Companies Research Frontiers Inc
Research Frontiers (REFR): executive pay, fiscal 2025
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CEO pay, last three years
- $766,962FY2024
- $754,777FY2025
CEO total pay was $754,777 in fiscal 2025, down from $766,962 in fiscal 2024.
FY2025: salary $625,000 · bonus $0 · stock awards $0 · option awards $63,700
Executives and directors
Frequently asked questions
Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.
Full detail
Every table from the filing. Open any section.
Summary compensation table
| Named executive officer | Salary | Bonus | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Pension / NQDC | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Harary | $625,000 | $0 | $0 | $63,700 | $18,000 | $0 | $48,077 | $754,777 |
| President and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||
| Michael LaPointe | 27,846 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,884 | 0 | 3,077 | 61,807 |
| Vice President-Aerospace Products | ||||||||
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.
Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive
| Named executive officer | FY2025 total | FY2024 total | FY2023 total | Δ FY2024→2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Harary | $754,777 | $766,962 | — | ↓ −12,185 |
| Michael LaPointe | 61,807 | 46,360 | 46,120 | ↑ +15,447 |
Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.
Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis
The Company seeks to include in compensation for the Company's executive officers a combination of base salary, equity incentives, and performance-based bonuses that is intended to attract, retain and motivate executive officers who have the skills, experience and knowledge important to the success of the Company and to reward superior performance and encourage actions that drive our business strategy.
| CEO STI target (% of salary) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO LTI target (% of salary) | — |
| Independent consultant | Connell & Partners |
| Clawback policy | — |
| Anti-hedging | — |
| Anti-pledging | — |
Equity grants and outstanding awards
Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025
| Executive | Award | Grant date | Threshold | Target | Granted | Maximum | Grant-date fair value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Harary | RSU | 2025-12-31 | — | 65,000 | 65,000 | — | $63,700 |
Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type
| Named executive officer | Time-vested (RSU) | Performance-vested (PSU) | Options / SARs | % performance-vested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Harary | $63,700 | $0 | $0 | 0.0% |
% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.
Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025
| Executive | Award | Shares unvested | Exercise price | Market value unvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael LaPointe | Option | 5,000 | 1.72 | — |
| Michael LaPointe | Option | 5,000 | 3.11 | — |
| Michael LaPointe | Option | 6,000 | 1.02 | — |
| Michael LaPointe | Option | 6,000 | 1.68 | — |
| Michael LaPointe | Option | 6,000 | 1.95 | — |
| Joseph Harary | Option | 55,000 | 1.72 | — |
| Joseph Harary | Option | 60,000 | 1.02 | — |
| Joseph Harary | Option | 60,000 | 1.68 | — |
| Joseph Harary | Option | 60,000 | 1.95 | — |
| Joseph Harary | Option | 65,000 | 1.33 | — |
Director compensation
| Director | Cash fees | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander KaganowiczIndependent · Nominating and Corporate Governance (Chair) · Audit · Compensation | $40,000 | $44,100 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $84,100 |
| Darryl DaigleIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Compensation (Chair) · Nominating and Corporate Governance | 40,000 | 44,100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84,100 |
| Eyal PesoIndependent · Audit · Nominating and Corporate Governance | 40,000 | 44,100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84,100 |
| Joseph M. HararyEmployee director | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
Board fee structure and ownership guideline
| Annual cash retainer | $40,000 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | $44,100 |
| Per board meeting fee | — |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | — |
| Stock ownership guideline | — |
Total cost of the board
| Component | FY2025 |
|---|---|
| Cash retainers and fees | $120,000 |
| Equity awards (grant-date value) | $132,300 |
| All other compensation | $0 |
| Total cost of the board | $252,300 |
Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.
Peer group, and who names Research Frontiers as a peer
Companies that benchmark against REFR
No companies currently name REFR as a compensation peer in their most recent disclosure.
This is the complete answer, not a partial one — the list is never padded.
Disclosed peer group — fiscal year 2025
The compensation peer group as the company disclosed it in its own proxy — the reference set behind the percentile above.
Chief executive pay against the peer group
Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.
| Rank | Company | FY | Chief executive | Salary | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2025 | Christopher Anzalone | $981,046 | $6,810,292 | $0 | $1,236,000 | $9,029,861 |
| 2 | Mesa Laboratories, Inc. | 2026 | Gary Owens | 808,846 | 4,700,017 | 0 | 1,120,000 | 6,643,208 |
| 3 | Riot Blockchain, Inc. | 2025 | Jason Les | 1,584,337 | 0 | 0 | 1,827,581 | 3,460,222 |
| 4 | Microvision, Inc. | 2025 | Glen DeVos | 347,008 | 3,033,795 | 0 | 0 | 3,387,845 |
| 5 | Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc. | 2025 | Shahram Askarpour | 525,000 | 1,019,953 | 196,340 | 750,750 | 2,506,043 |
| 6 | PowerFleet, Inc. | 2026 | Steve Towe | 555,778 | 1,469,007 | 0 | 110,044 | 2,134,829 |
| 7 | ParkerVision, Inc. | 2025 | Jeffrey Parker | 356,923 | 0 | 1,720,000 | 0 | 2,100,923 |
| 8 | Aware, Inc. | 2025 | Ajay Amlani | 111,110 | 881,751 | 833,664 | 0 | 1,826,746 |
| 9 | Research Frontiers Inc | 2025 | Joseph Harary | 625,000 | 0 | 63,700 | 18,000 | 754,777 |
| 10 | Peraso Inc. | 2025 | Ronald Glibbery | 400,000 | 0 | 99,000 | 0 | 499,000 |
| 11 | Creative Realities, Inc. | 2024 | Richard Mills | 450,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 450,000 |
| 12 | Pure Bioscience, Inc. | 2025 | Robert Bartlett | 151,900 | 0 | 39,400 | 0 | 191,300 |
| 13 | Autoscope Technologies Corp. | 2021 | Andrew Berger | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — | eMagin Corp. | — | — | — | — | — | — | not in coverage universe |
Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.
Incentive design against the same peers
| Company | Annual incentive payout | Long-term vehicle mix | PSU measures include TSR | Compensation consultant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Frontiers Inc | not disclosed | Options 100 | not disclosed | Connell & Partners |
| Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 125% | PRSU 70 · RSU 30 | not disclosed | Compensia |
| Autoscope Technologies Corp. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | Semler Brossy Consulting Group, LLC |
| Aware, Inc. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| Creative Realities, Inc. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| eMagin Corp. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc. | 143% | not disclosed | No | FW Cook |
| Mesa Laboratories, Inc. | 125% | PSU 50 · RSU 50 | No | Frederic W. Cook & Co, Inc. |
| Microvision, Inc. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| ParkerVision, Inc. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | Alliant Human Capital |
| Peraso Inc. | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| PowerFleet, Inc. | not disclosed | PSU 66.7 · RSU 33.3 | not disclosed | Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc. |
| Pure Bioscience, Inc. | not disclosed | Option 100 | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| Riot Blockchain, Inc. | 125% | not disclosed | Yes — TSR relative to RUSSELL 3000 Index | Compensia Inc. |
Read from each company’s Compensation Discussion and Analysis: annual incentive payout as a percentage of target, the disclosed long-term vehicle mix, whether performance-share measures include a total shareholder return component, and the retained compensation consultant. “Not disclosed” appears only where the company’s filing does not state the item.
Say-on-pay history and pay ratio
| Meeting year | Meeting date | For | Against | Abstain | Support | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-11 | 7,016,800 | 1,353,117 | 193,172 | 81.94% | Passed |
| 2025 | 2025-06-12 | 7,678,696 | 614,856 | 688,575 | 85.49% | Passed |
| 2024 | 2024-06-13 | 8,772,887 | 924,360 | 300,113 | 87.75% | Passed |
| 2023 | 2023-06-08 | 6,917,810 | 819,624 | 257,391 | 86.53% | Passed |
| 2020 | 2020-06-11 | 8,379,143 | 1,042,525 | 342,622 | 85.81% | Passed |
| 2017 | 2017-06-08 | 6,801,419 | 1,138,830 | 340,473 | 82.14% | Passed |
Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.
Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation
| Meeting year | Meeting date | Approval — company’s computation |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-11 | 81.94%a |
| 2025 | 2025-06-12 | 85.49%b |
| 2024 | 2024-06-13 | 87.75%c |
a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions will have the same effect as votes against the proposal.”.
b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions will have the same effect as votes against the proposal.”.
c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions will have the same effect as votes against the proposal.”.
Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.
CEO pay ratio
| Ratio (CEO : median employee) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO total compensation | — |
| Median employee compensation | — |
Insider trades since the proxy
No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.
Sources (27 citations)
Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.
- Section 01, Joseph Harary. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Summary Compensation Table” · page 1. As printed: 754,777. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Michael LaPointe. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Summary Compensation Table”. As printed: 61,807. View filing ↗
- Section 03, Joseph Harary RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards in 2025” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
- Section 07, pay ratio. 10-K/A, filed 2026-03-19. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: —. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Alexander Kaganowicz. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 84,100. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Darryl Daigle. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 84,100. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Eyal Peso. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 84,100. View filing ↗
- Section 08, Joseph M. Harary. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2026 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2026-06-12. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 81.94% (votes for as printed: 7,016,800). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2025 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2025-06-13. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 85.49% (votes for as printed: 7,678,696). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2024 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2024-06-14. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 87.75% (votes for as printed: 8,772,887). View filing ↗
- Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
- Section 03b vehicle mix (computed). Computed. RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).
- Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 120,000 + equity 132,300 + all other 0 = 252,300, summed across the director compensation table rows.
- Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-01-27. CEO total compensation as printed in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 9,029,861. View filing ↗
- Mesa Laboratories, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-07-22. CEO total compensation as printed in Mesa Laboratories, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 6,643,208. View filing ↗
- Riot Blockchain, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. CEO total compensation as printed in Riot Blockchain, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 3,460,222. View filing ↗
- Microvision, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-06-11. CEO total compensation as printed in Microvision, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 3,387,845. View filing ↗
- Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-13. CEO total compensation as printed in Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 2,506,043. View filing ↗
- PowerFleet, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-07-29. CEO total compensation as printed in PowerFleet, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 2,134,829. View filing ↗
- ParkerVision, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-08-11. CEO total compensation as printed in ParkerVision, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 2,100,923. View filing ↗
- Aware, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-22. CEO total compensation as printed in Aware, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 1,826,746. View filing ↗
- Research Frontiers Inc (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. CEO total compensation as printed in Research Frontiers Inc's own proxy. As printed: 754,777. View filing ↗
- Peraso Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-08-10. CEO total compensation as printed in Peraso Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 499,000. View filing ↗
- Creative Realities, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-12-03. CEO total compensation as printed in Creative Realities, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 450,000. View filing ↗
- Pure Bioscience, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-12-30. CEO total compensation as printed in Pure Bioscience, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 191,300. View filing ↗
- Autoscope Technologies Corp., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2022-03-22. CEO total compensation as printed in Autoscope Technologies Corp.'s own proxy. As printed: 0. View filing ↗