depository or other contractual relationship, pursuant to which the Bank and/or the Company provided products or services during the last 12 months of Executive’s employment.
(c) Nonsolicitation of Employees. Executive agrees that when employed by the Bank and the Company and through the Restricted Period, Executive will not, directly or indirectly, hire any person employed by the Bank, the Company, and/or their Affiliates during the last six (6) months of Executive’s employment, or solicit for hire or induce any such person to terminate employment with the Bank, the Company, and/or their Affiliates, if the purpose is to compete with the Bank, the Company, and/or their Affiliates.
(d) Definitions. As used in this Agreement,
(i) the term “Competitive Business” means any of the following businesses in which Executive was engaged in at any time during the last 24 months of Executive’s employment with the Company and the Bank on behalf of the Company or the Bank: the financial services business, which encompasses one or more of the following businesses, so long as the Company, the Bank or any of their Affiliates are engaged in any of such businesses at the time Executive’s employment ceases: consumer and commercial banking, insurance brokerage, residential and commercial mortgage lending, and any other business in which the Bank, the Company, or any of its Affiliates are engaged;
(ii) the term “Market Area” means (A) the cities of Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Colonial Heights, Suffolk, Fredericksburg, Winchester and Martinsville in Virginia, the counties of Albemarle, Chesterfield, Culpepper, Charlotte, Fluvanna, Page, Patrick, King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, Lancaster, Louisa, Middlesex, Orange, Rockingham, and Spotsylvania in Virginia, and the county of Guilford in North Carolina, and any cities, towns and counties immediately contiguous to such localities, and (B) any other city, town, county or municipality in Virginia or North Carolina in which the Bank or the Company is operating (1) a mortgage or loan production office generating at least $25,000,000 per annum in total home mortgage loan originations in the 12 months preceding Executive’s Termination, or (2) any retail banking office, as of the date Executive’s employment with the Bank and the Company ceases; and
(iii) the term “Person” means any person, partnership, corporation, company, group or other entity.
(e) Confidentiality. As an employee of the Bank and the Company, Executive will have access to and may participate in the origination of non-public, proprietary and confidential information relating to the Bank and/or the Company and/or its affiliates and Executive acknowledges a fiduciary duty owed to the Bank, the Company, and its affiliates not to disclose any such information. Confidential information may include, but is not limited to, trade secrets, customer lists and information, internal corporate planning, methods of marketing and operation, and other data or information of or concerning the Bank, the Company, or its affiliates or their customers that is not generally known to the public or generally in the banking industry. Executive agrees that for a period of five (5) years following the cessation of employment, Executive will not use or disclose to any third party any such confidential information, either directly or indirectly, except as may be authorized in writing specifically by the Company and the Bank; provided, however that to the extent the information covered by this Section 6 is otherwise protected by the law, such as “trade secrets,” as defined by the Virginia Uniform Trade Secrets Act, or customer information protected by banking privacy laws, that information shall not be disclosed or used for however long the legal protections applicable to such information remain in effect.
Nothing in this Agreement restricts or prohibits Executive or Executive’s counsel from initiating communications directly with, responding to any inquiry from, volunteering information to, or providing testimony before a self-regulatory authority or a governmental, law enforcement or other regulatory authority, including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Congress, and any Office of Inspector General (collectively, the “Regulators”), from participating in any reporting of, investigation into, or proceeding regarding suspected violations of law, or from making other disclosures that are protected under or from receiving an award for information provided under the whistleblower provisions of
state or federal law or regulation. Executive does not need the prior authorization of the Bank or the Company to engage in such communications with the Regulators, respond to such inquiries from the Regulators, provide confidential information or documents containing confidential information to the Regulators, or make any such reports or disclosures to the Regulators. Executive is not required to notify the Bank or the Company that Executive has engaged in such communications with the Regulators. Executive recognizes and agrees that, in connection with any such activity outlined above, Executive must inform the Regulators that the information Executive is providing is confidential.
Federal law provides certain protections to individuals who disclose a trade secret to their attorney, a court, or a government official in certain, confidential circumstances. Specifically, federal law provides that an individual shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret under either of the following conditions:
| • | | Where the disclosure is made (a) in confidence to a federal, state or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (b) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or |
| • | | Where the disclosure is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal. |
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