Executive Officer made recommendations to our compensation committee about the compensation of his direct reports in respect of fiscal year 2020.
In 2020, our compensation committee engaged Pay Governance, an independent compensation consulting firm, to assist it in evaluating the Company’s executive and director compensation practices, including program design, identification of an appropriate peer group for compensation comparison purposes and providing pay benchmarking data. Prior to engaging Pay Governance, our compensation committee assessed the independence of Pay Governance from management and, on the basis of that assessment and taking into consideration the independence factors that are required to be considered under applicable stock exchange rules, satisfied itself that no relationships exist that would create a conflict of interest or that would compromise Pay Governance’s independence.
2020 Base salary and annual bonus
The letter agreement with each named executive officer, described below, establishes a base salary for such officer, which was determined at the time that the named executive officer commenced employment with us. For fiscal year 2020, the base salary for each of Dr. Vivaldi, Mr. Reicin, and Dr. Smith was $525,047, $351,072 and $384,800, respectively. In December 2020, Dr. Vivaldi’s base salary was increased to $560,000, and for 2021, Dr. Vivaldi’s base salary was increased to $578,200. In December 2020, Mr. Reicin’s base salary was increased to $390,000, and for 2021, Mr. Reicin’s base salary was increased to $400,725. In December 2020, Dr. Smith’s base salary was increased to $430,000, and for 2021, Dr. Smith’s base salary was increased to $443,975.
With respect to fiscal year 2020, each of Dr. Vivaldi, Mr. Reicin, and Dr. Smith was eligible to receive an annual bonus, with the target amount of such bonus for each named executive officer initially set forth in his letter agreement with us, described below. For fiscal year 2020, the target bonus amounts, expressed as a percentage of base salary, for each of Dr. Vivaldi, Mr. Reicin, and Dr. Smith were as follows: 50%, 40% and 40%, respectively. Annual bonuses for fiscal year 2020 for our named executive officers were based on the attainment of corporate performance goals as determined by our compensation committee. The corporate performance goals for 2020 were generally related to clinical, regulatory, pipeline, platform, business development, financing and business development objectives of the Company. For 2020, the corporate performance goals were met or exceeded resulting in a corporate performance score of 100%. Each named executive officer received a 2020 annual bonus as follows: Dr. Vivaldi, $266,127; Mr. Reicin, $141,663; and Dr. Smith, $152,198.
Agreements with our named executive officers
Each of our named executive officers is party to a letter agreement with us that sets forth the terms and conditions of his employment with us. The material terms of the agreements are described below.
Dr. Vivaldi. We entered into a letter agreement with Dr. Vivaldi that provides for an initial base salary of $500,000 per year (which has subsequently been increased) and a target annual bonus equal to 50% of his annual base salary, with the actual amount of the bonus earned based on the terms of the applicable bonus plan.
Dr. Vivaldi also entered into an Employee Non-Competition, Non-Solicitation, Confidentiality and Assignment Agreement under which he has agreed not to compete with us or solicit our employees, consultants, customers or suppliers during employment and for one year following his termination of employment and has agreed to a perpetual confidentiality covenant and an assignment of intellectual property covenant.
Mr. Reicin. We entered into a letter agreement with Mr. Reicin that provides for an initial base salary of $345,000 per year (which has subsequently been increased) and an annual bonus with a target of up to 40% of his annual base salary, with the actual amount of the bonus earned determined based on the achievement of specific milestones.
Mr. Reicin also entered into an Employee Non-Competition Agreement, under which he has agreed not to compete with us during his employment and for one year following his termination of employment by us for cause (as defined in the Non-Competition Agreement) or resignation by him for any reason, in exchange for garden leave pay during his post-employment non-competition period equal to 50% of his highest annual base salary during the two years