Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports
Each of our directors and executive officers and any greater than 10% beneficial owners of our common stock is required to report to the SEC, by a specified date, his transactions involving our common stock. Based solely on a review of the reports filed electronically with the SEC and written representations that no other reports were required to be filed, we believe that, during 2022, all reports required by Section 16(a) were timely filed, except that the reports on Form 4 filed in early 2022 to report 2021 annual stock option grants to each of our non-employee directors were untimely due to an administrative oversight. Our non-employee directors at the time of those grants were Thomas F. Bumol, Ph.D., Thomas J. Cable, Peter A. Demopulos, M.D., Arnold C. Hanish, Leroy E. Hood, M.D., Ph.D., Rajiv Shah, M.D., Kurt Zumwalt and former director Ray Aspiri.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Non-Employee Director Compensation
To attract and retain qualified non-employee candidates to serve on the board of directors, we utilize a combination of cash and equity-based incentive compensation. The significant amount of time that members of the board of directors expend in fulfilling their duties, as well as the skill level required of our directors, is evaluated in setting director compensation, along with director compensation levels at companies in our peer group. We also reimburse our directors for travel and incidental expenses incurred in the performance of their services for us. Our non-employee director compensation policy was updated by the board of directors in 2022 based on a recommendation by the compensation committee after reviewing an analysis of non-employee director compensation of our Peer Group (as defined below).
Our non-employee director compensation policy, as revised effective July 1, 2022, provides that a non-employee director is granted an option to purchase 30,000 shares of our common stock upon his or her initial appointment or election to the board of directors, subject to vesting in equal annual installments over a three-year period beginning on the date the director took office. In addition, on the date of each annual meeting of shareholders, each non-employee director who has served as a director for at least six months and who will continue to serve as a director after the annual meeting is granted an option to purchase 15,000 shares of our common stock that vests in full on the day prior to the date of the next annual meeting of shareholders. The per share exercise price for options granted to non-employee directors is equal to the closing public trading price of our common stock on the date of grant, and vesting is conditioned on the director’s continued service through the applicable vesting dates. Prior to July 1, 2022, a non-employee director was entitled to receive an option to purchase 15,000 shares of our common stock upon his or her initial appointment or election to the board of directors and an option to purchase 7,500 shares of our common stock on the date of each annual meeting of shareholders. In connection with the approval of the revisions to the non-employee director compensation policy increasing the annual option award from 7,500 to 15,000 shares of our common stock, our board of directors authorized a one-time grant of an additional option to purchase 7,500 shares of our common stock to each of our non-employee directors to bring the total number of option shares awarded to each non-employee director during 2022 to 15,000, consistent with the revised policy.
Under our current policy, each non-employee director receives an annual cash retainer of $50,000 for service on the board of directors, plus additional fees for committee service, as applicable. Committee fees are $10,000, $7,500, $5,000 and $5,000 per year for services as a non-chair member of the audit, compensation, nominating and governance, and scientific committees, respectively, while fees for the chairs of those committees are $20,000, $15,000, $10,000 and $10,000 per year, respectively. In addition, our lead independent director receives an annual retainer of $25,000 for his service in such capacity. Prior to July 1, 2022, each non-employee director received an annual cash retainer of $40,000 for service on the board of directors and our lead independent director received an annual retainer of $10,000 for his service in such capacity. Committee fees under our policy prior to July 1, 2022 were $7,500, $5,000, $4,000 and $4,000 per year for services as a non-chair member of the audit, compensation, nominating and governance, and scientific committees, respectively, while fees for the chairs of those committees were $15,000, $10,000, $7,500 and $7,500 per year, respectively.
Director fees are paid on a quarterly basis as earned on a prorated basis.