Item 5.02. |
Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
Departure of Kevin Appelbaum as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
On June 7, 2022, Better Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) and Kevin Appelbaum agreed that Mr. Appelbaum shall cease serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) effective as of July 5, 2022 (the “Effective Date”).
The Company also entered into a Separation Agreement and Release (the “Separation Agreement”) with Mr. Appelbaum, pursuant to which, following the Effective Date, Mr. Appelbaum will be eligible to receive the following, subject to the execution of an effective release of claims against the Company and its affiliates and continued compliance with applicable restrictive covenants: (i) 12 months’ base salary continuation, (ii) monthly payments equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to Mr. Appelbaum had he remained employed by the Company for up to 12 months from the Effective Date and (iii) immediate vesting of certain outstanding stock-based equity awards, in each case beginning on the Effective Date.
The foregoing summary of the Separation Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete agreement, which is attached as Exhibit 10.1 hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
Appointment of Frank Karbe as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
On June 7, 2022, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Frank Karbe (the “Karbe Employment Agreement”) to appoint him as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective as of July 5, 2022. In addition, on June 8, 2022, the Board appointed Mr. Karbe as a Class II director to the Board effective as of the Effective Date, to fill the vacancy created by Mr. Appelbaum’s departure and to hold office until the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, or until his earlier resignation or removal.
Mr. Karbe, 54, previously served as the Principal Financial and Accounting Officer of Myovant Sciences Ltd. from September 2016 to August 2021. Mr. Karbe was appointed as Myovant Sciences, Inc.’s Chief Financial Officer in April 2017 and was subsequently appointed as President and Chief Financial Officer in February 2020. From September 2014 to July 2016, Mr. Karbe served as President of The Color Run, a global mass participation events platform, where he was responsible for leading the operational and financial functions. From January 2004 to June 2014, Mr. Karbe was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Exelixis, Inc., a biotechnology company. During his tenure at Exelixis, Mr. Karbe was responsible for leading the finance organization, internal and external communications, business development, information technology, corporate strategy and various other operational functions. Prior to joining Exelixis in 2004, Mr. Karbe worked as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs & Co., where he served most recently as Vice President in the healthcare group advising clients on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 1997, Mr. Karbe held various positions in the finance department of The Royal Dutch/Shell Group in Europe. Mr. Karbe has served as a director of Aduro Biotech, Inc. from April 2019 to October 2020 and Arbutus Biopharma Corporation from 2010 to 2018, and currently serves as a director of Phantom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Karbe received his Diplom-Kaufmann from the WHU-Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management, Koblenz, Germany.
There are no arrangements or understandings between Mr. Karbe and any other person pursuant to which he was appointed as a director, President, Chief Executive Officer and principal executive officer, and there are no transactions between Mr. Karbe and the Company that would require disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.
Pursuant to the Karbe Employment Agreement, Mr. Karbe is entitled to receive an initial annual base salary of $500,000 and is eligible to receive an annual performance bonus with a target annual bonus amount of 50% of his annual base salary. Mr. Karbe’s bonus for 2022 will be pro-rated based on the Effective Date and length of Mr. Karbe’s employment with the Company during 2022.
Further, the Board approved the grant to Mr. Karbe as of the Effective Date of (i) a time-based option to purchase 472,200 shares of the Company’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“Common Stock”), with 25% of the option shares vesting on the first anniversary of the Effective Date and the balance vesting in equal monthly