Can I change or revoke my vote?

Your attendance at the Annual Meeting will not automatically revoke your proxy. However, if you are a stockholder of record you can change or revoke your proxy at any time before it is voted at the Annual Meeting by:

Only your last-submitted, timely vote will count at the Annual Meeting.

If you are a street name holder, you must contact your broker to receive instructions as to how you may revoke your proxy instructions.

We encourage you to vote in advance of the Annual Meeting to ensure your vote is counted should you be unable to participate in the Annual Meeting. Stockholders who have pre-registered to attend the Annual Meeting and who have not voted their shares prior to the Annual Meeting or who wish to change their vote will be able to vote their shares electronically at the Annual Meeting while the polls are open. If you properly provide your proxy in time to be voted at the Annual Meeting, it will be voted as you specify unless it is properly revoked prior thereto. If you properly provide your proxy but do not include your voting specifications, the shares represented by the proxy will be voted in accordance with the recommendations of the Board, as described in this proxy statement.

Who is paying for this proxy solicitation?

This proxy solicitation is made by our Board on our behalf, and we will bear the cost of soliciting proxies. In addition to solicitation by mail, our directors, officers and employees may solicit proxies personally or by telephone or other means of communication. We will not compensate our directors, officers or employees for making proxy solicitations on our behalf. We will provide persons holding shares in their name or in the names of nominees, which in either case are beneficially owned by others, soliciting materials for delivery to those beneficial owners and will reimburse the record owners for their expenses in doing so.

Can I ask questions at the Annual Meeting?

If you registered in advance and attend the Annual Meeting, you may submit questions during the Annual Meeting. We encourage you to submit questions at www.proxydocs.com/GHM after logging in with your unique control number provided in connection with your pre-registration for the Annual Meeting.

We expect to respond to questions during the Annual Meeting that are pertinent to meeting matters as time permits. We may group together questions that are substantially similar to avoid repetition.

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

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

Where can I obtain additional information?

You can obtain, free of charge, a copy of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 (“fiscal year 2022”) by:

You can also obtain a copy of our annual report on Form 10-K and all other reports and information that we file with, or furnish to, the SEC from the SEC’s EDGAR database located at www.sec.gov.

Proposal One:

Election of Directors

The Board currently consists of seven members. Our amended and restated by-laws provide for a classified board of directors consisting of three classes of directors, with each class serving a staggered three-year term. As a result, stockholders elect only a portion of our Board each year. The terms of two of our directors, Cari L. Jaroslawsky and Jonathan W. Painter, will expire at the Annual Meeting.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board has nominated Cari L. Jaroslawsky and Jonathan W. Painter for election as directors. If elected, each of Ms. Jaroslawsky and Mr. Painter will hold office for a three-year term expiring in 2025 or until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified. Our Board does not contemplate that either of the nominees will be unable to serve as a director, but if that contingency should occur before the proxies are voted, the designated proxies reserve the right to vote for such substitute nominee(s) as they, in their discretion, determine. Our amended and restated by-laws do not permit re-election after a director reaches the age of 75.

Board Recommendation

The Board unanimously recommends a vote FOR the election of each of Ms. Jaroslawsky and Mr. Painter as a director to serve for a three-year term expiring in 2025.

Nominees Proposed for Election as Directors at the Annual Meeting

Directors Whose Terms do not Expire at the 2016 Annual Meeting

Mr. Lines became our President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2008. Previously, Mr. Lines served as our President and Chief Operating Officer since June 2006. Mr. Lines has served us in various capacities since 1984, including Vice President and General Manager, Vice President of Engineering and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining our management team, he served us as an application engineer and sales engineer as well as a product supervisor. Mr. Lines holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

As our President and Chief Executive Officer, and as a result of his day-to-day leadership of the business, Mr. Lines provides our Board of Directors with valuable insight regarding the operations of our company and our management team and he performs a critical role in Board discussions regarding strategic planning and development. Our Board of Directors also benefits from his historical knowledge of our company and his broad and in-depth understanding of our markets and customers. Mr. Lines has served our company in various executive capacities for more than 20 years and has more than 30 years of experience interacting with our customers, engineering contractors, competitors and similar companies serving the energy markets.

Corporate Governance

Director Independence

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that the independence standards of the NYSE govern the independence determinations for the members of our Board. The Board has affirmatively determined that each of Messrs. Barber, Fortier, Painter, and Stoner, and Mses. Jaroslawsky and Schnorr is independent and has no material relationship with us as required by the independence standards of the NYSE. In addition, the Board has determined that Messrs. Malvaso and Mazurkiewicz were independent during their respective period of service with the Company under the NYSE independence standards. Mr. Thoren, our Chief Executive Officer and employee, and Mr. Lines, our former Chief Executive Officer and former employee, are not independent.

Board Leadership Structure

Mr. Painter, a non-executive independent director, serves as Chair of the Board. Our Board believes that its leadership structure, with a non-executive Chair position separate from our Chief Executive Officer, provides appropriate, independent oversight of management. The Chair of our Board presides at all meetings of the Board and stockholders; presides during regularly held sessions with only the independent directors; encourages and facilitates active participation of all directors; develops the calendar of and agendas for Board meetings in consultation with our Chief Executive Officer and other members of the Board; determines, in consultation with our Chief Executive Officer, the information that should be provided to the Board in advance of meetings; and performs any other duties requested by the Board from time to time.

Committees and Meetings of the Board; Meeting Attendance

Our Board has a standing Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The duties and responsibilities of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are set forth in their respective charters and are described below. The current charter of each committee is available on our website at www.grahamcorp.com under the heading “Investor Relations” and the subheading “Governance.” Information contained on our website is not a part of this proxy statement.

The following table lists the membership of the committees of the Board, the Chairs of each committee, and the number of committee meetings held in fiscal year 2022.

						Committee Membership
Name						Audit Committee		Compensation Committee		Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
James J. Barber, Ph.D.(1)
Alan Fortier(2)
Cari L. Jaroslawsky(3)
Jonathan W. Painter
Lisa M. Schnorr
Troy A. Stoner(4)
Number of meetings in fiscal year 2022:						5		6		5

= Chair

= Member

During fiscal year 2022, the Board held a total of eight meetings. Each director attended at least 75% of the aggregate of the total number of meetings of the Board, and the total number of meetings of all committees of the Board on which he or she served.

Thenon-management directors meet without members of management present during regularly scheduled executive sessions and at such other times as they deem necessary or appropriate. The Chair of the Board presides over these executive sessions.

Our policy requires that each director attend our annual meeting of stockholders or provide the Chair of the Board with advance notice of the reason for not attending. All of our then serving directors attended our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Audit Committee

We have a separately-designated standing Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Board has affirmatively determined that each member of the Audit Committee satisfies the independence standards of the NYSE applicable to audit committee members and applicable SEC rules. The Board has also determined that each of Mses. Jaroslawsky and Schnorr qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” in accordance with applicable SEC rules based on their education and extensive professional work experience as described in each of their biographies under “Proposal One: Election of Directors.”

The Audit Committee reviews with Deloitte & Touche LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, our financial statements and internal control over financial reporting, Deloitte & Touche LLP’s auditing procedures and fees, and the possible effects of professional services upon the independence of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

The Audit Committee works closely with the Board, our executive management team and our independent registered public accounting firm to assist the Board in overseeing our accounting and financial reporting processes and financial statement audits. In furtherance of these responsibilities, the Audit Committee assists the Board in its oversight of:

In addition, the Audit Committee’s responsibilities include reviewing and overseeing any transactions between us and any related person as defined by the SEC’s rules and discussing our guidelines and policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management. The Audit Committee is also responsible for preparing the Audit Committee’s report that the SEC’s rules require to be included in our annual proxy statement, and performing such other tasks that are consistent with the Audit Committee’s charter. The Audit Committee’s report appears under the heading “Report of the Audit Committee.”

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee evaluates, interviews and nominates candidates for election to the Board and is responsible for oversight of our corporate governance practices.

When identifying director nominees, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee solicits suggestions from incumbent directors, management and stockholders. In identifying and evaluating nominees, the Nominating and

Corporate Governance Committee seeks candidates possessing the highest standards of personal and professional ethics and integrity; practical wisdom, independent thinking, maturity and the ability to exercise sound business judgment; skills, experience and demonstrated abilities that help meet the current needs of the Board; and a firm commitment to the interests of our stockholders. Although the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee does not maintain a specific written diversity policy, it recognizes the value of diversity and seeks diverse candidates when possible and appropriate and considers diversity in its review of candidates. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that diversity includes not only gender and ethnicity, but the various perspectives that come from having differing geographic and cultural backgrounds, viewpoints and life experiences.

In addition, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee takes into consideration such other factors as it deems appropriate. These factors may include knowledge of our industry and markets, experience with businesses and other organizations of comparable size, the interplay of the nominee’s experience with the experience of other members of the Board, and the extent to which the candidate would be a desirable addition to the Board and any of its committees. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may consider, among other factors, experience or expertise in our industry, global business, science and technology, competitive positioning, corporate governance, risk management, finance or economics, and public affairs.

Stockholders entitled to vote in the election of directors at any annual meeting may recommend candidates for consideration by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee as potential nominees by submitting written recommendations to the attention of our Corporate Secretary at the following address: Graham Corporation, 20 Florence Avenue, Batavia, New York 14020. Stockholder recommendations must contain: (i) each candidate’s name, age, business and residence addresses; (ii) the candidate’s principal occupation or employment; (iii) each candidate’s written consent to serve as a director, if elected; (iv) whether each candidate would be an independent director if elected, and the basis therefore, under the NYSE listing standards; (v) a description of the candidate’s qualifications to be a director; and (vi) such other information regarding each candidate as would be required to be included in the proxy statement pursuant to the SEC’s rules. Any stockholder submitting a recommendation must provide his or her own name and address as they appear on our books and records, as well as the class and number of our shares owned of record and the dates he or she acquired such shares. In addition, any stockholder submitting a recommendation must provide (i) a description of all arrangements or understandings between the stockholder and each candidate and any other person pursuant to which the nominations were made; (ii) the identification of any person retained by the stockholder or by any candidate, or any person acting on his or her behalf to make solicitations for the purpose of electing such candidate and a brief description of the terms of such arrangement; (iii) a description of any arrangement, the effect or intent of which is to mitigate loss, manage risk or benefit from changes in the Company’s share price, or increase or decrease the voting power of the stockholder or beneficial owner with respect to the Company’s shares, and the stockholder’s agreement to notify the Company in writing within five business days after the record date for such meeting of any such arrangement in effect as of the record date for the meeting; and (iv) any such information regarding the stockholder as would be required to be included in a proxy statement or provided to the Company pursuant to the SEC’s rules. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee will evaluate director candidates proposed by stockholders using the same criteria, and in the same manner, as described above for other potential nominees.

Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee annually reviews and approves the goals and objectives relevant to the compensation of the Chief Executive Officer, evaluates the Chief Executive Officer’s performance and either as a committee or with the other independent directors of the Board, determines and approves the Chief Executive Officer’s compensation levels.

The Compensation Committee also annually reviews and approves salaries, incentive cash awards and other forms of compensation paid to our other executive officers, approves recipients of equity-based awards and establishes the number of shares and other terms applicable to such awards. The Compensation Committee also construes the provisions of and generally administers the 2020 Graham Corporation Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Incentive Plan”), and any successor plan thereto. The Compensation Committee operates pursuant to its charter and may delegate its authority or responsibility to one or more subcommittees.

The Compensation Committee also reviews and makes recommendations regarding the compensation paid to the Board. More information about the compensation of our directors is set forth under the heading “Director Compensation.” The Compensation Committee annually conducts a performance evaluation of its operation and function and recommends any proposed changes to the Board for approval.

In addition, the Compensation Committee is responsible for reviewing and discussing with management the Compensation Discussion and Analysis that is included in our annual proxy statement and performing such other tasks that are consistent with its charter.

The Compensation Committee recognizes the importance of using an independent consultant that provides services solely to the Compensation Committee and not to management. The Compensation Committee engaged an independent compensation consultant in fiscal year 2022. For more information on the role of the Compensation Committee in determining executive compensation, including its use of an independent consultant, see “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” under the heading “Executive Compensation.”

Corporate Governance Guidelines

The Board has adopted Corporate Governance Guidelines to promote the effective functioning of the Board in its governance of our business and corporate operations. The Corporate Governance Guidelines are available on our website at www.grahamcorp.com under the heading “Investor Relations” and the subheadings “Governance” and “Governance Documents.”

Political Contribution Policy Statement

The Board has adopted a political contribution policy statement, which outlines the Company’s policies, procedures and philosophy regarding its political contributions and activities. It is the Company’s policy not to make independent political expenditures in support of the election or defeat of particular candidates and not to maintain a political action committee. This policy is available on our website at www.grahamcorp.com under the heading “Investor Relations” and the subheadings “Governance” and “Governance Documents.”

Board Policy on Stockholder Rights Plans

We do not have a “poison pill” or stockholder rights plan. If we were to adopt a stockholder rights plan, the Board would seek prior stockholder approval of the plan unless, due to timing constraints or other reasons, a majority of independent directors of the Board determines that it would be in the best interests of stockholders to adopt a plan before obtaining stockholder approval. If a stockholder rights plan is adopted without prior stockholder approval, the Board will submit the plan for approval by stockholders prior to the first anniversary of the effective date of the plan or the plan will otherwise terminate.

The Board’s Role in Risk Oversight

The Board oversees our risk profile and management’s processes for managing risk, primarily through the Board’s committees. Our Audit Committee focuses on financial risks, including those that could arise from our accounting and financial reporting processes. Additionally, our Audit Committee monitors and directs the formal risk management projects implemented by management. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee focuses on the management of risks associated with board organization, membership and structure, corporate governance, and the recruitment and retention of talented Board members. Our Compensation Committee focuses on the management of risks that could arise from our compensation policies and programs and, in particular, our executive compensation programs and policies.

As part of its risk oversight responsibilities, the Board and its committees review the policies and processes that senior management uses to manage our risk exposure. In doing so, the Board and its committees review our overall risk function and senior management’s establishment of appropriate systems and processes for managing areas of material risk to the Company, including, but not limited to, operational, financial, legal, regulatory, strategic and information technology risks (including with respect to cybersecurity).

Communications from Stockholders and other Interested Parties

Stockholders and other interested parties who wish to contact the Board or an individual director, including the independent Chair of the Board or independent directors as a group, should send their communications to the attention of the Corporate Secretary, Graham Corporation, 20 Florence Avenue, Batavia, New York 14020. The Corporate Secretary will forward all such communications as directed unless the communication is inappropriate.

Environmental and Social Matters

Commitment to Sustainability

Oversight

Graham Corporation is committed to embedding sustainability throughout our business. We believe that all our stakeholders must be considered in our everyday actions. In 2021, we enhanced our environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) strategy to align with the broader transformation of our business. Our executive management team recognized the importance of embedding environmental and social priorities within our business operations and approved an enhanced and modernized ESG strategy intended to drive additional progress on initiatives that promote sustainability and increase transparency. Notably, to help ensure our accountability and progress, the Board has appointed Mr. Thoren, Graham’s Chief Executive Officer, as the lead officer with responsibility for overseeing and advancing the Company’ efforts with respect to ESG initiatives. In such capacity, Mr. Thoren reviews our ESG efforts with the Board and the various Board committees as appropriate.

This year, we also established an ESG working group, which is responsible for leading our ESG strategy and monitoring our corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability initiatives. This group includes cross-functional subject matter experts from across the business. Against this backdrop, we have, with the assistance of outside ESG expertise, performed an assessment of key indicators and engaged with our internal and external stakeholders on ESG topics to help further inform our future direction and tenets. This ESG working group oversees Graham’s sustainability strategy and subsequent disclosures, including the production of our recently released 2022 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Factsheet available on our website www.grahamcorp.com.The four tenets of our ESG strategy are shown below:

Environment

We believe that a focus on environmental stewardship is fundamental and integral to the work we do every day to serve our customers, create value for our stockholders, and benefit our global community. We have taken steps at both our business units in Batavia, New York and Arvada, Colorado to improve energy efficiencies and air quality that are intended to lessen our impact on the environment. Notably:

Furthermore, in addition to serving mature fossil-based end markets, we are well established in and support the development of emerging and transformative products for alternate and renewable energy sources. Graham Batavia, NY maintains compliance with multiple quality programs including The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the National Board of Boiler & Pressure Vessel Inspectors while maintaining ISO 9001 certification. Barber-Nichols is certified to AS9100 and ISO 9001.

We have over 490 employees across our facilities, including our new 43,000 square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant that is part of the 96,000 square foot facility in Arvada, Colorado, where our commitment to reducing the waste we generate and utilizing our expertise to produce high quality and sustainable products. Each of our facilities are diligent in controlling hazardous waste and ensuring wastewater and storm sewer discharges are monitored to support greater access to clean water. Additionally, a key aspect of our ESG strategy is climate change. We help minimize our environmental footprint with Adopt A Street activities, factory recycling programs, electric car charging stations, and energy saving initiatives like LED lighting, motion sensors for lighting, smart compressors to manage energy loads and installing programmable thermostats in our facilities.

Our People

At Graham, we believe our most important asset is our people. We are committed to fostering and embracing a Graham community in which employees share a mutual understanding and respect for each other. Our pledge to diversity and equality encompasses our commitment to create a work environment which embraces inclusion regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, pregnancy, childbirth, disability, veteran status, or medical conditions. We continually strive to use our knowledge, talents, and resources to improve the quality of life of our workforce.

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (“DEI”) is very important to us at Graham. Our commitment starts with our goal of attracting, retaining, and developing a workforce that is diverse in background, knowledge, skill, and experience.    As of March 31, 2022, women represented approximately 19% and self-identified racial and ethnic minorities represented approximately 5% of our workforce. We strive to mirror our local communities through recruitment in our high schools and community colleges.

Our management recognizes that a diverse workforce and a culture of equity and inclusion helps us compete more effectively, sustain success, and build long-term shareholder value. We encourage every one of our team members to form deeper relationships with those around them based on mutual respect, dignity, and understanding. Furthermore, to encourage productive conversations within our organization, we have implemented employee surveys. Graham has robust non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies as outlined in our employee handbook, as well as a formal Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

We believe that employee development is vital to our continued success, and we support the development of our employees through programs such as our internal weld school training, our partnerships for external weld training, our tuition assistance program, and management training classes. Our management is continuously focused on developing an inclusive and respectful work environment where our employees are highly engaged and motivated.

We are dedicated to ensuring the health and safety of our team members by supporting the whole person. Our dedicated global health and safety function is executed through our business unit safety committees to ensure that employees are trained on best practices to create a safe and healthy workplace for all. Arvada has met the requirements to be certified as a Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) by OSHA. To ensure the health and wellbeing of our employees, we aim to provide a robust health and wellness package. Some of the various benefits we offer include:

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and throughout 2021, the health, safety, and wellness of Graham’s employees and their families have been our highest priority. We ask our employees and visitors to stay home if ill and we maintain visitor logs to enable contact tracing if necessary. Our leadership continues to monitor the health and safety of our employees in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

Our Communities

We believe that investing in local communities to create positive social and economic outcomes is at the heart of generating social impact. We believe that to be successful we need to push ourselves to do our best, for our customers, for our stockholders, for the Company, for ourselves, for those around us, and for the world that we all share. We are committed to supporting the communities in which we do business by leveraging the power of our Company through donations, scholarships, education and participation with certain charitable organizations. We strive to use our capabilities, reach and resources to make a lasting difference in the world. Notably:

We believe it is our responsibility to respect human rights in our operations, including, among other things, by opposing human trafficking and the exploitation of children. Accordingly, we have adopted a Human Rights Policy Statement to emphasize our strong commitment to human rights. As another part of being a good corporate citizen, we adopted a Conflict Minerals Policy that is intended to support our commitment to sourcing components and materials from companies that share our values around human rights and ethics. Both policies are available on our website: www.grahamcorp.com.

Corporate Governance

Graham is committed to achieving excellence in our corporate governance practices. We emphasize a culture of accountability and conduct our business in a manner that is fair, ethical, and responsible to earn the trust of our stakeholders. The Company has corporate governance and sustainability policies and structures in place to foster accountability and transparency. These policies reflect our underlying commitment to maintain the highest standards of ethics and integrity and to operate our business in compliance with all applicable anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-trust laws and regulations.

The Board of Directors is comprised of a majority of independent directors as defined by the NYSE listing standards and the Board’s Corporate Governance Guidelines. All of the Board committees are comprised entirely of independent directors. The Board also believes that director refreshment is an important component of good corporate governance, and therefore, in March of 2022, nominated two new directors.

Graham recognizes that effectively managing enterprise risks is critically important to the long-term success of our business. Management is responsible for our company’s day-to-day risk management activities. Our company relies on a comprehensive risk management process to aggregate, monitor, measure, and manage risks. While we exercise oversight, we do not have full control over our supply chain nor the suppliers we do business with; however, we continually seek to partner with suppliers that share common values and a shared commitment to our ESG objectives.

As a global leader in the design and manufacture of critical electronics-enhanced turbomachines and turbomachine-based subsystems as well as vacuum and heat exchangers technologies, Graham is a trusted partner that meets the industry’s high bar for data resiliency and security. We leverage the latest encryption configurations and technologies on our systems, devices, and third-party connections and further vet third-party vendors’ encryption, as required, through our vendor management process.

We routinely engage with our stakeholders to better understand their views on ESG matters, carefully considering the feedback we receive and acting when appropriate. For more information, please visit our website: https://grahamcorp.com.

Executive Officers

As of June 8, 2022, we were served by the following executive officers and Section 16 officers, each of whom was appointed by the Board:

Daniel J. Thoren, age 58, has served as our Chief Executive Officer since September 2021 and became our President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2021. Further information about Mr. Thoren is set forth under “Proposal One: Election of Directors.”

Christopher J. Thome, age 51, became our Vice President—Finance and Chief Financial Officer in April 2022. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Thome served as Corporate Controller and Treasurer of Allied Motion Technologies Inc., a producer of precision and specialty motion control components and systems, since February 2020 and held progressively advancing roles at Integer Holdings Corporation, a provider of advanced medical device outsourcing, from July 2006 to February 2020, including Senior Director—Treasurer and Senior Director—Financial Reporting, Treasury Operations and Shared Services. Mr. Thome is a certified public accountant.

Matthew Malone, age 35, became our Vice President—Barber-Nichols in June 2021. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Malone served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Barber-Nichols in May 2021, having previously served as Barber-Nichols Vice President of Operations from May 2020 to May 2021, Project Management Office Manager from November 2017 to May 2020, and Project Engineer from July 2015 to November 2017.

Alan E. Smith, age 55, became our Vice President and General Manager—Batavia in July 2015. Mr. Smith served as our Vice President of Operations from July 2007 until July 2015. Previously, from 2005 until July 2007, Mr. Smith served as Director of Operations for Lydall, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of specialty engineering products. Prior to that, he had been employed by us for fourteen years, progressing from Project Engineer to Engineering Manager.

Jennifer R. Condame,age 57, became our Chief Accounting Officer inJuly 2008. She also serves as our Corporate Controller, a position she has held since 1994. From 1992 to 1994, she was our Manager of Accounting and Financial Reporting. Prior to joining us in 1992, Ms. Condame was employed as an Audit Manager by Price Waterhouse, a predecessor to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Executive Compensation

As a smaller reporting company under the Exchange Act we are not required to provide certain disclosures pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K, however, we have elected to provide such executive compensation information in accordance with certain scaled disclosure requirements allowed of smaller reporting companies to provide transparency with respect to the compensation of our named executive officers.

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

Introduction

This Compensation Discussion and Analysis (“CD&A”) provides information about the compensation programs for certain of our executive officers named in the Fiscal Year 2022 Summary Compensation Table. These named executive officers are:

Mr. Lines retired from the Company effective as of August 31, 2021 and is included as a named executive officer because he served as our Chief Executive Officer during fiscal year 2022. Mr. Glajch retired from the Company effective April 15, 2022 and is included as a named executive officer because he was among the two most highly compensated executive officers (other than the Chief Executive Officer) on the last day of fiscal year 2022.

This CD&A includes the philosophy and objectives of the Compensation Committee of our Board, descriptions of each of the elements of our executive compensation programs, and the basis for the compensation decisions we made during fiscal year 2022.

Executive Summary

Fiscal Year 2022 Results

The Compensation Committee’s philosophy focuses on aligning the interests of our named executive officers with those of our stockholders by rewarding performance that enhances the objective of increasing both current and long-term stockholder value. Our executive compensation programs are designed to provide a strong link between the amounts earned by our named executive officers and Company and individual performance.

During fiscal year 2022, our named executive officers continued to implement our strategic plan to diversify, increase productivity, improve processes, and grow our market share and profits in our existing businesses.

Early in fiscal year 2022, we acquired Barber-Nichols which has changed the composition of the Company’s end market mix as we substantially increased sales to the defense industry and added sales to the space industry. While Barber-Nichols outperformed expectations in fiscal year 2022, Graham manufacturing faced challenges during the same period which resulted in added costs. Highlights of our financial results for fiscal year 2022 are as follows:

This CD&A includes the philosophy and objectives of the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors, descriptions of each of the elements of our executive compensation programs and the basis for the compensation decisions we made during fiscal year 2016.

Executive Summary

Fiscal Year 2016 Results

The Compensation Committee’s philosophy focuses on aligning the interests of our named executive officers with those of our stockholders by rewarding performance that enhances the objective of increasing both current and long-term stockholder value. Our executive compensation programs are designed to provide a strong link between the amounts earned by our named executive officers and company and individual performance.

During fiscal year 2016, despite challenging market conditions, our named executive officers continued to implement our strategic plan to diversify, increase productivity, improve processes and grow our market share in our existing businesses. The dramatic reduction and volatility in global crude oil prices has caused a significant slowdown in investment by our oil refining and chemical industry customers. Our financial results for fiscal year 2016 reflect the impact of this slowdown:

The Compensation Committee believes that in fiscal year 2016 our named executive officers performed well in furtherance of our strategic plan given the challenging market conditions. In line with our pay-for-performance philosophy, in fiscal year 2016, our named executive officers realized the following compensation based on our fiscal year 2016 financial performance and their individual performance:

•

The performance-vested restricted stock granted to our named executive officers in fiscal year 2014 vested at 0% of target levels, based on company results below target levels for both the net revenue and EBITDA Margin1 metrics. These shares previously were shown at the target level in the “All Other Stock Awards” column of the Fiscal Year 2014 Grants of Plan-Based Awards table in our proxy statement for the 2014 annual meeting.

Our “Pay for Performance” Philosophy

Our executive compensation programs contain key components and features that reinforce our “pay for performance” philosophy. For example:

How we Make Compensation Decisions

Role of the Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee designs and implements compensation programs that further the intent and purpose of our fundamental compensation philosophy, principles, and objectives. The Compensation Committee is responsible for setting appropriate compensation levels for our named executive officers, and determines base salary, as well as cash and equity-based incentive awards for each of our named executive officers. We provide additional information about the Compensation Committee under the heading “Corporate Governance.”

Role of Named Executive Officers in Compensation Decisions

Within the framework of the executive compensation programs approved by the Compensation Committee and based on management’s review of market competitive positions, our Chief Executive Officer annually reviews the performance of our other named executive officers and presents such performance information to the Compensation Committee. In addition, our Chief Executive Officer makes recommendations to the Compensation Committee with respect to the salary, cash incentive and equity-based incentive compensation paid to our other named executive officers. The Compensation Committee considers such performance information in determining each element of compensation for the other named executive officers. The Compensation Committee uses its discretion to determine whether to accept, reject or modify any adjustments to awards that may be recommended by our Chief Executive Officer. The Compensation Committee annually reviews the performance of our Chief Executive Officer. Our Chief Executive Officer does not play any role with respect to any matter affecting his own compensation.

On an annual basis, our Chief Executive Officer also approves and recommends to the Compensation Committee the individual objectives for our other named executive officers under the Stock Bonus Plan and Cash Bonus Program. The Chair of our Compensation Committee, in consultation with the Chair of the Board, approves individual objectives for our Chief Executive Officer.

Use of Outside Consultants by the Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee believes that it benefits from external advice and assistance to help meet its objectives and fulfill its responsibilities. The Compensation Committee periodically engages outside consultants to educate and inform Committee members with regard to compensation matters, including the advantages and disadvantages of existing and proposed compensation programs, and keeps the Compensation Committee abreast of current and emerging compensation trends both within our industry and for companies of similar size and stature. These consultants also may advise the Compensation Committee with respect to various compensation alternatives, provide the Compensation Committee with relevant market compensation data and assist the Compensation Committee in analyzing such data when making compensation decisions.

The Compensation Committee typically engages a compensation consultant every few years. During fiscal year 2022, the Compensation Committee engaged Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc. to assist the Compensation Committee with respect to the compensation paid to the Company’s senior executive officers.

Use of Peer Group Compensation Data and Tally Sheets

Peer Group Compensation Data. When making compensation decisions, the Compensation Committee may consider executive compensation programs and individual elements of compensation paid to other named executive officers at a group of comparably-sized companies both within our industry and in our geographic region or which we otherwise consider to be our peers. When selecting our peer group shown below, the Compensation Committee considered the companies’ revenue, market capitalization, number of employees, and industry classification.