Sullivan Michele 4

What Happened
Michele Sullivan, a director of Community Financial System, Inc. (CBU), was granted 1,220 phantom stock units on March 17, 2026. The grant is reported as a derivative award (code A) with a reported dollar price of $0.00 because these are deferred/phantom units that will be settled in common stock at a future date rather than an open-market purchase or cash transaction.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-03-17; Report filed: 2026-03-18. Filing appears timely (next-business-day filing).
• Transaction type: Award/derivative (phantom stock units) — 1,220 units at $0.00 reported price.
• Shares owned after transaction: Not specified in the filing.
• Notable footnotes:
  • F1: Each phantom unit equals the economic equivalent of one share and will be settled in common stock at future dates selected by the reporting person.
  • F2/F5: Includes small amounts of phantom units (≈20.47 and ≈20.93 units) received Jan 12, 2026 as dividend equivalents under director and LTIP/Plan features.
  • F3/F4: Units include deferred stock units issued under the company’s LTIP/Plan that will settle in common stock at predetermined dates.

Context
Phantom stock/deferred stock unit awards represent future rights to company shares (or their cash equivalent) and are common for director compensation. They are not an open-market purchase (which some investors view as a stronger immediate bullish signal), nor a sale; instead they increase the insider’s future economic exposure to the company. Because these units settle later in actual shares, the immediate reported value is shown as $0.00 and the eventual value will depend on Community Financial’s stock price at settlement.