Elme Communities announced the planned retirement of Stephen E. Riffee, Executive Vice President and CFO, at the end of February 2023 and the Company's CFO succession plan. The Company announced a succession plan under which Steven Freishtat, currently Vice President, Finance, is expected to succeed Mr. Riffee as Chief Financial Officer following Mr. Riffee's retirement. Mr. Freishtat has been with Elme Communities since 2015 and brings extensive knowledge of capital markets, strategic transactions, capital allocation, public company operations and financial planning, making him an ideal leader of Finance team.

Mr. Freishtat's prior background before serving as Elme's Vice President, Finance included financial planning and analysis for Marriott and as a banker with CapitalSource. He has been instrumental in the execution of multifamily transformation and has spent significant time working closely with Mr. Riffee and the rest of the team, which has helped prepare for this succession. Mr. Freishtat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Indiana University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.

He earned his CPA in 1997 (inactive) and is a CFA Charter holder. As part of the CFO succession plan, Drew Hammond, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer is expected to be promoted to Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Kelly O'Shields, Director, Real Estate Accounting is expected to be promoted to Vice President, Finance. Mr. Hammond has been with Elme Communities since 2012, leading corporate and property accounting operations, financial reporting, technical accounting, payroll and REIT and tax compliance.

As a certified public accountant with 27 years of public and corporate accounting experience, Mr. Hammond has been instrumental in all the Company has accomplished during his tenure as a highly respected member of the Finance team. He will complement Mr. Freishtat as Elme continues its growth. Mr. Hammond brings the higher level of diligence to team as a key leader for future.

Ms. O'Shields is a certified public accountant with management-level experience in public accounting, real estate accounting, accounting policy and change management. Ms. O'Shields has grown and contributed in many key roles since joining the Company in 2019. Most recently, she played a central role in designing and implementing new operating and technology platform.

She has been an excellent leader on Accounting and Finance team and will help the Finance team support the next phase of growth as a multifamily company.