Employment Agreements with Named Executive Officers
As disclosed above, Mr. Arnett was promoted on February 15, 2021 and entered into an employment agreement with the Company at that time that superseded his prior employment agreement as Chief Commercial Officer.
Mr. Arnett’s employment agreement provides that he will receive (a) an annual salary of $400,000 per year, which will increase to $425,000 per year on August 15, 2021; (b) an annual incentive bonus under the Company’s KPI, with a target 60% of his base salary or as generally determined by the Company; (c) a bonus under the Company’s LTI plan with a target of 60% of his base salary or as generally determined by the Company; (d) subject to approval of the Compensation Committee, an award of 80,000 SARs pursuant to the Company’s 2012 Incentive Compensation Plan, with a strike price determined at the time grant, and with vesting to occur in equal installments, subject to Mr. Arnett’s continuous service, on each of the first four anniversaries of the effective date, subject to his continued employment; (e) an automobile allowance of $1,200 per month; (f) up to $20,000 in reasonable relocation expenses if Mr. Arnett moves to the Chicagoland area; and (g) standard employee benefits as are generally available to employees of the Company.
If the Company terminates Mr. Arnett without cause (as defined in his employment agreement), in addition to payment of any accrued obligations, Mr. Arnett would be eligible to receive severance, subject to his execution of a general release of claims, consisting of: (i) certain accrued obligations; (ii) any determined, but unpaid, KPI or LTI bonus relating to the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of termination; (iii) accelerated vesting of any unvested SARs; (iv) a prorated KPI or LTI bonus for the fiscal year in which his termination occurs; (v) 12 months of salary continuation payments; and (vi) 12 months of health benefit continuation coverage on the same terms as provided before Mr. Arnett’s termination.
Mr. Xykis was promoted to the Company’s Chief Technical Officer on March 15, 2021 and entered into an employment agreement with the Company at that time that superseded his prior employment agreement (including amendments thereto) as Vice President of Engineering.
Mr. Xykis’ employment agreement provides that he will receive (a) an annual salary of $335,000 per year; (b) an annual incentive bonus under the Company’s KPI, with a target 50% of his base salary or as generally determined by the Company; (c) a bonus under the Company’s LTI plan with a target of 60% of his base salary or as generally determined by the Company; (d) subject to approval of the Compensation Committee, an award of 25,000 SARs pursuant to the Company’s 2012 Incentive Compensation Plan, with a strike price determined at the time grant, and with vesting to occur in equal installments on each of the first three anniversaries of the effective date, subject to his continued employment; (e) an automobile allowance of $1,975 per month; (f) $1,750 per month to cover the cost of gasoline for Mr. Xykis’ Company-related travel for so long as Mr. Xykis commutes from his current home to the Company’s headquarters; (g) reimbursement of reasonable amounts spent by Mr. Xykis on car insurance for his leased vehicle so long as Mr. Xykis submits documentation of such insurance costs to the Company; and (h) standard employee benefits as are generally available to senior employees of the Company.
If the Company terminates Mr. Xykis without cause (as defined in his employment agreement), Mr. Xykis would be eligible to receive: (i) certain accrued obligations; (ii) any determined, but unpaid, KPI or LTI bonus relating to the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of termination; and (iii) a prorated KPI or LTI bonus for the fiscal year in which his termination occurs. In addition, subject to his execution of a general release of claims, Mr. Xykis is also eligible to receive severance consisting of: (x) 12 months of salary continuation payments; and (y) 12 months of health benefit continuation coverage on the same terms as provided before Mr. Xykis’ termination.
Messrs. Miller’s and Winemaster’s employment agreements terminated in connection with each of their retirements from the Company. The terms of each of their separation agreements are described above under “Executive Team Transitions.”
Each named executive officer is bound by certain confidentiality and restrictive covenants under their current or former employment agreements.
The 2021 salary information for Messrs. Arnett, Miller, Xykis and Winemaster includes payback of a temporary reduction in salary that occurred from July 2021 through December 31, 2021, which amounts were paid to each on December 31, 2021. Information about the payback to Mr. Winemaster is described more fully above under “Executive Team Transitions.”
The Company established an LTI Plan for the period January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022. Pursuant to the LTI Plan, executives, including the named executive officers, are eligible to receive 50% to 150% of a target incentive amount (which target incentive amount is equal to 60% of the executive’s base salary), with (i) 50% of the target incentive amount to be received as a bonus that is not tied to performance conditions and (ii) the remaining amount of 50% (plan target) to 100% (maximum) of the target incentive amount subject to the Company’s performance against a performance indicator based on return on assets over the three-year performance period. The 50% of the target incentive amount (equal to 30% of the executive’s base salary) vests in equal annual installments as follows:
(i) one-third
vested on December 31, 2020 and was paid out in the first quarter of 2021; (ii)
one-third
vested on December 31, 2021 and was paid out in April of 2022; and
(iii) one-third
will vest on December 31, 2022 along with any amount payable with respect to the performance-related component of the LTI plan (i.e. between 50% and 100% of the target incentive amount, depending on the Company’s performance as outlined in the prior sentence), and will be paid out 30 days after 2022 audit results are approved. A full description of the Company’s LTI Plan is available at Exhibit 10.35, “Description of Long-Term Incentive Plan” to the Company’s Form
10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022.