Item 5.02. | Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
Appointment of David Hering, M.B.A. as Chief Executive Officer and Director
On July 5, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Adagio Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed David Hering, M.B.A., age 47, as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. In connection with his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, the Board also appointed Mr. Hering as a Class III director with his term expiring at the Company’s 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.
Mr. Hering served as the Company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer from February 2022 until the Effective Date, and as Chief Operating Officer from June 2021 until the Effective Date. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Hering served as the Head of the mRNA Global Franchise Business of Pfizer, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from April 2021 to June 2021, the President of North America Vaccines of Pfizer, Inc. from December 2018 to April 2021 and the Vaccines Commercial Officer of Pfizer, Inc. from June 2015 to December 2018. Before joining Pfizer in 2015, Mr. Hering spent seven years at Novartis Vaccines, a pharmaceutical company, where he held the position of Head of the North America Region. Mr. Hering received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.
In connection with Mr. Hering’s appointment, the Company entered into a new employment agreement (the “Employment Agreement”) with Mr. Hering, which Employment Agreement superseded Mr. Hering’s previous employment agreement, dated August 5, 2021, and all amendments thereto in its entirety. The Employment Agreement provides that Mr. Hering’s employment will continue until either the Company or Mr. Hering terminates Mr. Hering’s employment in accordance with the terms of the Employment Agreement. In addition, the Company and Mr. Hering had previously entered into an Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement, which, among other things, prohibits him from competing with the Company, soliciting the Company’s employees and customers and disclosing confidential information during the term of his employment and for a specified time thereafter.
Pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Mr. Hering is entitled to receive an annual base salary of $600,000, which will be reviewed at least annually and will be subject to adjustment from time to time, as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). In addition, pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Mr. Hering is eligible to receive an annual cash bonus, which is based on the achievement of certain performance goals and objectives as reasonably determined by the Compensation Committee, calculated as a percentage of his annual base salary, and which will be determined by the Compensation Committee. Mr. Hering’s initial target annual bonus is 60% of his annual base salary. Mr. Hering’s annual bonus in respect of calendar year 2022 will be calculated based upon a blended rate of base salary, which factors in Mr. Hering’s base salary rates in effect during calendar year 2022 for his service as Chief Operating Officer, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer, pro-rated based on the portion of calendar year 2022 during which he served in each such position.
In addition, the Company granted Mr. Hering a stock option to purchase 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price equal to the closing sales price for the Company’s common stock as quoted on the Nasdaq Stock Market on the Effective Date (the “Option Grant”). The Option Grant will vest monthly in equal installments over 48 months, commencing on the Effective Date. The Option Grant was made pursuant to the Company’s 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) and the Company’s form of option award agreement (the “Award Agreement”). Mr. Hering is also eligible to receive an additional stock option to purchase up to 1,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Additional Option Grant”), if certain goals approved by the Board on the recommendation of the Compensation Committee are achieved on or prior to December 31, 2022, with such achievement to be determined by the Board upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee. If such performance goals are partially achieved on or prior to December 31, 2022, then Mr. Hering may receive a partial amount of the Additional Option Grant, with such partial amount to be determined by the Board in its sole and absolute discretion. The Additional Option Grant would have an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the applicable grant date, would vest monthly in equal installments over a 48-month period commencing on the applicable grant date and would be made pursuant to the Plan.