| Item 5.02 | Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
Appointment of New Director
On September 6, 2020, upon the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (the “Governance Committee”) of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”), the Board appointed Martin Babler as a Class I director and as a member of the Compensation Committee of the Board, effective as of September 8, 2020 (the “Effective Date”).
Since April 2011, Mr. Babler has served as Chief Executive Officer at Principia Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. From December 2007 to April 2011, Mr. Babler served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Talima Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company. From 1998 to 2007, Mr. Babler held several positions at Genentech, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, most notably as Vice President, Immunology Sales and Marketing. While at Genentech he also helped to build and led the Commercial Development organization and led the Cardiovascular Marketing organization. Mr. Babler was previously employed at Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company, in positions focused on sales, sales management, global marketing and business development. Mr. Babler presently serves on the board of directors of Principia Biopharma and on the Emerging Companies Section and the Health Section Governing Boards of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, or BIO. Mr. Babler received a Swiss Federal Diploma in pharmacy from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
In connection with his appointment to the Board, and in accordance with the Company’s current director compensation policy, Mr. Babler will receive cash compensation for serving on the Board, and the Board granted Mr. Babler non-incentive stock options (the “Options”) to purchase up to 50,000 shares of the Company’s common stock under the terms of the Company’s 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, with such Options vesting annually over three years, beginning on the Effective Date, subject, however, to Mr. Babler’s service to the Company on each vesting date.
The Company will enter into an indemnification agreement with Mr. Babler in the form that it has entered into with its other directors and that is filed as Exhibit 10.5 to the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-193615).
