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