, in measuring the achievement of the performance objectives, an Award may include or exclude items such as realized investment gains and losses, extraordinary, unusual, non-recurring or infrequently recurring items, asset write-downs, effects of force majeure events (such as a stockholder will exist with respect to such shares.pandemic), accounting changes, currency fluctuations, acquisitions, divestitures, reserve-strengthening and other non-operating items.

4.2(b)       Where applicable, the performance goals may be expressed in terms of attaining a specified level of the particular criteria or the attainment of a percentage increase or decrease in the particular criteria, and may be applied to one or more of the Company or an Affiliate, or a division or strategic business unit of the Company or an Affiliate, or may be applied to the performance of the Company relative to a market index, a group of other companies or a combination thereof, or other pre-established target or designated comparison group, all as determined by the Committee. The performance goals may include a threshold level of performance below which no payment will be made (or no vesting will occur), levels of performance at which specified payments will be made (or specified vesting will occur), and a maximum level of performance above which no additional payment will be made (or at which full vesting will occur).

Section 12.          Dilution and Other Adjustments

12.1       AdjustmentsAdjustment for Corporate Transaction or Change in Corporate Capitalization. In the event of any change in the outstanding shares of Common Stock of the Company by reason of any corporate transaction or change in corporate capitalization such as a stock split, reverse stock split, stock dividend, split-up, split-off, spin-off, recapitalization, merger, consolidation, rights offering, reorganization, combination, consolidation, subdivision or exchange of shares, a sale by the Company of all or part of its assets, any distribution to stockholders other than a normal cash dividend, partial or complete liquidation of the Company or other extraordinary or unusual event, the Committee or Board, as applicable, will make such adjustment in (a) the class and maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be delivered under the Plan as described in Section 4.1, and5.1, (b) the class, number and Purchase Priceexercise price of outstanding Options and Stock Appreciation Rights, and (c) the class and number of shares subject to any other Awards granted under the Plan (provided that the number of shares of any class subject to OptionsAwards will always be a whole number) and the terms of such Options,Awards (including, without limitation, any applicable performance goals), as may be determined to be appropriate by the Committee or Board, as applicable, and such adjustments will be final, conclusive and binding for all purposes of the Plan.

5.112.2       Eligible IndividualsAdjustment for Merger or Consolidation. Each Eligible IndividualIn the event of any merger, consolidation or similar transaction as a result of which the holders of shares of Common Stock receive consideration consisting exclusively of securities of the surviving entity (or the parent of the surviving entity) in such transaction, the Committee or Board, as applicable, will, to the extent deemed appropriate by the Committee or Board, as applicable, adjust each Award outstanding on the date of such merger, consolidation or similar transaction so that it pertains and applies to the securities which a given Enrollment Date for an Offering shall be eligible to participate inholder of the Plan for such Offering,number of shares of Common Stock subject to the requirements of the Plan.such Award would have received in such merger, consolidation or similar transaction.

5.212.3       Offering PeriodsAssumption or Substitution of Awards. Except as otherwise provided by the Plan, the Plan will have consecutive Offering Periods, with a new Offering Period commencing on the first Trading Day on or after March 1 and September 1 of each year, and terminating, respectively, on the last Trading Day on or before the following August 31 and February 28 (February 29 inIn the event of a leap year).dissolution or liquidation of the Company; a sale of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets (on a consolidated basis); or a merger, consolidation or similar transaction involving the Company in which the holders of shares of Common Stock receive securities and/or other property, including cash, other than shares of the surviving entity in such transaction (or the parent of such surviving entity), the Committee or Board, as applicable, will, to the extent deemed appropriate by the Committee or Board, as applicable, have the power to provide for the exchange of each Award (whether or not then exercisable or vested) for an Award with respect to: (a) some or all of the property which a holder of the number of shares of Common Stock subject to such Award would have received in such transaction; or (b) securities of the acquirer or surviving entity (or parent of such acquirer or surviving entity) and, incident thereto, make an equitable adjustment as determined by the Committee or Board, as applicable, in the exercise price of the Award, or the number of shares or amount of property subject to the Award or provide for a payment (in cash or other property) to the Participant to whom such Award was granted in partial consideration for the exchange of the Award. In addition, the Committee will, to the extent deemed appropriate by the Committee or Board, as applicable, have the power to cancel, effective immediately prior to the occurrence of such event, each Award (whether or not then exercisable or vested), and, in full consideration of such cancellation, pay to the Participant to whom such Award was granted an amount in cash, for each share of Common Stock subject to such Award, equal to the value, as determined by the Committee or Board, as applicable, of such Award, provided that with respect to any outstanding Option or Stock Appreciation Right such value will be equal to the excess of (i) the value, as determined by the Committee or Board, as applicable, of the property (including cash) received by the holder of shares of Common Stock as a result of such event, over (ii) the exercise price of such Option or Stock Appreciation Right, provided further that the value of any outstanding Option or Stock Appreciation Right will be zero where the exercise price of such Option or Stock Appreciation Right is greater than the value, as determined by the Committee or Board, as applicable, of the property (including cash) received by the holder of shares of Common Stock as a result of such event; and that no change to the original timing of payment will be made to the extent it would violate Section 409A.

5.3       Participation. An Eligible Individual may participate in an Offering under the Plan by (a) submitting to the Company’s designated representative, at least 10 days prior to the applicable Enrollment Date, a properly completed subscription agreement authorizing Contributions in the form provided by the Administrator for such purpose, or (b) following an electronic or other enrollment procedure determined by the Administrator,Section 13.          Amendment and in either case completing any other forms and following any procedures for enrollment in the Offering as may be established by the Administrator from time to time.

(a)       Payroll Contributions. At the time an Eligible Individual who is an Employee enrolls in an Offering pursuant to Section 5.3, he or she may elect to have payroll deductions made on each pay day during the Offering Period in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per Offering Period, provided that, if the Offering Period is any period other than six months, then the foregoing limit shall be adjusted proportionately to reflect the length of the Offering Period. Payroll deductions for a Participant will commence on the first pay day following the Enrollment Date and will end on the last pay day of the Offering Period to which such authorization is applicable, unless sooner terminated by the Participant as provided in Section 5.7. Should a pay day occur on an Exercise Date, a Participant shall have the payroll deductions made on such day applied to his or her Plan Account under the current Offering Period, unless otherwise provided by the Administrator. A Participant may not change his or her payroll deductions during an Offering Period, unless otherwise provided by the Administrator.Termination

(b)       Other Contributions. The Administrator, in its sole discretion, may permit all Participants in a specified Offering to contribute amounts to the Plan through payment by cash, check or other means set forth in the subscription agreement prior to each Exercise Date of each Offering Period; provided, however, the aggregate Contributions of a Participant by any means for an Offering may not exceed $25,000 per Offering Period, provided further that, if the Offering Period is any period other than six months, then the foregoing limit shall be adjusted proportionately to reflect the length of the Offering Period.

(c)       Plan Account. All Contributions made for a Participant will be credited to his or her Plan Account. No interest will accrue on the Contributions of a Participant credited to his or her Plan Account.

5.5       Grant of Option. On the Enrollment Date of each Offering Period, each Participant in such Offering Period will be granted an option to purchase on the Exercise Date for such Offering Period (at the applicable Purchase Price) up to a number of shares of Common Stock determined by dividing such Participant’s Contributions accumulated prior to such Exercise Date and retained in the Participant’s Plan Account as of the Exercise Date by the applicable Purchase Price; provided that in no event will a Participant be permitted to purchase during each Offering Period more than that number of whole shares of Common Stock determined by dividing $25,000 by the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the Enrollment Date of such Offering Period and further provided that, if the Offering Period is any period other than six months, then the foregoing limit shall be adjusted proportionately to reflect the length of the Offering Period. The exercise of Options will occur as provided in Section 5.11, unless the Participant has withdrawn pursuant to Section 5.7. To the extent not exercised, the Options will expire on the last day of the Offering Period.

5.6       Transferability. An Option and a Participant’s rights and interest under the Option, may not be sold, assigned or transferred, hypothecated or encumbered in whole or in part either directly or by operation of law or otherwise including, but not by way of limitation, execution, levy, garnishment, attachment, pledge, bankruptcy or in any other manner.

5.7       Withdrawal. A Participant may withdraw all, but not less than all, the Contributions credited to his or her Plan Account and not yet used to exercise his or her Option under the Plan at any time before the 10-day period preceding an Exercise Date by (a) submitting to the Company’s designated representative a written notice of withdrawal in the form determined by the Administrator for such purpose, or (b) following an electronic or other withdrawal procedure determined by the Administrator. All of the Participant’s Contributions credited to his or her Plan Account will be paid to such Participant promptly after receipt of notice of withdrawal and such Participant’s Option for the Offering Period will be automatically terminated, and no further Contributions for the purchase of shares will be made for such Offering Period. Unless the Administrator determines otherwise, a Participant’s withdrawal from an Offering Period will not have any effect upon his or her eligibility to participate in succeeding Offering Periods that commence after the termination of the Offering Period from which the Participant withdraws.

5.8       Termination of Eligible Individual Status During Offering Period. Upon a Participant’s ceasing to be an Eligible Individual, for any reason, he or she will be deemed to have elected to withdraw from the Plan and the Contributions credited to such Participant’s Plan Account during the Offering Period but not yet used to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Plan will be returned to such Participant or, in the case of his or her death, to the executor, administrator or personal representative of the estate of the Participant, or such other individual as may be prescribed by applicable law, and such Participant’s Option will be automatically terminated.

5.9       Certain Corporate Events During Offering Period. In the event of the proposed dissolution or liquidation of the Company, or a Change in Control of the Company, during an Offering Period, each outstanding Option will be cancelled by the Administrator as of a date prior to the effective date of the dissolution, liquidation or Change in Control, and all Contributions shall be refunded to the Participants.

(a)       Unless a Participant withdraws from the Plan as provided in Section 5.7, his or her Option for the purchase of shares of Common Stock will be automatically exercised on the Exercise Date, and the maximum number of whole shares of Common Stock subject to the Option will be purchased for such Participant at the applicable Purchase Price with the accumulated Contributions from his or her Plan Account. No fractional shares of Common Stock may be issued under the Plan. Any funds left over in a Participant’s account after the Exercise Date will be returned to the Participant. During a Participant’s lifetime, a Participant’s Option to purchase shares hereunder is exercisable only by him or her.

(b)       If the Administrator determines that, on a given Exercise Date, the number of shares of Common Stock with respect to which Options are to be exercised may exceed (i) the number of shares of Common Stock that were available for sale under the Plan on the Enrollment Date of the applicable Offering Period, or (ii) the number of shares of Common Stock available for sale under the Plan on such Exercise Date, the Administrator may in its sole discretion provide that the Company will make a pro rata allocation of the shares of Common Stock available for purchase on such Enrollment Date or Exercise Date, as applicable, in as uniform a manner as will be practicable and as it will determine in its sole discretion to be equitable among all Participants exercising Options to purchase Common Stock on such Exercise Date.

5.11       Withholding of Taxes. The Company and Designated Affiliates will have the authority and right to deduct or withhold from any payment made under the Plan, or require a Participant to remit to the Company or Designated Affiliate, the federal, state or local income or other taxes required by law to be withheld with respect to the exercise or other taxable event of any Option under the Plan. It will be a condition to the obligation of the Company to issue shares of Common Stock upon exercise of any Option under the Plan that the Participant remit to the Company or Designated Affiliate, upon its demand, such amount as may be requested by the Company or Designated Affiliate for the purpose of satisfying any liability to withhold federal, state or local income or other taxes. If the amount requested is not paid, the Company may refuse to issue or pay shares of Common Stock. The Administrator may, in its discretion, permit a Participant to elect to pay a portion or all of the amount requested by the Company or Designated Affiliate for such taxes with respect to such Option, at such time and in such manner as the Administrator deems to be appropriate, including, but not limited to, by authorizing the Company to withhold, or agreeing to surrender to the Company on or about the date such tax liability is determinable, shares of Common Stock or other property, or any combination thereof, that would otherwise be distributed, or have been distributed, as the case may be, pursuant to such Option to such person, having a Fair Market Value equal to the minimum amount required to be withheld, or if permitted by the Company, up to such greater amount that will not trigger adverse accounting consequences and is permitted under applicable tax withholding rules.

5.12       Delivery. As soon as reasonably practicable after each Exercise Date on which a purchase of shares of Common Stock occurs, the Company will arrange the delivery to each Participant of the shares purchased upon exercise of his or her Option in a form determined by the Administrator (in its sole discretion) and pursuant to rules established by the Administrator. The Company may permit or require that shares be deposited directly with a broker designated by the Company or to a designated agent of the Company, and the Company may utilize electronic or automated methods of share transfer. The Company may require that shares be retained with such broker or agent for a designated period of time, and/or may establish procedures to permit tracking of dispositions of shares.

5.13       Holding Period. Except as otherwise permitted by the Administrator for tax withholding pursuant to Section 5.12, shares of Common Stock received by a Participant pursuant to the exercise of an Option must be held for a period of at least 90 days following the Exercise Date.