UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
(Rule 14a-101)
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(Amendment No. )
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☐ Preliminary Proxy Statement
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☒ Definitive Proxy Statement
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☐ Soliciting Material Pursuant to §240.14a-12
REGENXBIO Inc.
(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)
(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)
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☒ No fee required
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REGENXBIO Inc.
9712
9804 Medical Center Drive Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
To Be Held On June 1, 2016
Dear Stockholder:
You are cordially invited to attend the Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the Annual Meeting)“Annual Meeting”) of REGENXBIO Inc., a Delaware corporation (the Company)“Company”). The Annual Meeting will be held on June 1, 2016,2, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. local time at the Company’s offices located at 97129804 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, Maryland 20850 for the following purposes:
The record date for the Annual Meeting is April 7, 2016. Only stockholders of record at the close of business on that date mayApril 3, 2023 are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. A complete list of such stockholders will be available for examinationinspection at ourthe Company’s offices in Rockville, Maryland at the Annual Meeting and during normal business hours for a period of ten10 days prior to the Annual Meeting.
YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT!
Your vote is important. Please vote Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting in person, please submit your proxy by usingtelephone or over the internet, or by telephone or, if you received a paper copy of thecompleting, signing, dating and returning your proxy card by mail, by signing and returningor voting instruction form so that your shares will be represented at the enclosed proxy card.Annual Meeting. Instructions for your voting options are described onin the Company’s proxy statement for the Annual Meeting, Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials orand proxy card.
Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders Meeting to be held on June 1, 2016. 2, 2023:
The Company’s Notice of Annual Meeting, Proxy Statement and Annual Report on Form 10-K10‑K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 are available atwww.proxyvote.com.www.proxyvote.com.
Your Board of Directors unanimously recommends you vote the proxy card “FOR” the Company’s two director nominees, Allan M. Fox and Camille Samuels and “FOR” Proposal 2.
By Order of the Board of Directors, |
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Kenneth T. Mills President and Chief Executive Officer |
Rockville, Maryland April 6, 2023 |
This Proxy Statement is first being mailed to the stockholders of the Board of Directors,
Kenneth T. Mills
President and Chief Executive Officer
Rockville, Maryland
April 18, 2016
This notice of Annual Meeting and accompanying proxy statement are being distributed or made available to stockholdersCompany on or about April 18, 2016.
i
REGENXBIO Inc.
97129804 Medical Center Drive Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20850
PROXY STATEMENT
FOR THE 2016 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
June 1, 2016
This proxy statement and proxy card areProxy Statement is furnished in connection with the solicitation of proxies to be voted at the 20162023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the Annual Meeting)“Annual Meeting”) of REGENXBIO Inc. (sometimes referred to as we, the Company or REGENXBIO), which will be held on June 1, 2016,2, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. local time at the Company’s offices located at 97129804 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, Maryland 20850.
When this Proxy Statement refers to “REGENXBIO,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our,” it is referring to REGENXBIO Inc.
We are making this proxy statementProxy Statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K10‑K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”) available to stockholders at www.proxyvote.com. On or about April 18, 2016,6, 2023, we will begin mailing to certain of our stockholders a noticeNotice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the Notice)“Notice”) containing instructions on how to access and review this proxy statementProxy Statement and ourthe Annual Report on Form 10-K at that website.Report. The Notice also instructs you how you may submit your proxy over the internet or via telephone. If you would like to receive a printed copy of our proxy materials, you should follow the instructions for requesting those materials included in the Notice.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THIS
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PROXY MATERIAL AND VOTINGSTATEMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Why am I receiving
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this proxy statementProxy Statement. This summary does not contain all of the information you should consider. Please read the entire Proxy Statement carefully before voting.
Voting Overview and proxy card?Vote Recommendations of the Board - Items of Business
You
Election of Directors: Please vote “For” each nominee (page 5)
Why did I receive a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials in the mail instead of a printed set of proxy materials?
Pursuant to rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), we are permitted to furnish our proxy materials over the internetcontribute to our stockholders by delivering a Notice instrategy and to the mail. As a result, only stockholders who specifically request a printed copy of the proxy statement will receive one. Instead, the Notice instructs stockholders on howBoard’s ability to access and review the proxy statement and Annual Report on Form 10-K over the internet at www.proxyvote.com. The Notice also instructs stockholders on how they may submit their proxy over the internet or telephone. If a stockholder who received a Notice would like to receive a printed copyperform its duties.
How may I vote at the Annual Meeting?
You are invited to attend the Annual Meeting to vote on the proposals described in this proxy statement. However, you do not need to attend the meeting to vote your shares. Instead, you may simply follow the instructions below to submit your proxy via telephone or on the internet. If you received a printed set of materials, you may also vote by mail by signing, dating and returning the proxy card.
When you vote, regardless of the method used, you appoint Kenneth T. Mills, our President and Sara Garon Berl as your representatives (or proxyholders) at the Annual Meeting. They willCEO, and Allan M. Fox.
Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm: Please vote your shares at the Annual Meeting as you have instructed them or, if“For” (page 20)
Who is entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting?
Only stockholders of record at the close of business on April 7, 2016, the record date for the Annual Meeting, will be entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. On the record date, there were 26,338,329 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding. All of these outstanding shares are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting (one vote per share of common stock) in connectionindependent accounting firm with the matters set forthbreadth of expertise and knowledge necessary to effectively audit our business.
Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation: Please vote “For” (page 23)
About REGENXBIO
We are a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy. Our investigational gene therapies are designed to deliver functional genes to address genetic defects in cells, enabling the production of therapeutic proteins or antibodies that are intended to impact disease. Through a single administration, gene therapy could potentially alter the course of disease significantly and deliver improved patient outcomes with long-lasting effects.
Our investigational gene therapies use adeno-associated virus ("AAV") vectors from our proprietary gene delivery platform, which we call our NAV® Technology Platform. AAV vectors are non-replicating viral delivery vehicles that are not known to cause disease. Our NAV Technology Platform consists of exclusive rights to a large portfolio of AAV vectors, including AAV7, AAV8, AAV9 and more than 100 other novel AAV vectors ("NAV Vectors"). We believe this proxy statement.
In accordance with Delaware law,platform forms a list of stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting will be available at the place of the Annual Meeting on June 1, 2016strong foundation for our current clinical-stage programs and will be accessible for ten days prior to the meeting at our principal place of business, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. local time.
How do I vote?
If on April 7, 2016, your shares were registered directly in your name with our transfer agent, Computershare, then you are a stockholderongoing research and development, we expect to continue to expand our platform and pipeline of record. Stockholders of record may vote by using the internet, by telephone or (if you received a proxy card by mail) by mail as described below. Stockholders also may attend the meeting and vote in person. If you hold shares through a bank, broker or other nominee, pleasepotential AAV vector-based gene therapies. We refer to your proxy card, Notice or other information forwarded by your bank, broker or other nominee to see which voting options are available to you.commercial and investigational AAV vector-based gene therapies as AAV Therapeutics.
Business Highlights
In 2022, we made significant progress toward our clinical development and business objectives, including the following achievements:
The method you use to vote will not limit your right to vote at the Annual Meeting if you decide to attend in person. Written ballots will be passed out to anyone who wants to vote at the Annual Meeting. If you hold your shares in “street name,” you must obtain a proxy, executed in your favor, from the holder of record to be able to vote in person at the Annual Meeting.
Can I change my vote after submitting my proxy?
Yes. You can revoke your proxy at any time before the final vote at the Annual Meeting. If you are the record holder of your shares, you may revoke your proxy in any one of three ways:
If you are a beneficial owner of your shares, you must contact the bank, broker or other nominee holding your shares and follow their instructions for changing your vote.
How many votes do you need to hold the Annual Meeting?
A quorum of stockholders is necessary to conduct business at the Annual Meeting. Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws, a quorum will be present if a majority of the voting power of outstanding shares of the Company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors is represented in person or by proxy at the Annual Meeting. On the record date, there were 26,338,329 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote. Thus, 13,169,165 shares must be represented by stockholders present at the Annual Meeting or represented by proxy to have a quorum.
Your shares will be counted towards the quorum only if you submit a valid proxy (or one is submitted on your behalf by your broker, bank or other nominee) or if you attend the Annual Meeting and vote in person. Abstentions and broker non-votes will be counted for the purpose of determining whether a quorum is present for the transaction of business. If a quorum is not present, the holders of a majority of the votes present at the Annual Meeting may adjourn the Annual Meeting to another date.
What proposals will be voted on at the Annual Meeting?
| Enrollment is ongoing in ATMOSPHERE® and ASCENT™, two pivotal clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of RGX-314 in patients with wet AMD using the subretinal delivery approach. The ASCENT trial is the first trial to be initiated by REGENXBIO under the eye care collaboration with AbbVie. We announced new data from the Phase II AAVIATE® trial of RGX-314 for the treatment of wet AMD using suprachoroidal delivery.RGX-314 suprachoroidal delivery was reported to be well tolerated across 85 patients dosed in Cohorts 1-5. We also announced positive interim data from the expansion of Phase II ALTITUDE® trial of RGX-314 using in-office suprachoroidal delivery for the treatment of DR without center-involved diabetic macular edema. | ||||||
| We did not meet our objective of enrollment and |
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| We announced additional positive interim data from our ongoing CAMPSIITE pivotal trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of patients up to 5 years old diagnosed with MPS II. Positive data supports a 2024 BLA filing using the accelerated approval pathway. A second Phase I/II trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of pediatric patients with MPS II over the age of 5 years old is ongoing. | |||
RGX-111 for the Treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (“MPS I”) | We completed enrollment of patients in expanded Cohort 2 of our Phase I/II trial of RGX-111 for the treatment of MPS I. | |||
RGX-181 and RGX-381 | First patient dosed under a single-patient investigator-initiated study of RGX-181. We received approval of the clinical trial application for RGX-381 from the UK Health Authority and we expect to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial in the first half of 2023. | |||
Enhancement of Gene Therapy Manufacturing Capabilities | Our Rockville, Maryland headquarters includes a current Good Manufacturing Practice (“cGMP”) manufacturing facility. Our cGMP manufacturing facility, which was fully operational starting in the first half of 2022, allows for production of NAV Vectors at scales up to 2,000 liters using our platform suspension cell culture process. We completed four cGMP batches of clinical drug products in 2022. | |||
Financial Strength | We ended 2022 with over $550 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. |
Plurality means that the nominees for director receiving the greatest number of votes will be elected. Withheld votes and “broker non-votes” will have no effect on the election of a nominee.
Majority Votes Castmeans that a proposal that receives an affirmative majority of the votes cast will be approved. Abstentions and broker non-votes will not be counted “FOR” or “AGAINST” this proposal and will have no effect on this proposal.Corporate Governance Highlights
Broker Discretionary Voting occurs when a broker does not receive voting instructions from the beneficial owner and votes those shares in its discretion on any proposal on which it
Our commitment to effective corporate governance is permitted to vote.
How are votes counted?
Votes will be countedillustrated by the inspectorfollowing practices:
If your shares are held by your broker as your nominee (that is, in “street name”), you will need to obtain a proxy form from the institution that holds your shares and follow the instructions included on that form regarding how to instruct your broker to vote your shares. If you do not give instructions to your broker, your broker can vote your shares with respect to “discretionary” items, but not with respect to “non-discretionary” items. Discretionary items are proposals considered routine under the rules on which your broker may vote shares held in street name without your voting instructions. Onnon-discretionary items for which you do not give your broker instructions, the shares will be treated as brokernon-votes. Under current broker voting rules, any election of a memberrisk management practices.
Sustainability Highlights
therefore brokers are not permitted to vote your shares held in street name for the election of directorsreflected in the absencecomposition of instructions from you. Proposal 1 is“non-discretionary” and therefore if you hold your shares through a broker, bank or other agent, your shares will not be voted on Proposal 1 unless you provide voting instructions to the record holder.
Could other matters be decided at the Annual Meeting?
REGENXBIO does not know of any other matters that may be presented for action at the Annual Meeting. Should any other business come before the Annual Meeting, the persons named on the proxy card will have discretionary authority to vote the shares represented by proxies in accordance with their best judgment. If you hold shares through a broker, bank or other nominee as described above, they will not be able to vote your shares on any other business that comes before the Annual Meeting unless they receive instructions from you with respect to such other business.
What happens if a director nominee is unable to stand for election?
If a nominee is unable to stand for election, our Board, which includes three women among its four most recent additions.
Investor Engagement in 2022
Following our 2022 annual meeting, as part of Directors may either:
If our Board of Directors designates a substitute nominee, shares represented by proxies voted for the nominee who is unable to stand for election will be voted for the substitute nominee.
What happens if I signclinical trials, our business strategy, our financial performance and return my proxy card but do not provide voting instructions?
If you return a signedstrategic initiatives and dated proxy card without marking any voting selections, your shares will be voted:
What do I need to show to attend the Annual Meeting in person?
You will need proof of your share ownership (such as a recent brokerage statement or letter from your broker showing that you owned shares of our common stock as of April 7, 2016) and a form of photo identification. If you do not have proof of ownership and valid photo identification, you may not be admitted to the Annual Meeting. All bags, briefcases and packages will be held at registration and will not be allowed in the meeting. We will not permit the use of cameras (including cell phones and other devices with photographic capabilities) and other recording devices in the meeting room.
Who is paying for this proxy solicitation?
The accompanying proxy is being solicited by the Board of Directorsoverall state of the Company. In addition to this solicitation, directorsAAV gene therapy industry.
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PROPOSAL 1:
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
Under our Certificate of Incorporation and employees of the Company may solicit proxies in person, by telephone, or by other means of communication. Directors and employees will not be paid any additional compensation for soliciting
proxies. In addition, the Company may also retain one or more third parties to aid in the solicitation of brokers, banks and institutional and other stockholders. We will pay for the entire cost of soliciting proxies. We may reimburse brokerage firms, banks and other agents for the cost of forwarding proxy materials to beneficial owners.
What happens if the Annual Meeting is postponed or adjourned?
Unless the polls have closed or you have revoked your proxy, your proxy will still be in effect and may be voted once the Annual Meeting is reconvened. However, you will still be able to change or revoke your proxy with respect to any proposal until the polls have closed for voting on such proposal.
How can I find out the results of the voting at the Annual Meeting?
Preliminary voting results are expected to be announced at the Annual Meeting. Final voting results will be reported on a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC no later than the fourth business day after the Annual Meeting, or June 7, 2016.
How can I find REGENXBIO’s proxy materials and Annual Report on the Internet?
This proxy statement and the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 are available at our corporate website at www.regenxbio.com. You also can obtain copies without charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additionally, in accordance with SEC rules, you may access these materials at www.proxyvote.com, which does not have “cookies” that identify visitors to the site.
How do I obtain a separate set of REGENXBIO’s proxy materials if I share an address with other stockholders?
In some cases, stockholders holding their shares in a brokerage or bank account who share the same surname and address receive only one copy of the Notice. This practice, called “housekeeping,” is designed to reduce duplicate mailings and save printing and postage costs as well as natural resources. If you would like to have a separate copy of the Notice or our Annual Report on Form 10-K and/or proxy statement mailed to you or to receive separate copies of future mailings, please submit your request to the address or phone number that appears on your Notice or proxy card. We will deliver such additional copies promptly upon receipt of such request.
In other cases, stockholders receiving multiple copies at the same address may wish to receive only one. If you would like to receive only one copy if you now receive more than one, please submit your request to the address or phone number that appears on your Notice or proxy card.
Can I receive future proxy materials and annual reports electronically?
Yes. This proxy statement and the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 are available on our investor relations website located at http://ir.regenxbio.com. Instead of receiving paper copies in the mail, stockholders can elect to receive an email that provides a link to our future annual reports and proxy materials on the internet. Opting to receive your proxy materials electronically will save us the cost of producing and mailing documents to your home or business, will reduce the environmental impact of our annual meetings and will give you an automatic link to the proxy voting site.
May I propose actions for consideration at next year’s annual meeting or nominate individuals to serve as directors?
Yes. The following requirements apply to stockholder proposals, including director nominations, for the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders.
Requirements for Stockholder Proposals to be Considered for Inclusion in REGENXBIO’s Proxy Materials:
Stockholders interested in submitting a proposal (other than the nomination of directors) for inclusion in the proxy materials to be distributed by us for the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders may do so by following the procedures prescribed in Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). To be eligible for inclusion in REGENXBIO’s proxy materials, stockholder proposals must be received at our principal executive offices no later than the close of business on December 19, 2016 which is the 120th day prior to the first anniversary of the date that we released this proxy statement to our stockholders for the Annual Meeting. To be included in our proxy materials, your proposal also must comply with the Company’s amended and restated bylaws and Rule 14a-8 promulgated under the Exchange Act regarding the inclusion of stockholder proposals in company-sponsored proxy materials. If we change the date of the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders by more than 30 days from the anniversary of this year’s Annual Meeting, stockholder proposals must be received a reasonable time before we begin to print and mail our proxy materials for the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders. Proposals should be sent to REGENXBIO Inc., 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850, Attn: Corporate Secretary.
Requirements for Stockholder Nomination of Director Candidates and Stockholder Proposals Not Intended for Inclusion in REGENXBIO’s Proxy Materials:
Stockholders who wish to nominate persons for election to the Board of Directors at the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders or who wish to present a proposal at the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders, but who do not intend for such proposal to be included in REGENXBIO’s proxy materials for such meeting, must deliver written notice of the nomination or proposal to our Corporate Secretary at 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850 no earlier than February 1, 2017 and no later than March 3, 2017. However, if the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders is held earlier than May 2, 2017 or later than July 1, 2017, nominations and proposals must be received no later than the close of business on the later of (a) the 90th day prior to the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders and (b) the 10th day following the day we first publicly announce the date of the 2017 annual meeting. The stockholder’s written notice must include certain information concerning the stockholder and each nominee and proposal, as specified in our amended and restated bylaws.
Copy of Amended and Restated Bylaws:
You may request a copy of Bylaws ("the Company’s amended and restated bylaws at no charge by writing to REGENXBIO’s Corporate Secretary at 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850.
Whom should I call if I have any questions?
If you have any questions, would like additional REGENXBIO proxy materials or proxy cards, or need assistance in voting your shares, please contact Investor Relations, REGENXBIO Inc.Bylaws"), 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850 or by telephone at (240) 552-8181.
Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials
for the Meeting to be Held on Wednesday, June 1, 2016
This proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K are available on-line atwww.proxyvote.com.
ELECTION OF ALLAN M. FOX AND CAMILLE SAMUELS AS CLASS I DIRECTORS
Under our amended and restated bylaws, our Board of Directors is divided into three classes of roughly equal size. The members of each class are elected to serve a 3-yearthree-year term with the term of office of each of the three classes ending in successive years. Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws,Bylaws, the Board of Directors has fixed the current number of directors at eight, but the number of directors will be seven following the expiration of Edgar G. Engleman, M.D.’s term at the Annual Meeting. Edgar G. Engleman,nine. Jean Bennett, M.D., Allan M. FoxPh.D., A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D., and Camille SamuelsDaniel Tassé, are the three Class III directors whose terms expire at this Annual Meeting. On March 1, 2016,The Board has nominated Dr. Engleman informedBennett, Dr. Karabelas, and Mr. Tassé (collectively, the Board of Directors that he would not stand for re-election at the Annual Meeting. Mr. Fox“nominees” and Ms. Samuels have been nominated for election by our Board of Directorseach, a “nominee”) to serve until the 20192026 annual meeting of stockholders or until their successors are elected, (oror until their earlier death, resignation or removal). It is our policy to encourage nominees for director to attend the Annual Meeting.
Directors are elected by a pluralityremoval. Each of the votes cast atnominees was recommended for election by the Annual Meeting. The two nominees receivingNominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and each such recommendation was approved unanimously by the highest number of “FOR” votes will be elected. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of the election of directors at the Annual Meeting.Board.
Shares represented by signed proxy cards will be voted on Proposal 1 “FOR”“For” the election of Dr. Bennett, Dr. Karabelas, and Mr. Fox and Ms. SamuelsTassé to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting, unless otherwise marked on the card. If any REGENXBIO director nomineeof the nominees becomes unavailable for election as a result of an unexpected occurrence, shares represented by proxy will be voted for the election of a substitute nominee designated by ourthe current Board, of Directors, unless otherwise marked on the card. Dr. Bennett, Dr. Karabelas, and Mr. Fox and Ms. Samuels, REGENXBIO’s two director nominees,Tassé have each agreed to serve as a director if elected. We have no reason to believe that eitherany of the REGENXBIO nominees will be unable to serve if elected.
Nominees for Election as Class I Directors at the Annual Meeting
This year’s nominees for election to the Board of Directors as our Class I directors to serve for a term of three years expiring at the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified or until their earlier death, resignation or removal, are provided below. The age of each director as of April 18, 2016 is set forth below.
Name | Age | Positions and Offices Held with Company | Director Since | |||||||||
Allan M. Fox | 68 | Director | 2009 | |||||||||
Camille Samuels | 44 | Director | 2015 |
The following is additionalCertain information about each of the nominees as of the date of this proxy statement,is furnished below, including their business experience, public company director positions held currently or at any time during the last five years involvementand the experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that caused the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Board to determine that the nominees should continue to serve as directors.
Our directors have a diverse set of skills and experience on the board, including:
Name |
| Age |
| Positions and Offices Held |
| Director Since |
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. |
| 68 |
| Director |
| 2021 |
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. |
| 70 |
| Lead Independent Director |
| 2015 |
Daniel Tassé |
| 63 |
| Director |
| 2016 |
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D., has been a Director since September 2021. Dr. Bennett has been the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania since July 2021, where she was previously a professor for 17 years. She also served as director of the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania from July 2014 to June 2021. In addition to Dr. Bennett’s positions at the University of Pennsylvania, she has been an Investigator at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for more than a decade. She also co-founded life science companies Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), GenSight Biologics, Limelight Bio and Opus Genetics. Dr. Bennett has published or administrative proceedings, if applicable,contributed to more than 120 peer-reviewed publications on gene therapy, including her pioneering work on gene therapy delivery of RPE65, which was foundational to the approval of Luxturna, the first gene therapy product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”). Dr. Bennett received a B.S. in Biology from Yale University, a Ph.D. in Zoology and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.D. from Harvard University. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiobiology and Environmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Human Genetics at Yale School of Medicine and Development Genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Bennett’s work as a leading molecular genetics researcher and her past experience in drug development, provides her with deep medical and scientific experience and with life sciences expertise, particularly in the field of retinal gene therapy.
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D., has been the Lead Independent Director since July 2020 and a Director since May 2015. Dr. Karabelas has been a Venture Partner at Apple Tree Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm, since January 2021, prior to which he was a Partner at Care Capital, LLC (“Care Capital”), a life sciences venture capital firm, from December 2001 to December 2020. Before joining Care Capital, Dr. Karabelas was Chairman at Novartis BioVentures Fund, which is owned by Novartis AG
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(“Novartis”), a provider of capital for life sciences companies across the biotech, medical devices and diagnostics industries, prior to which he was the Chief Executive Officer of Novartis Pharma AG, which is also owned by Novartis. Before joining Novartis, Dr. Karabelas was Executive Vice President, Worldwide Pharmaceuticals of SmithKline Beecham, where he was responsible for U.S. and European operations, regulatory and strategic marketing. Dr. Karabelas has served as a director at Bausch Health Companies Inc., a publicly held specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company, since June 2016 and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company, since September 2015. He previously served as Chairman at Polyphor AG, a pharmaceutical company, from June 2013 to November 2019 and Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corporation from July 2012 to June 2016. In connection with his work at Care Capital, Dr. Karabelas previously served on numerous boards of directors of pharmaceutical and therapeutics companies, including Renovo, plc, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and NitroMed, Inc. Dr. Karabelas also previously served as Chairman at SkyePharma, plc and Human Genome Sciences. Dr. Karabelas received a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Dr. Karabelas's senior management positions at commercial and development-stage biopharmaceutical companies, strong knowledge of strategic and regulatory issues, his insight into international operations and his international perspective on the life sciences industry and healthcare related issues provides him with deep executive leadership, medical, life sciences, regulatory, international and commercial expertise.
Daniel Tassé has been a Director since August 2016. Mr. Tassé has served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of DBV Technologies SA, a publicly held biopharmaceutical company, since November 2018. From March 2016 to March 2019, he was the Chairman of Alcresta Therapeutics, Inc. (“Alcresta”), a privately held biopharmaceutical company, and from March 2016 to November 2018, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alcresta. Mr. Tassé has served as a director at Indivior PLC (where he is the Senior Independent Director), a London Stock Exchange publicly traded pharmaceutical company, since August 2014. He previously served as a director at Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. from December 2013 to May 2019 and HLS Therapeutics Inc. from March 2018 to March 2019. Prior to the acquisition of Ikaria Inc. (“Ikaria”) by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in April 2015, Mr. Tassé was President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Ikaria and served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer and President of Bellerophon from February 2014 to June 2014. Previously, Mr. Tassé was the General Manager of the Pharmaceuticals and Technologies Business Unit of Baxter International, Inc. and Vice President and Regional Director for Australasia at GlaxoSmithKline plc. Mr. Tassé was a member of the Health Section Governing Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, where he participated on the bioethics, regulatory environment and reimbursement committees. Additionally, Mr. Tassé was a member of the board of directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, where he participated on the FDA and biomedical research committee. Mr. Tassé received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Montreal. Mr. Tassé has an extensive track record of business building in the healthcare industry, a strong background within critical care, global management experience and a detailed knowledge of the life sciences industry, which provides him with a breadth of executive leadership, life sciences and international experience.
Vote Required
Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes cast at the Annual Meeting. The three nominees receiving the highest number of “For” votes will be elected. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the outcome of the election of directors at the Annual Meeting.
Recommendation of the Board
The Board unanimously recommends a vote “For” each director nominee.
Continuing Directors Not Standing for Election
Certain information about those directors whose terms do not expire at the Annual Meeting is furnished below, including their business experience, public company director positions held currently or at any time during the last five years and the experiences, qualifications, attributes or skills that caused the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and ourthe Board of Directors to determine that the nomineesdirectors should serve as one of our directors. The term of the Class III directors will expire at the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, and the term of the Class I directors will expire at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders.
Name |
| Age |
| Positions and Offices Held |
| Director Since |
Allan M. Fox |
| 75 |
| Chairman of the Board |
| 2009 |
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D. |
| 64 |
| Director |
| 2018 |
George Migausky |
| 68 |
| Director |
| 2021 |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 48 |
| Director, President and |
| 2009 |
David C. Stump, M.D. |
| 73 |
| Director |
| 2015 |
Jennifer Zachary |
| 45 |
| Director |
| 2022 |
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Class III Directors (Terms Expire in 2024)
George Migausky has been a Director since September 2021. Mr. Migausky has more than 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry, having served as Chief Financial Officer for several public biopharmaceutical and clinical diagnostic companies. From April 2017 to September 2017, Mr. Migausky served as interim Chief Financial Officer for Ocular Therapeutix, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Dyax Corp., a biopharmaceutical company, from August 2008 through the company’s acquisition by Shire plc in January 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Migausky served as Chief Financial Officer of Wellstat Management Company, a biotechnology company, from 2007 to 2008, and Chief Financial Officer of IGEN International, Inc., a biotechnology company, and BioVeris Corporation, a diagnostics company, from 1986 through their acquisitions by F. Hoffman LaRoche in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Mr. Migausky has served as a director at Immunovant, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company, since December 2019. He has also served as a trustee at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute since 2015. Mr. Migausky previously served as a director at Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. from June 2015 through the company’s acquisition by Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. in November 2017, at Abeona Therapeutics Inc. from June 2020 to September 2020 and at Hyperion Catalysis International, a privately held electrical manufacturing company, from 2008 to August 2022. He received a B.S. from Boston College and an M.B.A. from Babson College. Mr. Migausky has specific attributes that qualify him to continue to serve as a member of the Board, including his significant experience in executive leadership positions in the life sciences industry and serving on the boards of directors and audit committees of publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies.
Kenneth T. Mills has been our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director since March 2009. Mr. Mills was with FOXKISER, most recently as a Partner, from January 2007 to January 2015. Mr. Mills was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Development at Meso Scale Diagnostics, a life sciences company, from January 2004 to December 2006 and was part of the original management team that established the company’s operations and financing strategy. From March 1997 to December 2003, Mr. Mills was employed at IGEN International, Inc., a biotechnology company, where he served as Director of Business Development up through the company’s acquisition by Roche. Mr. Mills received an S.B. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Mills’ qualifications to continue to serve as a member of the Board include his extensive experience as an executive in the gene therapy and biotechnology industries, including as President and Chief Executive Officer of our Company, his prior service as a senior-level executive in both early stage and mature biotechnology companies and his demonstrated business judgment.
David C. Stump, M.D., has been a Director since October 2015. From November 1999 to December 2012, Dr. Stump was with Human Genome Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, as Executive Vice President, Research and Development from May 2007 to December 2012, Executive Vice President, Drug Development from December 2003 to May 2007 and Senior Vice President, Drug Development from November 1999 to December 2003. Prior to joining Human Genome Sciences, Dr. Stump held roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 1989 to 1999, including Vice President, Clinical Research and Genentech Fellow. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Stump was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the University of Vermont. Dr. Stump has served as a director at MacroGenics, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company, since September 2013. He also currently serves on the board of trustees of Earlham College. Dr. Stump previously served as a director at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from June 2006 to February 2021, Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from September 2015 to July 2020 and Dendreon Corporation, a biotechnology company, from June 2010 to June 2015. Dr. Stump holds an A.B. from Earlham College and an M.D. from Indiana University and completed his residency and fellowship training in internal medicine, hematology, oncology and biochemistry at the University of Iowa. Dr. Stump has specific attributes that qualify him to continue to serve as a member of the Board, including his substantial medical and scientific background and expertise, his extensive experience in research and development and operations in the biotechnology industry and his prior service on public company boards.
Class I Directors (Terms Expire in 2025)
Allan M. Foxhas been the Chairman of the Board since July 2020 and a Director since February 2009. Mr. Fox is the founding partner of FoxKiser,FOXKISER, a nationally recognized firm committed to the strategic development of transformative innovations from biomedical research, which was formed in September 1986. Mr. Fox specializes in identifying business opportunities and improving competitive market positions. HeThrough FOXKISER, he has participated in the formation and development of numerous ventures in the public and private sectors.sectors, including the founding of REGENXBIO and Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. Before forming FoxKiser,FOXKISER, Mr. Fox co-led the establishment of the Washington office of the law firm of Kaye Scholer. While in the public sector, Mr. Fox served as Chief of Staff and Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York. He also served as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Mr. Fox was a Fellow in Law, Science and Medicine at Yale Law School where he received an LL.M. degree. Mr. Fox also holds a J.D. and B.A. from Temple University. Mr. Fox has specific
attributes that qualify him to continue to serve as a member of ourthe Board, of Directors, including his broad experience in providing strategic advice to and investing in biotechnology companies throughout their life cycles, his expertise in identifying business opportunities, his deep experience with REGENXBIO since the biotechnology sectortime of its founding and FDA consulting, as well as his current and prior service on private company boards.boards of directors.
Camille Samuels7
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D., has been a Director since January 2015. Ms. SamuelsMay 2018. Dr. Glucksmann has been a Partner at Venrock, a venture capital firm, since May 2014. Prior to Venrock, Ms. Samuels spent over a decade as a Managing Director at Versant Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm, which she joined in 2000 and for which she provided services through March 2014. Ms. Samuels currently serves on the board of Spirox Corporation and Unity Biosciences, Inc. She previously served as a boarddirector at Scenic Biotech BV, a privately held biotechnology company, since September 2017. From April 2018 to November 2022 Dr. Glucksmann served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and a director at Cedilla Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, and from October 2017 to March 2018, Dr. Glucksmann was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures, LLC, a privately held healthcare venture firm, where she focused on company formation. She was also a founding employee of Editas Medicine, Inc., a publicly held biotechnology company, and served as its Chief Operating Officer from October 2013 to March 2017. Prior to that, Dr. Glucksmann was a founding employee of Cerulean Pharma Inc., a publicly held biotechnology company, and served as its Senior Vice President of research and business operations from September 2006 to June 2013. From August 2006 to May 2015, she served as a director at Taconic Biosciences, Inc. Dr. Glucksmann received a B.S. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Chicago, and she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Glucksmann’s qualifications to continue to serve as a member or a board observer on other healthcareof the Board include her extensive experience in senior management positions at biotechnology companies, including Achaogen, Inc., Fluidigm Sciences Inc., Genomic Health, Inc., Novacardia, Inc. (acquired byparticularly her experience in the formation and development of biotechnology companies.
Jennifer Zachary currently serves as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Merck & Co., Inc.), ParAllele BioScience, Inc. (acquired by Affymetrix Inc.), In this role, she serves as a legal advisor to Merck’s directors and Syrrx Inc. (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.).executives, leads the company’s office of general counsel and sets the company’s global legal strategy. She is also responsible for the company’s global safety and environment, and global security functions. Prior to her venture career,joining Merck, Ms. Samuels held businessZachary was a partner at the international law firm Covington & Burling, LLP. She practiced in the area of pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory law and advised a wide range of manufacturers and trade associations on compliance with government requirements for the development, manufacture and strategic marketing rolessale of their products. Prior to that, Ms. Zachary served as an Associate Chief Counsel for enforcement at Tularik Inc. (acquired by Amgen Inc.)the FDA and Genzyme Corporation (acquired by Sanofi-Aventis SA). She also worked as a management consultant to consumer, healthcare and biotech companies at LEK Consulting.Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Ms. SamuelsZachary holds a B.S./B.A. in Biologybiology and chemistry from DukeArizona State University and an M.B.A.a J.D. from Harvard BusinessLaw School. Ms. SamuelsZachary has specific attributes that qualify her to serve as a member of our Board of Directors, including her experience in venture capital investing and in the biotechnology sector, as well as her prior service on public and private company boards and audit committees.
YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE THE PROXY CARD “FOR” THE ELECTION OF ALLAN M. FOX AND CAMILLE SAMUELS AS CLASS I DIRECTORS
Continuing Directors Not Standing for Election
Certain information about those directors whose terms do not expire at the Annual Meeting is furnished below, including their business experience, public company director positions held currently or at any time during the last five years, involvement in certain legal or administrative proceedings, if applicable, and the experiences, qualifications, attributes or skills that caused the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and our Board of Directors to determine that the directors should serve as one of our directors. The age of each director as of April 18, 2016 is set forth below.
Name | Age | Positions and Offices Held with Company | Director Since | |||||
Kenneth T. Mills | 41 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director | 2009 | |||||
Donald J. Hayden, Jr. | 60 | Director, Chairman of the Board | 2013 | |||||
Luke M. Beshar | 57 | Director | 2015 | |||||
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. | 63 | Director | 2015 | |||||
David C. Stump, M.D. | 66 | Director | 2015 |
Class II Directors (Terms Expire in 2017)
Donald J. Hayden, Jr. has been a Director and Chairman of our Board of Directors since February 2013. From 1991 to 2006, Mr. Hayden held several executive positions with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and President, Americas. Mr. Hayden is currently a member and chairman of the Board of Directors of Insmed Incorporated and Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc. He is also lead independent director at Amicus Therapeutics, Inc., a member of the Board of Directors at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., and serves as a senior advisor to Prospect Venture Partners, a leading life sciences venture capital firm. Mr. Hayden served as a director of Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. from October 2013 to July 2015. Mr. Hayden holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Indiana University. Mr. Hayden has specific attributes that qualify himcontinue to serve as a member of ourthe Board, of Directors, including hisher government service related to health care and regulatory compliance, experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as his prior service on public and private company boards and his executive-level servicesenior management positions at a numberlarge biopharmaceutical company and a global law firm, and her strong knowledge of publicstrategic, legal and private companies.
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A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. has beenCORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Our Board is responsible for oversight of the management of the Company. In carrying out its responsibilities, the Board selects and monitors our management team, provides oversight of our financial reporting processes and determines and implements our corporate governance policies.
Corporate Responsibility
The Company seeks to enhance stockholder value while embodying its core values of Trust, Accountability, Perseverance and Innovation (our “Core Values”). As part of our Core Values the Company engages in the following areas to further our environmental, social and governance strategy:
Environmental Footprint
The Company is cognizant of its impact on the wider environment. In recognition of that impact, the Company's Rockville, Maryland headquarters is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certified. Further the Company is engaging in multiple initiatives that are designed to improve manufacturing yields and is measuring its baseline emissions to reduce waste.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Company strongly supports efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”), as we believe that a Director since May 2015. Since December 2001, Mr. Karabelas has been a managing member at Care Capital II, LLCdiverse, equitable and Care Capital III, LLC (Care Capital), a provider of capital for entrepreneurial private and public companies developing pharmaceuticals. Prior to his work at Care Capital, from July 2000 to September 2001, Mr. Karabelas was Chairman at Novartis BioVentures,inclusive culture fosters innovation, which is ownedintegral to our mission. We are firmly committed to providing equal opportunity in all aspects of employment and have established a DEI Champion Group to further our DEI initiatives. The DEI Champion Group is supported by Novartis AG (Novartis), a provider of capital for life sciences companies across the biotech, medical devicesan executive sponsor and diagnostics industries, priorthrough activities and programs facilitates employee engagement to which Mr. Karabelas was the Chief Executive Officer of Novartis Pharma AG, which is owned by Novartis. In connection with his work at Care Capital, Mr. Karabelas has served on numerous boards of directors of pharmaceuticalincrease understanding and therapeutics companies, including Renovo, plc, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and NitroMed, Inc. Since June 2013, Mr. Karabelas has served as Chairman of Polyphor AG. Mr. Karabelas also served as a membercelebration of the boards of directors of SkyePharma, plcCompany's diverse workforce. Our commitment to DEI is also reflected in our workforce population that includes 54% identifying as female and 46% from May 2001 to May 2009 and Human Genome Sciences. Mr. Karabelas received a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Mr. Karabelas has specific attributes that qualify him to servehistorically underrepresented minority populations. We have also emphasized DEI as a member of our Board of Directors, including his extensive experience in working with publicly held pharmaceuticals companies, advising developing life sciences, therapeutics and pharmaceuticals companies and his executive leadership, managerial and business experience.
Class III Directors (Terms Expire in 2018)
Luke M. Beshar has been a Director since April 2015. Mr. Beshar was the Executive/Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company from November 2007 to February 2015. He is a former Chief Financial Officer of various public and private companies and has more than 30 years of general and financial management experience. Mr. Beshar served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cambrex Corporation from December 2002 to November 2007, a global life sciences company, and previously as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Dendrite International, a leading provider of services to the life sciences industry. Mr. Beshar began his career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1980 and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Beshar is a Director of Trillium Therapeutics, Inc. and Chair of its Audit Committee, a Director and member of the Audit Committee of Sancilio Pharmaceuticals Company, Inc., and a Director of EnteraBio Ltd. Mr. Beshar holds a B.S. degree in Accounting and Finance from Michigan State University and is a graduate of The Executive Program at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Mr. Beshar has specific attributes that qualify him to serve as a member of our Board of Directors, including his experience in the biotechnology and medical industries, his financial and accounting expertise, as well as his prior service on public and private company boards.
Kenneth T. Mills has been our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director since March 2009. Mr. Mills was with FoxKiser, most recently as a partner, from January 2007 to January 2015. Mr. Mills was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Development at Meso Scale Diagnostics, a privately-held life sciences company from January 2004 to December 2006 and was part of the original management team that established the company’s operations and financing strategy. From March 1997 to December 2003, Mr. Mills was employed at IGEN International, a medical diagnostics company, where he served as Director of Business Development up through the company’s acquisition by Roche. Mr. Mills received an S.B. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We believe that Mr. Mills’ qualifications to serve as a director of our company include his extensive experienceculture, as an executiveset out in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and we are determined to support further progress in this area.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
The Board has adopted corporate governance guidelines, which, along with our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, and the gene therapy and biotechnology industries and his prior service as a senior-level executive in both early stage and mature biotechnology companies.
David C. Stump, M.D. has been a Director since October 2015. From November 1999 to December 2012, Dr. Stump was with Human Genome Sciences, Inc., as Executive Vice President, Research and Development from May 2007 to December 2012, Executive Vice President, Drug Development from December 2003 to May 2007 and Senior Vice President, Drug Development from November 1999 to December 2003. Prior to joining Human Genome Sciences, Dr. Stump held roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 1989 to 1999, including Vice President, Clinical Research and Genentech Fellow. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Stump was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the University of Vermont. Dr. Stump is a membercharters of the board of directors of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
MacroGenics, Inc. and Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a member of the board of trustees of Earlham College. Dr. Stump previously served on the board of directors of Dendreon Corporation. Dr. Stump holds an A.B. from Earlham College and an M.D. from Indiana University and did his residency and fellowship training in internal medicine, hematology, oncology and biochemistry at the University of Iowa. Dr. Stump has specific attributes that qualify him to serve as a member of our Board of Directors, including his scientific and clinical expertise and industry background, as well as his prior service on company boards.
Independencecommittees of the Board, provide the framework for our corporate governance. Our current corporate governance guidelines can be found, together with other corporate governance information, in the corporate governance section of Directorsour website at www.regenxbio.com. The Board also evaluates the charters of its committees from time to time, as appropriate.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
We maintain a code of business conduct and ethics that qualifies as a “code of ethics” under Item 406 of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC”) Regulation S-K and applies to each of our directors, officers and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer and controller, or persons performing similar functions. The code of business conduct and ethics addresses various topics, including: (1) compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) conflicts of interest; (3) public disclosure of information; (4) insider trading; (5) corporate opportunities; (6) competition and fair dealing; (7) gifts; (8) discrimination, harassment and retaliation; (9) health and safety; (10) record keeping; (11) confidentiality; (12) protection and proper use of company assets; (13) prevention of corruption; and (14) the reporting of illegal and unethical behavior.
The code of business conduct and ethics is available in the corporate governance section of our website at www.regenxbio.com. Any amendment or waiver of the “code of ethics” provisions of the code of business conduct and ethics for an executive officer or director may be granted only by the Board or a committee thereof and must be timely disclosed as required by applicable law. We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirements regarding any such amendment or waiver applicable to any principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, in a current report filed with the SEC on Form 8-K or on our website at www.regenxbio.com.
Director Independence
As required under NASDAQNasdaq listing standards, a majority of the members of a listed company’s board of directors must qualify as “independent,” as affirmatively determined by the board of directors. Consistent with these regulations, after review of all relevant transactions or relationships between each director, or any of hissuch director’s family members, and the Company, its senior
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management and its independent registered public accounting firm, the Board of Directors has determined that all of our current directors are independent directors within the meaning of applicable NASDAQNasdaq listing standards, except for Mr.Kenneth T. Mills, our Chief Executive Officer,President and CEO, and Allan M. Fox and DonaldFox. In addition, our former director Daniel J. Hayden, Jr. Our Board of Directors currently expects that Donald Hayden, Jr. will qualify as anAbdun-Nabi, who did not stand for re-election at the 2022 annual meeting, was also independent director in accordance with the rules of NASDAQ commencing during the fourth quarter of 2016.
Information Regarding the Board of Directors and its Committees
As required under NASDAQNasdaq listing standards, our independent directors meet in regularly scheduled executive sessions at which only independent directors are present, noting that we have relied on Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5615(b)(1), a “phase-in” rule for companies following their initial public offerings, in allowing Donald J. Hayden, Jr., Chairman of thepresent.
The Board of Directors, to be present and preside over these executive sessions.
Our Board of Directors has an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee and a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The following table provides membership and meeting information for each of the Board committees during 2015:2022:
Committee | Chair |
|
| Number of Meetings in | 2022 | |||
Audit Committee | George Migausky | Jennifer Zachary | 4 | |||||
Compensation Committee | Daniel Tassé | A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. | 7 | |||||
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | David C. Stump, M.D. | Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. | 4 |
Below is a description of each committee of the Board of Directors.Board. The Board of Directors has determined that each member of the Audit, Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees meets applicable rules and regulations regarding “independence” and that each such member is free of any relationship that would interfere with his or her individual exercise of independent judgment with regard to the Company.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors oversees the quality and integrity of the Company’s financial statements and other financial information provided to the Company’s stockholders, the retention and performance of the Company’s independent accountants, the effectiveness of the Company’s internal controls and disclosure controls, and the Company’s compliance with ethics policies and SEC and related regulatory requirements. Pursuant to the Audit Committee charter, the functions of the Audit Committee include, among other things: (1)
receipt and consideration of reports from such firm; (3)
Our Audit Committee charter can be found in the corporate governance section of our corporate website at www.regenxbio.com.
Three directors comprisedcurrently comprise the Audit Committee as of December 31, 2015:Committee: Mr. BesharMigausky (the ChairmanChair of the Audit Committee), Ms. Zachary and Dr. Stump and Ms. Samuels.Stump. The Audit Committee met four times during 2015. Effective October 14, 2015, Dr. Stump became a member of the Audit Committee and Mr. Hayden resigned as a member of the Audit Committee.2022.
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All members of our Audit Committee meet the requirements for financial literacy under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and NASDAQ. OurNasdaq. The Board of Directors has determined that Mr. BesharMigausky is an “audit committee financial expert”expert,” as defined by applicable SEC rules, and has the requisite financial sophistication as defined under the applicable NASDAQ rules and regulations.Nasdaq listing standards.
The Board of Directors annually reviews the NASDAQNasdaq listing standards definition of independence for Audit Committee members and has determined that all members of our Audit Committee are independent (as independence is currently defined in applicable NASDAQNasdaq listing standards and Rule 10A-3 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act)Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act").
Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors reviews and approves the design of, assesses the effectiveness of, and administers executive compensation programs for officers and employees, including our equity incentive plans. Pursuant to the Compensation Committee charter, the functions of the Compensation Committee include: (1) include, among other things:
In accordance with NASDAQNasdaq listing standards and our amended and restated Compensation Committee charter, ourthe Board of Directors has granted our Compensation Committee the authority and responsibility to retain or obtain the advice of compensation consultants, legal counsel and other compensation advisers, the authority to fund such advisers, and the responsibility to consider the independence factors specified under applicable law and any additional factors the Compensation Committee deems relevant. Our Compensation Committee charter can be found in the corporate governance section of our website at www.regenxbio.com.
Three directors comprisedcurrently comprise the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors as of December 31, 2015:Committee: Mr. HaydenTassé (the ChairmanChair of the Compensation Committee), Mr. Beshar and Ms. Samuels.Drs. Glucksmann and Karabelas. The Compensation Committee met threeseven times during 2015.2022.
The Board of Directors has determined that all members of the Compensation Committee are independent (as independence is currently defined in the NASDAQNasdaq listing standards) other than Mr. Hayden. However, we
are permitted to phase-in our compliance with the independent compensation committee requirements set forth in the rules of NASDAQ and the Exchange Act, which would require the compensation committee to be compromised of all independent members within one year of listing. We expect that, within one year of our listing on NASDAQ, Mr. Hayden will have resigned from our compensation committee. At such time, we may appoint an independent director (as determined under the listing standards of NASDAQ and Exchange Act rules) to our compensation committee or have two directors serve on the committee. Our Board of Directors currently expects that Mr. Hayden will qualify as an independent director in accordance with the rules of NASDAQ commencing during the fourth quarter of 2016.. In addition, each of our directors serving on our Compensation Committee satisfies the heightened independence standards for members of a compensation committee under NASDAQNasdaq listing standards, each member of this committeeand is a non-employee director, as defined pursuant to Rule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act,Act.
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Our President and an outside director, as defined pursuant to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code).
Our Chief Executive OfficerCEO often participates in the Compensation Committee’s meetings. He does not participate in the determination of his own compensation or the compensation of directors. However, Mr. Mills does makeOur President and CEO makes recommendations to the Compensation Committee regarding the amount and form of the compensation of the other executive officers and key employees, and he often participates in the Compensation Committee’s deliberations about their compensation. No other executive officersthe compensation of such individuals. Our Executive Vice President ("EVP"), Chief People Officer and our EVP, Chief Legal Officer also regularly participate in the Compensation Committee’s meetings, but they do not participate in the determination of the amount or form of the compensation of executive officers or directors.
The Compensation Committee has retained Radford, aWillis Towers Watson as its independent compensation consulting firm,consultant since May 2015.April 2019. In February 2016, Radford presented a new executiveconnection with the 2022 compensation report topaid by the Compensation Committee. RadfordCompany, Willis Towers Watson provided the Compensation Committee with data about the compensation paid by our peer group of companies, as described below, and other employers who compete with the Company for executives, updated the Compensation Committee on new developments in areas that fall within the Compensation Committee’s jurisdiction and was available to advise the Compensation Committee regarding all of its responsibilities. The compensation consultant serves at the pleasure of the Compensation Committee rather than the Company, and the consultant’s fees are approved by the Compensation Committee. In February 2016, ourThe Compensation Committee assessed the independence of RadfordWillis Towers Watson pursuant to applicable SEC rules and NASDAQNasdaq listing standards and concluded that theWillis Towers Watson was independent under such standards and that their work of Radford hasdid not raisedraise any conflict of interest.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of the members of the Compensation Committee is or has ever been an officer or employee of the Company. No executive officer of the Company serves as a member of the Board of Directors or compensation committee of any other entity that has one or more executive officers serving as a member of our Board of Directors or our Compensation Committee.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
OurThe Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board identifies, evaluates and recommends nominees to ourthe Board of Directors and committees of ourthe Board, of Directors, conducts searches for appropriate directors, and evaluates the performance of ourthe Board, of Directorsits committees and of individual directors.management against their duties and responsibilities relating to corporate governance. Pursuant to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee charter, the functions of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee include, among other things: (1)
Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee charter can be found in the corporate governance section of our website at www.regenxbio.com.
ThreeTwo directors comprisedcurrently comprise the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee as of December 31, 2015:Committee: Dr. KarabelasStump (the ChairmanChair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee), Dr. Engleman and Dr. Stump. Dr. Engleman has informed the Board of Directors that he will not stand for re-election and his term will expire on June 1, 2016 at the Annual Meeting. Following such time, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee will be comprised of two directors.Bennett. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee met twofour times during 2015.2022.
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that candidates for director should have certain minimum qualifications, including being able to read and understand basic financial statements and having a general understanding of the Company’s industry. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee also considers other factors it deems appropriate, including, but not limited to:
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In conducting this assessment, the committeeNominating and Corporate Governance Committee also considers diversity, age, skills, and such other factors as it deems appropriate given the then-current needs of the Board of Directors and the Company, to maintain a balance of knowledge, experience and capability. While diversity and variety of experiences and viewpoints represented on the Board of Directors should always be considered, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that a director nominee should not be chosen nor excluded solely or largely because of race, color, gender, national origin or sexual orientation or identity.
In the case of incumbent directors whose terms of office are set to expire, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews such directors’ overall service to the Company during their term, including the number of meetings attended, level of participation, quality of performance, and any other relationships and transactions that might impair such directors’ independence.
We believe that each of our directors brings a strong background and set of skills to our Board, giving the Board, as a whole, an appropriate balance of diversity, knowledge, experience, attributes, skills and expertise. In addition, seven of our nine directors are independent under Nasdaq standards (Mr. Mills, our President and CEO, and Mr. Fox being the exceptions) and our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that all nine directors are independent of the influence of any particular stockholder or group of stockholders whose interests may diverge from the interests of our stockholders as a whole. We believe that our directors have a broad range of personal characteristics including leadership, management, pharmaceutical, gene therapy business, marketing and financial experience and abilities to act with ethics and integrity, with sound judgment and collegially, to consider strategic proposals, to assist with the development of our strategic plan and oversee its implementation, to oversee our risk management efforts and executive compensation and to provide leadership, to commit the requisite time for preparation and attendance at Board and committee meetings and to provide required expertise on Board committees.
In evaluating director candidates, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee has reviewed the experience, qualifications, attributes and skills of our directors and nominees, including those identified in the biographical information set forth above in the section entitled “Election of Directors.” The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that the members of the Board offer insightful and creative views and solutions with respect to issues facing the Company. In addition, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee also believes that the members of the Board function well together as a group. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that the above-mentioned attributes and qualifications, along with the leadership skills and other experiences of the members of the Board described in further detail above under the section entitled “Election of Directors,” provide the Company with the perspectives and judgment necessary to guide the Company’s strategies and monitor their execution.
When there is a vacancy on the Board, of Directors, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee uses its network of contacts to compile a list of potential candidates, but may also engage, if it deems it appropriate, a professional search firm. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee conducts any appropriate and necessary inquiries into the backgrounds and qualifications of possible candidates after considering the function and needs of the Board of Directors.Board. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee meets to discuss and consider such candidates’ qualifications and then selects a nominee for recommendation to the Board of Directors by majority vote.
Director Qualifications and Diversity
The Board believes that it is important that its members represent diverse viewpoints, with a broad array of experiences, professions, skills and backgrounds that, when considered as a group, provide a sufficient mix of perspectives to allow the Board to best fulfill its responsibilities to the long-term interests of our stockholders. The attributes required of Board members, as a whole, may include (i) various and relevant career experience, (ii) relevant skills, such as an understanding of our business and industry, (iii)
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financial expertise, including the ability to read and understand basic financial statements, (iv) diversity (including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and LGBTQ+ status) and (v) local and community ties.
The Board believes that gender diversity and racial and ethnic diversity are important in providing diverse viewpoints. Our commitment to that belief is reflected in the composition of our Board, with three of the past four new members elected by the Board, being women. The Company considers diversity more broadly than is defined in Nasdaq standards. The Company and the Board are committed to continue seeking director candidates who would further increase the Board’s diversity, including in our current active search for a new member where diversity is a key search criteria. That commitment is reflected in the Director Nomination Policy included in our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee's charter. The Company continues to seek highly qualified candidates including those who belong to underrepresented populations. For further details, please refer to the following matrices:
Board Diversity Matrix (as of April 6, 2023) | ||||
Total Number of Directors | 9 | |||
| Female | Male | Non-Binary | Did Not Disclose Gender |
Part I: Gender Identity | ||||
Directors | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
Part II: Demographic Background | ||||
African American or Black | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Alaskan Native or Native American | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Asian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hispanic or Latinx | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
White | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Two or More Races or Ethnicities | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
LGBTQ+ | 0 | |||
Did Not Disclose Demographic Background | 1 |
Board Diversity Matrix (as of April 7, 2022) | ||||
Total Number of Directors |
9 | |||
Female |
Male |
Non-Binary | Did Not Disclose Gender | |
Part I: Gender Identity | ||||
Directors |
2 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
Part II: Demographic Background | ||||
African American or Black |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Alaskan Native or Native American |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Asian |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Hispanic or Latinx |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
White |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
Two or More Races or Ethnicities |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
LGBTQ+ |
0 | |||
Did Not Disclose Demographic Background |
1 |
Board Renewal
The Board believes it is important to have experienced directors with a deep understanding of the Company’s business as well as newer directors who bring fresh perspectives to the Board. In its efforts to identify potential director candidates, the Board and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee consider the input from the directors’ self-evaluation process to identify the backgrounds and expertise that are desired and the future needs of the Board in light of anticipated director retirements or resignations. The Board’s ongoing assessment of its collective skills, experience and expertise resulted in the recruitment of four new independent directors within the past five years.
Our recruiting process typically involves either engaging a search firm or having a member of the Board or the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee contact a prospect to gauge the prospect’s interest and availability. A candidate will then meet with several members of the Board and then meet with members of the Company’s management as appropriate. At the same time, the Board or the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the search firm will contact references for the prospect. A background check is completed before a final recommendation is made to the Board to appoint a candidate to the Board. No search firm was involved in the recruitment of Jennifer Zachary as a new independent director in 2022.
Meetings of the Board
The Board met five times during 2022. Each director attended 75% or more of the aggregate of the meetings of the Board and of the committees on which he or she served, held during the period for which he or she was a director or committee member.
Directors are encouraged, but not required, to attend our annual meetings of stockholders. All of the then-continuing directors attended our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of the members of the Compensation Committee is or has ever been an officer or employee of the Company. No executive officer of the Company serves as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any other entity that has one or more executive officers serving as a member of our Board or our Compensation Committee.
Performance Evaluations of the Board of Directors and its Committees
In accordance with our corporate governance guidelines and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee charter, the Board, with the assistance of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, evaluates the performance of the Board, its committees and each individual director on an annual basis. Each member of the Board conducts an annual self-evaluation for the purpose of determining whether the Board and its committees are functioning effectively. As part of this process, each director considers the effectiveness of the Board and each committee on which the director serves. The results of the evaluations are discussed at subsequent meetings of the Board and its committees.
Director Nominations
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee will consider director candidates recommended by stockholders and evaluate them using the same criteria as candidates identified by the Board of Directors or the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
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The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee for consideration. If a stockholdermay also take into consideration the number of shares of the Company wishes toCompany’s common stock held by the recommending stockholder and the length of time that those shares have been held. To recommend a director candidate for consideration by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the
a stockholder must submit the recommendation should be deliveredin writing to the Corporate SecretaryCompany, including the following information:
In addition, our amended and restated bylaws require that the stockholder recommendation shall set forth as to each person whom the stockholder proposes to nominate for election or reelectionnamed as a director (1) the name, age, business address and residence address of the person; (2) the principal occupation or employment of the
person; (3) the class, series and number of shares of capital stock of the Company that are owned beneficially and of recordnominee if recommended by the person; (4) a statement as to the person’s citizenship; (5) the completed and signed representation and agreement described above; (6) any other information relating to the person that is required to be disclosed in solicitations for proxies for election of directors pursuant to Section 14 of the Exchange Act; (7) such person’s written consent to being named in the proxy statement as a nominee and to serving as a director if elected; and (8) whether and the extent to which any derivative instrument, swap, option, warrant, short interest, hedge or profit interest or other transaction has been entered into by or on behalf of such person with respect to stock of the Company and whether any other agreement, arrangement or understanding (including any short position or any borrowing or lending of shares of stock) has been made by or on behalf of such person, the effect or intent of any of the foregoing being to mitigate loss to, or to manage risk of stock price changes for, such person or to increase or decrease the voting power or pecuniary or economic interest of such person with respect to stock of the Company.
We believe that each of our directors and nominees brings a strong background and set of skills to our Board of Directors, giving the Board of Directors, as a whole, an appropriate balance of the knowledge, experience, attributes, skills and expertise. In addition, four of our seven continuing directors are independent under NASDAQ standards (Mr. Mills, our Chief Executive Officer, Allan M. Fox and Donald J. Hayden, Jr. being the exceptions) and our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that all seven continuing directors are independent ofand nominated by the influence of any particular stockholder or group of stockholders whose interests may divergeBoard.
Recommendations and the information described above should be sent to our Corporate Secretary at REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, Attention: Corporate Secretary.
Once a person has been identified by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee as a potential director candidate, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may: collect and review publicly available information regarding the person to assess whether the person should be considered further; request additional information from the interests of our stockholders as a whole. We believe that our directors have a broad range of personal characteristics including leadership, management, pharmaceutical, gene therapy business, marketingcandidate and financial experiencethe proposing stockholder; contact references or other persons to assess the candidate; and abilities to act with integrity, with sound judgment and collegially, to consider strategic proposals, to assistconduct one or more interviews with the developmentcandidate. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may consider that candidate in light of our strategic planinformation regarding any other candidates that the Nominating and oversee its implementation, to oversee our risk management efforts and executive compensation and to provide leadership, to commit the requisiteCorporate Governance Committee may be evaluating at that time, for preparation and attendance at board and committee meetings and to provide required expertiseas well as any relevant director search criteria. The evaluation process generally does not vary based on our board committees. As describedwhether or not a candidate is recommended by a stockholder; however, as stated above, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee recommends new membersmay take into consideration the number of our Boardshares held by the recommending stockholder and the length of Directors for their directorships. In evaluating such directors, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee has reviewed the experience, qualifications, attributes and skills of our directors and nominees, includingtime that those identified in the biographical information set forth above in the section entitled “Election of Directors.” The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that the members of our Board of Directors offer insightful and creative views and solutions with respect to issues facing the Company. shares have been held.
In addition to recommending director candidates to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, stockholders may also believes that the members of our Board of Directors function well together as a group. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee believes that the above-mentioned attributes and qualifications, along with the leadership skills and other experiences of the members ofnominate candidates for election to the Board at an annual meeting of Directors described in further detail above understockholders. For more information, see “Questions and Answers About the section entitled “ElectionProxy Materials and Voting—May I propose actions for consideration at next year’s annual meeting of Directors,” provide the Company with the perspectives and judgment necessarystockholders or nominate individuals to guide the Company’s strategies and monitor their execution.serve as directors?”
Disclosure Committee and Committee Charter
We have a Disclosure Committee and Disclosure Committee charter. Our Disclosure Committee is comprised of our Chief Executive Officer; Chief Financial Officer; Chief Medical Officer; General Counsel; and certain other senior-level executive officers. Our General Counsel serves as the chair of the Disclosure Committee. The purpose of the Disclosure Committee is to provide assistance to the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer in fulfilling their responsibilities regarding the identification and disclosure of material information about us, and the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of our financial reports. Our Disclosure Committee meets at least once per quarter.
Separation of CEO and Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Roles
OurThe Board of Directors separates the positions of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.CEO. Separating these positions allows our Chief Executive OfficerCEO to focus on our day-to-day business, while
allowing the Chairman of the Board to lead the Board of Directors in its fundamental role of providing advice to and independent oversight of management. The Board of Directors recognizes the time, effort, and energy that the Chief Executive OfficerCEO is required to devote to his position in the current business environment, as well as the commitment required to serve as our Chairman of the Board, particularly as the Board of Directors’Board’s oversight responsibilities continue to grow. We believe that having separate positions and having an outside director serve as Chairman of the Board is the appropriate leadership structure for the Company at this time.
MeetingsLead Independent Director
As the Chairman of the Board is not an independent director, the Board has appointed a Lead Independent Director to provide leadership for our independent directors. The Lead Independent Director has a clearly defined set of Directors
Ourresponsibilities and provides significant independent Board leadership. Dr. Karabelas has served as our Lead Independent Director since July 1, 2020. During Dr. Karabelas’s nearly eight years of Directors met 13 times during 2015. Each director attended 75% or moreservice on our Board, he has consistently demonstrated strong leadership skills in addition to his strong knowledge of strategic and regulatory issues. The independent directors of the aggregateBoard are confident in Dr. Karabelas’s ability to continue to serve as Lead Independent Director.
The position of Lead Independent Director has a clear mandate, significant authority and well-defined responsibilities under our corporate governance guidelines. These responsibilities include:
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Director Attendance at Annual Meetings of Stockholders
Directors are encouraged, but not required, to attend our annual stockholder meetings.
Stockholder Communications with the Board of Directors
Stockholders may communicate with the Board of Directors, including the independent members of the Board of Directors, by sending a letter to the Corporate Secretary, REGENXBIO Inc., 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850. Each such communication should set forth (1) the name and address of such stockholder, as they appear on the Company’s books and, if the shares of the Company’s stock are held by a nominee, the name and address of the beneficial owner of such shares, and (2) the number of shares of the Company’s stock that are owned of record by such record holder and beneficially by such beneficial owner. The Corporate Secretary will review all communications from stockholders, but may, in her sole discretion, disregard any communication that she believes is not related to the
Code of Business Conduct
We have adopted a code of business conduct that applies to each of our directors, officers and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller and persons performing similar functions. The code addresses various topics, including: (1) compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) conflicts of interest; (3) public disclosure of information; (4) insider trading; (5) corporate opportunities; (6) competition and fair dealing; (7) gifts; (8) discrimination, harassment and retaliation; (9) health and safety; (10) record-keeping; (11) confidentiality; (12) protection and proper use of company assets; (13) payments to government personnel; and (14) the reporting of illegal and unethical behavior.
The code of business conduct is postedspecified in the corporate governance section of our website at www.regenxbio.com. Any waiver ofguidelines or assigned from time to time by the code of business conduct for an executive officer or director may be granted only by our Board of Directors or a committee thereof and must be timely disclosed as required by applicable law. We intend to disclose future amendments to certain provisions of our code of business conduct, or waivers of those provisions, applicable to any principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions on our website at www.regenxbio.com.
We have implemented whistleblower procedures that establish formal protocols for receiving and handling complaints from employees. Any concerns regarding accounting or audit matters reported under these procedures will be communicated promptly to the Audit Committee. The whistleblower policy is posted in the corporate governance section of our website at www.regenxbio.com.
Risk Oversight
OurThe Board of Directors has responsibility for the oversight of the company’sCompany’s risk management processes and, either as a whole or through its committees, regularly discusses with management our major risk exposures, their potential impact on our business and the steps we take to manage them. The risk oversight process includes ourthe Board of Directors receiving regular reports from boardBoard committees and members of senior management to enable ourthe Board of Directors to understand and evaluate the company’sCompany’s risk identification, risk management and risk mitigation strategies with respect to areas of potential material risk, including operations, finance, legal, regulatory, strategic, reputational, information and reputational risk.cyber security, human capital, environmental and social risk, as well as risks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The oversight of risk within the Company is an evolving process requiring the Company to continually look for opportunities to further embed systematic enterprise risk management into ongoing business processes within the Company.
The Audit Committee reviewsBoard is responsible for overseeing information security risk, and management reports to the Board regarding liquidityour assessment of information security risk, among other risks we face, on a periodic basis. Management monitors our information security systems to identify and operations,mitigate any related risks, and overseeswe do not believe we have experienced any material cyber breaches. We maintain cybersecurity insurance coverage and we continue to invest in data protection and information technology, including providing an information security training and compliance program to our management of financial risks.employees. Periodically, the Audit Committee reviews our policies with respect to risk assessment, risk management, loss prevention and regulatory compliance. The Audit Committee reviews information regarding liquidity and operations, and oversees our management of financial risks. Oversight by the Audit Committee includes direct communication with our external auditors,auditor, and discussions with management regarding significant risk exposures and the actions management has taken to limit, monitor or control such exposures. The Compensation Committee is responsible for assessing whether any of our compensation policies or programs has the potential to encourage excessive risk-taking.risk-taking and conducts a compensation risk assessment on an annual basis. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee manages risks associated with the independence of the Board, of Directors, corporate disclosuregovernance practices, and potential conflicts of interest. While each committee is responsible for evaluating certain risks and overseeing the management of such risks, the entire Board of Directors is regularly informed through committee reports about such risks. Matters of significant strategic risk are considered by ourthe Board of Directors as a whole.
DIRECTOR COMPENSATIONCommunications with the Board
DuringThe Board is interested in receiving communications from stockholders and other interested parties. These parties may contact any member of the Board or any committee of the Board, the non-employee directors as a group or the chairperson of any committee. In addition, the Audit Committee is interested in receiving communications from employees and other interested parties regarding accounting, internal controls or auditing matters. Any such correspondence should be addressed to the appropriate person or persons, either by name or title, and sent to our fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, we paid cash feesCorporate Secretary at REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, Attention: Corporate Secretary. The Corporate Secretary will review all such communications, but may, in his or her sole discretion, disregard any communication that he or she believes is not related to the duties and granted options to purchase sharesresponsibilities of the Board. If deemed an appropriate communication, the Corporate Secretary will share the communication with the applicable director or directors.
Following our 2022 annual meeting, as part of our off-season stockholder engagement efforts, our leadership team reached out to engage with 14 stockholders representing approximately 54% of our outstanding common stock to discuss the progress of our clinical trials, our business strategy, our financial performance and strategic initiatives and our corporate governance. We also provided these stockholders with an overview of the overall state of the AAV gene therapy industry.
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DIRECTOR COMPENSATION
Our Board determines the compensation of our non-employee directors who servedin conjunction with recommendations made by the Compensation Committee. We use a combination of cash and share-based compensation to attract and retain qualified candidates to serve on our Board of Directors. A non-employee director is a director who is not employed by us and who does not receive compensation from us (other than for services as a director) or have a business relationship with us that would require disclosure under certain SEC rules.the Board. Kenneth T. Mills, our presidentPresident and chief executive officerCEO and a member of ourthe Board, of Directors, did not receive any compensation from us during our fiscal year ended December 31, 20152022 for his service as a director and is not included in the table2022 Director Compensation Table below.
Fees Earned or Paid in Cash
Name | Fees Earned or Paid In Cash | Option Awards(1) | Total | |||||||||
Benjamin Auspitz(2) | — | — | — | |||||||||
Luke M. Beshar(3) | $ | 16,010 | $ | 300,540 | $ | 316,550 | ||||||
Edgar G. Engleman, M.D.(4) | $ | 11,353 | $ | 364,774 | $ | 376,127 | ||||||
Allan M. Fox | $ | 10,188 | $ | 364,774 | $ | 374,962 | ||||||
Michael Gelman(5) | — | — | — | |||||||||
Donald J. Hayden, Jr.(6). | $ | 62,405 | $ | 368,861 | $ | 431,266 | ||||||
Jerry Karabelas, Ph.D.(7) | $ | 12,517 | $ | 215,138 | $ | 227,655 | ||||||
John Daniel Kiser(8) | — | — | — | |||||||||
Camille Samuels(9) | $ | 13,827 | $ | 364,774 | $ | 378,601 | ||||||
David C. Stump, M.D.(10) | $ | 9,982 | $ | 295,093 | $ | 305,075 |
As of December 31, 2015, the following non-employee directors held outstanding options to purchase shares of our common stock: Mr. Hayden (475,475 shares); Mr. Beshar (89,375 shares); Dr. Karabelas (49,375 shares); Dr. Engleman (25,000 shares); Mr. Fox (25,000 shares); Ms. Samuels (25,000 shares) and Dr. Stump (25,000 shares).
Non-Employee Director Compensation
Our Board of Directors, upon the recommendation of our Compensation Committee, adopted a compensation program for non-employee directors, in August 2015. Pursuant to the program, each member of our Board of Directors who is not our employee will receive the following cash compensation for board services, as applicable:
Each of the above isapplicable, paid in quarterly installments in arrears.arrears:
Non-employee members
Description of Service | Cash | |
Chairman of the Board | 35,000 | |
Lead Independent Director | 25,000 | |
Member of the Board | 45,000 |
In addition to the cash compensation described above, each member of the Board who served on the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee or Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee received additional cash compensation as follows, paid in quarterly installments in arrears:
Committee | Role | Cash | ||
Audit Committee | Committee Chair | 20,000 | ||
Committee Member | 10,000 | |||
Compensation Committee | Committee Chair | 15,000 | ||
Committee Member | 7,500 | |||
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee | Committee Chair | 10,000 | ||
Committee Member | 5,000 |
The annual cash compensation to our directors is pro-rated for any partial year of service on our Board or as a committee chair or committee member.
Equity Awards
The Company seeks to maintain competitive executive compensation in order to attract the most qualified candidates. In consultation with the Company’s independent compensation consultants and after a review of Directorspeer company director compensation the Company has updated its non-employee equity awards as follows:
Non-employee directors receive automatic grantsan annual equity award grant with an aggregate value of $275,000. Of this amount, 75% is in the form of non-statutory stock options under our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan. Each non-employee director upon joining our Boardand 25% of Directors will automatically be granted a non-statutorythe value is in the form of restricted stock option to purchase 25,000 shares of our common stock with anunits ("RSUs"). The exercise price per share price for each option is equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the grant date. Each of theseThe options will vest in equal monthly installments over the 3612 months following the grant date, of the grant, and each provides forwith immediate full accelerationvesting in the event of a change ofin control.
In addition, The RSUs vest in full on the datefirst anniversary of each annual meetingthe first day of our stockholders, eachthe month in which the RSUs were granted, with immediate full vesting in the event of a change in control.
Each newly appointed non-employee director will automatically be granted areceives an initial equity award grant with an aggregate value of $550,000, of which 75% of the value is in the form of non-statutory stock optionoptions and 25% of the value is in the form of RSUs, in each case rounded down to purchase 12,500 shares of our common stock with anthe nearest whole share. The exercise price per share for each option is equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the grant date. A non-employee director who receives an initial award will not receive the additional annual award in the same calendar year. The annual grantsoptions vest in equal monthly installments over the 1236 months following the grant date, of the grant, and each provides forwith immediate full accelerationvesting in the event of a change in control. The RSUs vest over a three-year period, with one-third of the aggregate number of shares subject to the RSU award vesting on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of the first day of the month in which the RSUs were granted, with immediate full vesting in the event of a change in control.
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Other Compensation
We will also continue to reimburse our non-employee directors for their reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending boardBoard and committee meetings. We also provide customary director and officer insurance for all directors.
Pursuant2022 Director Compensation Table
The following table sets forth a summary of the compensation we paid to our non-employee directors in 2022:
Name |
| Fees Earned or |
| Stock |
| Option |
| Total |
Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi(2) |
| 26,827 |
| — |
| — |
| 26,827 |
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. |
| 47,885 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 322,882 |
Allan M. Fox |
| 75,769 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 350,766 |
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D. |
| 49,750 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 324,747 |
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. |
| 74,750 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 349,747 |
George Migausky(3) |
| 58,231 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 333,228 |
David C. Stump, M.D. |
| 61,827 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 336,824 |
Daniel Tassé |
| 57,885 |
| 68,748 |
| 206,249 |
| 332,882 |
Jennifer Zachary(4) |
| 31,731 |
| 137,497 |
| 412,494 |
| 581,722 |
As of December 31, 2022, our Board of Directors. In consideration of such services, we agreed to pay Mr. Hayden an annual fee of $40,000. Pursuant to his letter agreement, we issued Mr. Hayden an optionnon-employee directors held the following unvested RSUs and outstanding options to purchase 6,420,000 Class B Preferred Units of our predecessor limited liability company. In connection with our conversion to a C-corporation in September 2014, Mr. Hayden’s Class B Preferred Units were cancelled and Mr. Hayden received an option to purchase 354,100 shares of our common stock. We terminated the letter agreement with Mr. Hayden upon completion of our initial public offering in September 2015 (the IPO), and Mr. Hayden is compensated in accordance with the provisions of our compensation program for non-employee directors.
Name |
| Aggregate Number |
| Aggregate Number |
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. |
| 3,010 |
| 35,324 |
Allan M. Fox |
| 3,010 |
| 107,824 |
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D. |
| 3,010 |
| 70,324 |
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D. |
| 3,010 |
| 132,199 |
George Migausky |
| 3,010 |
| 35,324 |
David C. Stump, M.D. |
| 3,010 |
| 107,824 |
Daniel Tassé |
| 3,010 |
| 95,324 |
Jennifer Zachary |
| 6,020 |
| 29,739 |
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PROPOSAL 22:
RATIFICATION OF SELECTIONAPPOINTMENT OF PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP AS OUR
INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2016
The Audit Committee of ourthe Board of Directors has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, anPwC as our independent registered public accounting firm asto perform the audit of our independent auditorsfinancial statements for the year ending December 31, 2016,2023, and has further directed that management submit thethis selection of independent auditors for ratification by our stockholders at the Annual Meeting. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC has auditedserved as our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013.independent registered public accounting firm since 2015. Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC are expected to be present at the Annual Meeting. They will have an opportunity to make a statement if they so desire and will be available to respond to appropriate questions.
The Audit Committee believes that the continued retention of PwC is in the best interests of the Company and our stockholders. As provided in the Audit Committee charter, the Audit Committee is directly responsible for the appointment, retention, compensation and oversight of the independent registered public accounting firm retained to audit the Company’s financial statements. The Audit Committee annually reviews the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence, including reviewing all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us and any disclosed relationships or services that may impact the performance, objectivity or independence of the independent registered public accounting firm.
In determining whether to reappoint PwC as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, the Audit Committee took into consideration a number of factors, including the length of time the firm has been engaged, the quality of the Audit Committee’s ongoing discussions with PwC, an assessment of the professional qualifications and past performance of PwC and the potential impact of changing independent registered public accounting firms. Through its experience with the Company, PwC has gained institutional knowledge and expertise regarding the Company’s operations, accounting policies and practices and internal control over financial reporting. The Audit Committee believes that appointing a new independent registered accounting firm would require a significant time commitment that could interfere with management’s focus on financial reporting and internal controls.
Neither our amended and restated bylawsBylaws nor other governing documents or laws require stockholder ratification of the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC as our independent registered public accounting firm. However, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors is submitting the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC to the stockholders for ratification as a matter of good corporate practice. If the stockholders fail to ratify the selection, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors will reconsider whether or not to retain PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.PwC. Even if the selection is ratified, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors in its discretion may direct the appointment of a different independent auditorsregistered public accounting firm at any time during the year if it determines that such a change would be in the best interests of the Company and our stockholders.
Vote Required
In order for Proposal 2 to pass, holdersthe number of a majorityvotes cast “For” Proposal 2 must exceed the number of all those outstanding shares present in person, or represented by proxy, andvotes cast either affirmatively or negatively at the Annual Meeting must vote “FOR”against Proposal 2. Abstentions and broker non-votes will be counted towards a quorum; however, they will not be counted either “FOR”“For” or “AGAINST”“Against” the proposal and will have no effect on the proposal. BecauseWe do not expect to receive broker non-votes on this proposal because the ratification of the appointment of the independent registered public accounting firm is a matter on which a bank, brokerbanks, brokers or other nominee isnominees are generally empowered to vote no broker non-votes are expected to exist in connection with this matter.any shares for which a beneficial owner does not provide voting instructions.
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm’s Fees
The following table represents aggregate fees billed to REGENXBIOthe Company for the years ended December 31, 20152022 and December 31, 2014,2021, by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP,PwC, our principal accountant.independent registered public accounting firm:
Year ended December 31, | ||||||||
2015 | 2014 | |||||||
Audit fees(1) | $ | 1,047,067 | $ | 619,083 | ||||
Audit-related fees | — | — | ||||||
Tax fees | — | — | ||||||
All other fees | — | — | ||||||
Total fees | $ | 1,047,067 | $ | 619,083 |
Fee Category |
| 2022 Fees |
| 2021 Fees |
Audit Fees |
| 1,123,800 |
| 1,249,300 |
Audit-Related Fees |
| — |
| — |
Tax Fees |
| — |
| 30,000 |
All Other Fees |
| 900 |
| 900 |
Total Fees |
| 1,124,700 |
| 1,280,200 |
Audit Fees
Audit fees consist of aggregate fees billed or incurred by PwC for professional services rendered in connection with the annual audit of our financial statements, including internal control attestations, quarterly review procedures, consents issued for our registration statements and securities offerings.
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Tax Fees
Tax fees consist of fees for tax planning services.
All Other Fees
All other fees consist of license fees billed or incurred by PwC for access to its proprietary disclosure checklist software platform.
All audit fees and other fees described above were pre-approved by the Audit Committee in accordance with applicable SEC requirements.
Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures
The Audit Committee’s policy is to pre-approve all audit and permissible non-audit services rendered by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP,PwC, our independent registered public accounting firm. The Audit Committee can pre-approve specified services in defined categories of audit services, audit-related services, tax services and taxall other services up to specified amounts, as part of the Audit Committee’s approval of the scope of the engagement of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC or on an individual case-by-case basis before PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC is engaged to provide a service.
Recommendation of the Board
The Audit Committee has determined thatBoard unanimously recommends a vote “For” the renderingratification of tax-related services by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is compatible with maintaining the principal accountant’s independenceappointment of PwC as our independent registered public accounting firm for audit purposes. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has not been engaged to perform any non-audit services.the year ending December 31, 2023.
YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS YOU “FOR” VOTE FOR THE RATIFICATION OF PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP AS OUR INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2016
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AUDIT COMMITTEE1 REPORT
The Audit Committee of the Board is composed entirely of Directors consisted on December 31, 2015 of the three non-employee directors named below.independent directors. The Board of Directors annually reviews the NASDAQNasdaq listing standards’ definition of independence for Audit Committee members (including the requirements of Rule 10A-3 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended)Act) and has determined that each member of the Audit Committee meets that standard. Mr. BesharGeorge Migausky serves as an audit committee financial expert in accordance with applicable SEC regulations.
The principal purpose of the Audit Committee is to assist the Board of Directors in fulfilling its general oversight of ourresponsibilities relating to the Company’s financial accounting, internal controls, reporting and financial reporting processes and audits of our financial statements.compliance. The Audit Committee is responsible for selecting and engaging ourthe Company’s independent auditor and approving the audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent auditor. The Audit Committee’s function is more fully described in its charter, which the Board of Directors has adopted and which the Audit Committee reviews and approves on an annual basis.
Our
The Company’s management is responsible for preparing ourthe Company’s financial statements and ourfor the Company’s financial reporting process. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, ourprocess, including the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, PwC, is responsible for performing an independent integrated audit of ourthe Company’s financial statements and expressing an opinion on the conformity of those financial statements with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and attesting tofor auditing the effectiveness of ourthe Company’s internal control over financial reporting.reporting based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
The Audit Committee has also reviewed and discussed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPthe Company’s management and PwC the audited financial statements in ourthe Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 (the 10-K).Report. In addition, the Audit Committee discussed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC those matters required to be discussed by Statementthe applicable requirements of Accounting Standards 114, as modified, as adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board or “PCAOB,” in Rule 3200T(“PCAOB”) and by PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 16, Communications with Audit Committees, as may be further modified or supplemented. Additionally, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPthe SEC, including the scope and results of PwC’s audits, the Company’s critical accounting policies and estimates, new accounting guidance and the critical audit matter addressed during the audit. PwC provided to the Audit Committee with the written disclosures and the letter required by applicable requirements of the PCAOB Rule 3526 “Communicationregarding PwC’s communications with Audit Committees concerning independence” as adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The Audit Committee alsoregarding PwC’s independence and the Audit Committee and PwC discussed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP itsPwC’s independence from the Company. PwC had full access to the Audit Committee.
Based upon the review and discussions described above, the Audit Committee recommended to the Board of Directors that the audited financial statements be included in the 10-KAnnual Report for filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We haveSEC. The Audit Committee has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPPwC as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2016,2023, and have approved submitting the selectionhas submitted its appointment of the independent registered public accounting firmPwC for ratification by the Company’s stockholders.
Submitted by the following members
The Audit Committee | ||
George Migausky, Chair Jennifer Zachary |
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PROPOSAL 3:
ADVISORY VOTE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
In accordance with Section 14A of the Audit Committee:
Luke M. Beshar, Chairman
David C. Stump, M.D.
Camille Samuels
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth certain information known to us regarding beneficial ownership of our common stock as of April 7, 2016 by:
The Compensation Committee oversees and administers our executive compensation program, including the evaluation and approval of compensation plans, policies and programs offered to our named executive officers. Our executive compensation program is designed to meet the following objectives:
Applicable percentage ownershipPlease see the “Executive Compensation” section of this Proxy Statement for a detailed discussion about our executive compensation program, including information about the 2022 compensation of our named executive officers.
While this vote is basedbeing conducted on 26,338,329 sharesan advisory basis, and is therefore not binding on us, the vote will be carefully considered by the Compensation Committee and the Board. Both the Compensation Committee and the Board value the opinions of common stock outstanding at April 7, 2016.
The table belowour stockholders and, to the extent there is based upon information supplied byany meaningful vote against the compensation of our named executive officers directorsas disclosed in this Proxy Statement, we will consider our stockholders’ concerns and principal stockholders and Schedule 13Gs and 13Ds filed withevaluate what actions, if any, may be appropriate to address those concerns. The outcome of the SEC through April 7, 2016.vote, however, will not be construed as overruling any prior decision by the Company, the Compensation Committee or the Board. The current frequency of non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation is an annual vote.
Vote Required
In computingorder for Proposal 3 to pass, the number of sharesvotes cast “For” Proposal 3 must exceed the number of common stock beneficially owned by a personvotes cast “Against” Proposal 3. Abstentions and broker non-votes will not be counted either “For” or “Against” the percentage ownership of that person, we deemed to be outstanding all shares of common stock subject to options held by that person or entity that are currently exercisable or releasable or thatproposal and will become exercisable or releasable within 60 days of April 7, 2016. We did not deem these shares outstanding, however, forhave no effect on the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Unless otherwise indicated, the principal address of eachproposal.
Recommendation of the stockholders below is c/o REGENXBIO Inc., 9712 Medical Center Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850.Board
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned | Percentage of Shares Beneficially Owned | ||||||
5% Stockholders | ||||||||
FMR LLC(1) 245 Summer Street Boston, MA 02210 | 3,312,462 | 12.6 | % | |||||
Entities Affiliated with Allan M. Fox(2) 1701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006 | 3,221,048 | 12.2 | % | |||||
Entities Affiliated with John Daniel Kiser(3) 1701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20006 | 2,280,110 | 8.7 | % | |||||
Entities Affiliated with Venrock Partners(4) 3340 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 | 1,991,907 | 7.6 | % | |||||
Brookside Capital Partners Fund, L.P.(5) John Hancock Tower 200 Clarendon Street Boston, MA 02116 | 1,759,961 | 6.7 | % | |||||
Directors and Named Executive Officers | ||||||||
Kenneth T. Mills(6) | 483,585 | 1.8 | % | |||||
Vittal Vasista(7) | 322,099 | 1.2 | % | |||||
Stephen Yoo, M.D.(8) | 137,380 | * | ||||||
Donald J. Hayden, Jr.(9) | 316,626 | 1.2 | % | |||||
Luke Beshar(10) | 58,333 | * | ||||||
Edgar G. Engleman, M.D.(11) | 946,004 | 3.6 | % | |||||
Allan M. Fox(12) | 3,226,603 | 12.2 | % | |||||
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D.(13) | 33,333 | * | ||||||
Camille Samuels(14) | 5,555 | * | ||||||
David C. Stump, M.D.(15) | 4,861 | * | ||||||
All current executive officers and directors as a group (12 persons)(16) | 5,534,379 | 21.0 | % |
SECTION 16(a) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE
Section 16(a)The Board unanimously recommends a vote “For” thE approval, on an advisory basis, of the Exchange Act requires our directors, executive officers, and certain holders of more than 10%2022 compensation of our common stock to file reports regarding their ownership and changes in ownership of our securities with the SEC, and to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) reports that they file.Named Executive Officers.
Based solely upon a review of Forms 3 and 4 and amendments thereto furnished to us and written representations provided to us by all of our directors and executive officers and certain of our greater than 10% stockholders, we believe that during the year ended December 31, 2015, our directors, executive officers, and greater than 10% stockholders complied with all applicable Section 16(a) filing requirements.
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INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
The names of the current executive officers of REGENXBIOthe Company and certain information about each of them as of April 18, 2016, are set forth below:
Executive Officers
Kenneth T. Mills –. For biographical information regarding Mr. Mills, our President and CEO and a member of our Board, see “Proposal 1: Election of Directors – Continuing Directors Not Standing for Election – Class III Directors (Terms Expire in 2018).Directors.”
Vittal “Vit”Vit Vasista, age 48,55, is currently our EVP, Chief Financial Officer and has been our Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development since August 2009. Prior to joining us, Mr. Vasista served as Principal at PRTM Management Consultants from October 2006 to July 2009, where he developed operational strategies for both private and public organizations, including the development of market entry strategies, innovative business models, and operational improvements. Earlier in his career, Mr. Vasista served as Director, Business Development at Meso Scale Diagnostics, a privately held life sciences company, from June 2002 to May 2006. Mr. Vasista received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Stephen Yoo, M.D.Curran Simpson, age 38,61, is currently our EVP, Chief Operating Officer and has been on our Chief Medical Officer since October 2014. Prior to joining us, Dr. Yoo was Medical Science Director and Group Director of Clinical Development at AstraZeneca from January 2014 to October 2014. In these roles, he led the late-phase clinical project teams while providing strategic and operational leadership to physicians and scientists. In previous roles at MedImmune, LLC, AstraZeneca’s global biologics research and development arm, from April 2010 to May 2014, Dr. Yoo provided strategic clinical leadership for early-phase programs. Earlier in his career, Dr. Yoo served as Associate Director of Clinical Development at Abbott Laboratories from June 2008 to April 2010. Dr. Yoo holds an M.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Faraz Ali, age 43, has been our Chief Business Officer since February 2016. Prior to joining us, Mr. Ali was Vice President, Global Commercial Development and External Affairs at bluebird bio from May 2011 until February 2016, where he led all commercial planning efforts, including engagement with payers in the U.S. and Europe. From August 2001 to November 2010, Mr. Ali held roles of increasing global commercial responsibility at Genzyme, including Head of U.S. Marketing and Strategic Planning for the rare disease business unit. Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Ali served in leadership roles at GE Corporate and GE Healthcare. Mr. Ali holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Curran Simpson, age 54, has been our Senior Vice President, Technical Operationssenior management team since August 2015. Prior to joining us, Mr. Simpson was the Head, North AmericanRegional Supply Chain and also served as Interim Chief Operating Officer and Integration Lead withHead for North America at GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences division of GlaxoSmithKline (HGS)plc (“GSK”), respectively,a pharmaceutical company, from December 2012 until August 2015. From July 2006 to December 2012, Mr. Simpson was the Senior Vice President, Operations at HGS,the Human Genome Sciences division of GSK (“HGS”) from July 2006 to December 2012, as well as the Vice President, Manufacturing Operations at HGS from January 2003 to June 2006. Prior to HGS, Mr. Simpson held various positions with Biogen, Inc., Covance Biotechnology Services Inc., Novo-Nordisk Biochem Inc., Genentech, Inc. and Genencor, Inc. Mr. Simpson received an M.S. in Surface and Colloid Science (Physical Chemistry) from Clarkson University and a B.S. in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering from Clarkson College of Technology.
Steve Pakola, M.D., age 54, is currently our EVP, Chief Medical Officer and has been our Chief Medical Officer since April 2019. Prior to joining us, Dr. Pakola served as Chief Medical Officer of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from October 2015 until April 2019. From April 2012 until October 2015, Dr. Pakola was the Chief Medical Officer of Amakem NV, a biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Amakem, from May 2000 until April 2012, Dr. Pakola was the Chief Medical Officer of ThromboGenics NV, a biopharmaceutical company, where he was the lead inventor and program lead for the Jetrea (ocriplasmin) program. Dr. Pakola received an M.D. and a B.A. in Biology, each from the University of Pennsylvania.
Olivier Danos, Ph.D., age 65, is currently our EVP, Chief Scientific Officer and has been our Chief Scientific Officer since March 2017. Prior to joining us, Dr. Danos was the Senior Vice President, Cell and Gene Therapy at Biogen Inc., a biotechnology company, from September 2014 until March 2017, where he led its gene therapy research and development activities. From September 2011 to September 2014, Dr. Danos was the Senior Vice President, Molecular Medicine, Synthetic Biology and Gene Regulation at Kadmon Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Kadmon, Dr. Danos served as the Director of the Gene Therapy Consortium of the University College of London and led a gene therapy research team at the Necker Hospital—Enfants Malades in Paris. He also served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Genethon and Senior Director of Research at Somatix Therapy Corporation, and held senior roles at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Dr. Danos is the former President and founding member of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Dr. Danos received a Ph.D. in Biology from the Pasteur Institute and University of Paris Diderot and a Master in Science in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Paris Orsay.
Patrick J. Christmas, age 52, is currently our EVP, Chief Legal Officer and has been on our senior management team since August 2016. Prior to joining us, Mr. Christmas served as Interim General Counsel at Tolero Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from April 2015 until August 2016. From May 2011 until November 2014, Mr. Christmas was the Vice President, General Counsel of Lumara Health, a specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to Lumara Health, Mr. Christmas was General Counsel at the Wellstat Companies, a group of biotechnology companies, from July 2007 until May 2011 and General Counsel at BioVeris Corporation, a publicly held diagnostics company, from April 2005 to July 2007. Mr. Christmas began his career as an Associate at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Mr. Christmas received a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame and a B.A. in Economics from Boston College.
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EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
2015 Compensation Discussion and Analysis
This Compensation Discussion and Analysis (“CD&A”) explains our compensation philosophy, policies and decisions for 2022 for the following executives, whom we refer to in this CD&A and in the related tables as our named executive officers (“NEOs”):
Executive Summary of Our 2022 Achievements
We are a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy. Our investigational gene therapies are designed to deliver functional genes to address genetic defects in cells, enabling the production of therapeutic proteins or antibodies that are intended to impact disease. Our investigational gene therapies use adeno-associated virus (“AAV”) vectors from our proprietary gene delivery platform, which we call our NAV Technology Platform. Our NAV Technology Platform consists of exclusive rights to a large portfolio of AAV vectors, including AAV7, AAV8, AAV9, AAVrh10 and more than 100 other novel AAV vectors (“NAV Vectors”). We and our third-party NAV Technology Platform Licensees are applying the NAV Technology Platform to a number of investigational gene therapies and one FDA-approved product over a broad range of therapeutic areas and disease indications.
In 2022, we made significant progress toward our clinical development and business objectives, including the following achievements, which impacted executive compensation:
RGX-314 for the Treatment of wet AMD and DR under the eyecare collaboration with AbbVie | Enrollment is ongoing in ATMOSPHERE® and ASCENT™, two pivotal clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of RGX-314 in patients with wet AMD using the subretinal delivery approach. The ASCENT trial is the first trial to be initiated by REGENXBIO under the eye care collaboration with AbbVie. We announced new data from the Phase II AAVIATE® trial of RGX-314 for the treatment of wet AMD using suprachoroidal delivery.RGX-314 suprachoroidal delivery was reported to be well tolerated across 85 patients dosed in Cohorts 1-5. We also announced positive interim data from the expansion of Phase II ALTITUDE® trial of RGX-314 using in-office suprachoroidal delivery for the treatment of DR without center-involved diabetic macular edema. |
RGX-202 for the Treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (“Duchenne”) | We did not meet our objective of enrollment and dose escalation due to unexpected loss of clinical supply in the first quarter of 2022. |
RGX-121 for the Treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (“MPS II”) | We announced additional positive interim data from our ongoing CAMPSIITE pivotal trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of patients up to 5 years old diagnosed with MPS II. Positive data supports a 2024 BLA filing using the accelerated approval pathway. A second Phase I/II trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of pediatric patients with MPS II over the age of 5 years old is ongoing. |
RGX-111 for the Treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (“MPS I”) | We completed enrollment of patients in expanded Cohort 2 of our Phase I/II trial of RGX-111 for the treatment of MPS I. |
RGX-181 and RGX-381 | First patient dosed under a single-patient investigator-initiated study of RGX-181. |
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We received approval of the clinical trial application for RGX-381 from the UK Health Authority and we expect to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial in the first half of 2023. | |
Enhancement of Gene Therapy Manufacturing Capabilities | Our Rockville, Maryland headquarters includes a cGMP manufacturing facility. Our cGMP manufacturing facility, which was fully operational starting in the first half of 2022, allows for production of NAV Vectors at scales up to 2,000 liters using our platform suspension cell culture process. We completed four cGMP batches of clinical drug products in 2022. |
Financial Strength | We ended 2022 with over $550 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. |
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Compensation Philosophy and Objectives
The rapidly growing gene therapy industry has created a competitive recruitment and retention market for strong talent. It is our goal to ensure that we have the most skilled, innovative and resourceful executives on our leadership team. We foster an environment at REGENXBIO that will attract and retain top talent, and our executive compensation program is designed to support those objectives. Our program is structured around the following philosophy and objectives:
Attract, Motivate and Retain Highly Qualified Executives | • Our compensation program is designed to attract, motivate and retain highly experienced individuals who are recognized as best-in-class. • We believe we provide a total compensation package that is competitive with our peer group. |
Align the Interests of Executives with the Interests of Stockholders | • Our compensation program is designed to align the compensation realized by our executives with the value realized by our stockholders. • We provide our executives with equity accumulation opportunities, which typically include an equity grant upon joining the Company. This is intended to ensure the alignment of the interests of each new executive with the interests of our stockholders. A significant portion of our NEOs’ total compensation in 2022 was based on stock options and RSUs. • Our stock options generally vest over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares vesting after 12 months from the date of grant and the balance vesting in equal monthly installments over the 36 months thereafter, provided that the optionee provides continuous service to the Company. • Our RSUs generally vest over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares vesting on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the first day of the month in which the RSU was granted, provided that the recipient provides continuous service to the Company. |
Pay for Performance | • Our compensation program is designed to reward our executives for attaining pre-established business and individual goals. The attainment of these goals requires each executive to dedicate time and effort to the Company and use skills and experience to maximize stockholder value. • A significant portion of our executives’ compensation is based on Company and individual performance, and the compensation program is designed to reward both short-term and long-term performance. • Short-term performance of our executives is primarily rewarded through annual cash incentive awards and bonuses, including special bonuses in the event of extraordinary achievements, that reflect the achievement of corporate and individual goals. Long-term performance of our executives is primarily rewarded through stock option awards and RSU awards that become exercisable with continued service to the Company and whose value is tied to the price of our common stock. |
Use Variable, Performance-Based and At-Risk Compensation to Reward Executives for Meeting Strategic Objectives | • As shown in the following charts, our compensation program is designed such that a significant portion of executive compensation is based on variable, performance-based and at-risk compensation, such as annual cash incentive awards, stock option awards and RSU awards. • We believe this mix of compensation best aligns the interests of our executives with those of our stockholders and contributes to both the achievement of short-term goals and the advancement of our long-term strategy. • In 2022, 88.4% of our President and CEO’s total compensation was variable, performance-based and at-risk and 74.4% of our other NEOs’ total compensation was variable, performance-based and at-risk. |
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2021 CEO Compensation Cash Incentive Awards 5% All Other Compensation 1% Salary 7% Special Bonus 7% RSU Awards 21% Option Awards 59% 2021 Variable Performance-Based vs Guaranteed CEO Compensation Guaranteed Compensation (Salary and All Other Compensation) 8% Variable Performance-Based Compensation (Option Awards RSU Awards Special One Time Bonus and Cash Incentive Awards) 92% 2021 All Other NEO Compensation Cash Incentive Awards7% All Other Compensation Salary1% Salary 14% Special Bonus 10% RSU Awards 18% Option Awards 50% 2021 Variable Performance-Based vs Guaranteed All Other NEO Compensation Guaranteed Compensation (Salary and All Other Compensation) 15% Variable Performance Based Compensation (Option Awards RSU Awards Special One Time Bonus and Cash Incentive Awards) 85%
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Oversight and Operation of our Executive Compensation Program
Our executive compensation program demonstrates a commitment to a robust process and strong corporate governance practices, as evidenced by the following:
What We Do: | What We Don’t Do: |
✓Periodic review of performance metrics: | ϰ Provide uncapped cash incentive payouts: |
✓Maintain an industry-specific peer group for benchmarking pay: | ϰ Provide excessive benefits or perquisites: |
✓Deliver executive compensation primarily through performance-based pay: | ϰ Allow hedging, pledging or “short-sale” transactions: |
✓Set challenging cash incentive goals: | |
✓Use negative discretion in delivering performance-based pay: | |
✓Use “double trigger” vesting in the event of a change in control: | |
✓Engage an independent compensation consultant: |
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Our Compensation Committee conducts a compensation risk assessment annually. The Compensation Committee believes that the mix of long-term equity incentives, short-term cash incentives and base salary appropriately balances both short-term and long-term performance goals.
Process of Determining Executive Compensation
Role of the Compensation Committee. Our Compensation Committee has been delegated the authority by the Board to make determinations regarding all elements of compensation for our executives. The Compensation Committee engages an independent compensation consultant to advise it on the competitiveness of the executive compensation program, including an annual peer group review and annual analysis of all elements of executive compensation for each executive. Compensation packages for each executive are typically finalized and approved at the first Compensation Committee meeting each year.
Role of Management. In making executive compensation decisions, our Compensation Committee may solicit input from management as appropriate with respect to individual and Company performance and results. The Compensation Committee receives recommendations and evaluations with respect to the compensation and performance of our executives from our President and CEO (except for his own compensation and performance). The EVP, Chief People Officer works with our compensation consultant to provide any internal or external data it requires. The Compensation Committee considered assessments from management when making 2022 compensation decisions.
Role of the Compensation Consultant. Our Compensation Committee is authorized to select and retain its own independent compensation consultant. The Compensation Committee has retained Willis Towers Watson in this role since April 2019. The compensation consultant has annually conducted a comprehensive assessment of our executive compensation program and pay levels, advised the Compensation Committee on evolving best practices in executive compensation and provided benchmarking data and recommendations. The Compensation Committee conducted an evaluation of Willis Towers Watson and concluded that the engagement did not raise any conflict of interest.
Peer Group Data. Our Compensation Committee reviews our peer group annually to ensure it remains relevant and current. Our Compensation Committee, upon advice received from its independent compensation consultant, selected the 15 companies that comprised our peer group for determining 2022 compensation through a screening process that considered publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies similar to us in headcount and market capitalization.
Our 2022 peer group companies were as follows:
Acceleron Pharma Inc. | Denali Therapeutics Inc. | MeiraGTx Holdings plc |
bluebird bio, Inc. | Editas Medicine, Inc. | PTC Therapeutics, Inc. |
Blueprint Medicines Corporation | Epizyme, Inc. | Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. |
ChemoCentryx, Inc. | Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. | Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
CRISPR Therapeutics AG | MacroGenics, Inc. | uniQure N.V. |
Survey Data. In addition to using peer group data, the Compensation Committee references survey data for comparable companies from the Radford Global Life Sciences Survey to inform compensation decisions.
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Elements of Compensation
Compensation packages for our NEOs in 2022 included the following elements:
Element | Purpose of Element |
Base salary | Provide NEOs with a market competitive salary that recognizes experience, value and level of contribution to achieving the Company’s objectives |
Annual short-term cash incentive | Motivate and reward NEOs for short-term individual and corporate performance Attract and retain talented NEOs |
Long-term equity incentives | Motivate and reward NEOs for long-term corporate performance Align the interests of NEOs and stockholders, thereby enhancing stockholder value Attract and retain talented NEOs |
Health, welfare and retirement benefits | Provide competitive benefits to protect employees’ and their covered dependents’ health and welfare, and to foster retirement savings |
Severance and change in control benefits | Discourage turnover and allow NEOs to respond to the possibility of a change in control without being influenced by the potential effects of a change in control on their job security |
The elements of our 2022 executive compensation program and compensation decisions for NEOs are described in further detail below.
Base Salary
Our Compensation Committee reviews and sets base salaries for NEOs, other than the President and CEO, on an annual basis in January of each year. Our Board determines the base salary for our President and CEO based on the recommendation of the Compensation Committee.
Our Compensation Committee and Board seek to establish and maintain base salaries for each position and level of responsibility that are competitive with those of executives at our peer group companies. In determining the base salary for each executive, the Compensation Committee takes many factors into account, including but not limited to:
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Our NEOs were given merit increases to their base salaries in 2022 as a result of their respective performances in 2021. In consideration of the factors described above, the base salaries for our NEOs were adjusted as follows in 2022:
Name |
| Annual Base |
| Annual Base |
| Percentage |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 650,759 |
| 631,805 |
| 3.0% |
Vit Vasista |
| 480,787 |
| 466,783 |
| 3.0% |
Curran Simpson |
| 474,933 |
| 448,050 |
| 6.0% |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 478,996 |
| 465,045 |
| 3.0% |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 482,940 |
| 455,604 |
| 6.0% |
Annual Short-Term Cash Incentive
We have an annual cash incentive program for all employees, which is intended to align corporate, departmental, and individual goals throughout the Company and to provide an incentive that further ties compensation to achievement of those goals. In establishing targets for the cash incentive awards for our NEOs, the Compensation Committee (and the Board, in the case of our President and CEO) considers cash incentive awards paid to executives in similar positions at our peer group companies.
For 2022, target cash incentive award percentages remained the same from the prior year, as reflected in the table below:
Name |
| Target Cash |
| Target Cash |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 60% |
| 60% |
Vit Vasista |
| 40% |
| 40% |
Curran Simpson |
| 40% |
| 40% |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 40% |
| 40% |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 40% |
| 40% |
For 2022, our Compensation Committee determined that the cash incentive awards for our NEOs, except for our President and CEO, Mr. Mills, would be determined based on corporate and individual objectives. Given Mr. Mills’ more substantial influence on the overall performance of the Company, the Compensation Committee believed it was appropriate and in the best interests of the Company to have Mr. Mills’ cash incentive award be based solely upon the achievement of corporate objectives, and the independent Board members concurred. The Compensation Committee believes that including the achievement of individual goals as a component of our cash incentive award payouts is important to motivate our NEOs other than Mr. Mills, as we continue to progress toward the commercial phase of our Company. For 2022, weightings allocated to corporate and individual objectives were as follows:
Name |
| Corporate |
| Individual |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 100% |
| — |
Vit Vasista |
| 75% |
| 25% |
Curran Simpson |
| 75% |
| 25% |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 75% |
| 25% |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 75% |
| 25% |
The Company’s annual cash incentive program, which is approved by the Compensation Committee and applicable to all employees, utilizes both a corporate performance multiplier and an individual performance multiplier. The corporate performance multiplier is based on the degree to which the Company’s objectives have been achieved during the relevant year; this multiplier is determined by the Compensation Committee and may range from 0 to 200% of target, provided that, if it is determined to be less than 50% of target, there will be no payout for the portion of our annual incentive program that is attributable to corporate performance. The individual performance modifier is based on the degree to which each employee’s individual objectives have been achieved
32
during the relevant year; this multiplier is approved by the Compensation Committee for each of our NEOs and may range from 0 to 200% of target.
Corporate Objectives
Near the beginning of each year, our management recommends annual corporate objectives to our Compensation Committee and Board for approval. These objectives serve as the basis for determining our performance against key strategic and operating parameters for the year.
The Compensation Committee and the Board approved the corporate objectives and weightings for 2022 as reflected in the table below. At the time of approval, the Compensation Committee believed that these objectives were challenging, but attainable, and that attainment was uncertain.
Corporate Objective | Weighting | |
Expand the cumulative value of lead product candidates as represented through net present values of target product profiles | 50% | |
Establish leading capabilities for late-stage readiness and origination of new lead product candidates | 15% | |
Increase value of early product portfolio and NAV Technology Platform | 15% | |
Advance organizational culture objectives as outlined in five-year plan | 10% | |
Maintain financial strength of the Company to achieve corporate objectives and expand value of NAV Technology Platform | 10% | |
Total | 100% |
Individual Objectives
Our President and CEO, in consultation with our other NEOs, identified individual objectives for each of our other NEOs near the beginning of 2022 that were specific to each of their respective areas of responsibility and supported meeting our corporate objectives. These individual objectives were then recommended to and approved by our Compensation Committee. At the time of approval, the Compensation Committee believed these objectives were challenging, but attainable, and that attainment was uncertain.
Our Compensation Committee, with input from our President and CEO, made a determination following the end of the year as to the level of achievement of the respective individual objectives by each of our NEOs, other than our President and CEO.
Determining Payouts of Annual Cash Incentives
With respect to our 2022 corporate objectives, our Board and Compensation Committee determined that we achieved a payout percentage of 90% of target based on our corporate performance. When assessing the payouts, the Board and Compensation Committee took into account our overall financial condition at the time and our performance relative to our annual corporate objectives. The Compensation Committee determined that all NEOs were instrumental in meeting our corporate objectives.
The determination of the Board and Compensation Committee regarding our performance relative to each corporate objective is shown in the following table:
Corporate Objective |
| Weighting |
| Performance |
| Percentage of |
|
Expand the cumulative value of lead product candidates as represented through net present values of target product profiles |
| 50% |
| Substantially Achieved |
| 40% | (1) |
Establish leading capabilities for late-stage readiness and origination of new lead product candidates |
| 15% |
| Achieved |
| 15% |
|
Increase value of early product portfolio and NAV Technology Platform |
| 15% |
| Achieved |
| 15% |
|
Advance organizational culture objectives as outlined in five-year plan |
| 10% |
| Achieved |
| 10% |
|
Maintain financial strength of the Company to achieve corporate objectives and expand value of NAV Technology Platform |
| 10% |
| Achieved |
| 10% |
|
Total |
| 100% |
|
|
| 90% |
|
33
Based on the Company’s level of performance in 2022 relative to our corporate goals, and based on the level of performance of each NEO other than our President and CEO in 2022 relative to individual goals, our NEOs earned the cash incentive awards shown in the following table for 2022:
|
|
|
|
|
| Allocation of Cash |
| Percentage of Objective |
|
| ||||
Name |
| Base Salary |
| Target |
| Corporate |
| Individual |
| Corporate |
| Individual |
| Cash |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 650,759 |
| 60% |
| 100% |
| — |
| 90% |
| N/A |
| 351,410 |
Vit Vasista |
| 480,787 |
| 40% |
| 75% |
| 25% |
| 90% |
| 90% |
| 173,083 |
Curran Simpson |
| 474,933 |
| 40% |
| 75% |
| 25% |
| 90% |
| 120% |
| 185,224 |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 478,996 |
| 40% |
| 75% |
| 25% |
| 90% |
| 100% |
| 177,229 |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 482,940 |
| 40% |
| 75% |
| 25% |
| 90% |
| 100% |
| 178,688 |
Long-term Equity Incentives
Equity awards are crucial to a competitive compensation program for executives because they act as a powerful retention incentive. Equity ownership in our Company by our NEOs also aligns the interests of our NEOs with those of our stockholders and rewards our NEOs for their contributions to our long-term success.
In determining the equity incentive awards for our NEOs in 2022, our Board, with respect to our President and CEO, and our Compensation Committee, with respect to our other NEOs, considered the roles and performance of each NEO as well as the benchmarking data and recommendations of the Compensation Committee’s independent compensation consultant, which included information regarding equity compensation received by executives at peer group companies, as well as broader survey data. Based on these considerations, our NEOs received the stock option awards and RSU awards shown in the following table in 2022:
|
|
|
| Stock Awards |
| Option Awards |
|
| ||||||
Name |
| Grant |
| Number |
| Grant |
| Exercise |
| Number |
| Grant |
| Total |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 1/3/2022 |
| 35,796 |
| $1,228,161 |
| $34.31 |
| 170,188 |
| $3,505,846 |
| $4,734,006 |
Vit Vasista |
| 1/3/2022 |
| 8,900 |
| $305,359 |
| $34.31 |
| 42,500 |
| $875,493 |
| $1,180,852 |
Curran Simpson |
| 1/3/2022 |
| 10,700 |
| $367,117 |
| $34.31 |
| 51,100 |
| $1,052,652 |
| $1,419,769 |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 1/3/2022 |
| 8,900 |
| $305,359 |
| $34.31 |
| 42,500 |
| $875,493 |
| $1,180,852 |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 1/3/2022 |
| 10,700 |
| $367,117 |
| $34.31 |
| 51,100 |
| $1,052,652 |
| $1,419,769 |
Shares of our common stock underlying the options in the above table will vest over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares vesting after 12 months from the date of grant and the balance vesting in equal monthly installments over the 36 months thereafter, provided that the optionee provides continuous service to the Company. Shares of our common stock underlying the RSUs in the above table will vest over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares vesting on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the first day of the month in which the RSU was granted, provided that the recipient provides continuous service to the Company.
The Board, with respect to our President and CEO, and the Compensation Committee, with respect to our other NEOs, has also granted stock options and RSUs from time to time outside of our annual equity incentive awards and one-time awards upon joining the Company, in recognition of an NEO’s expanded role or continuing contributions to the Company’s performance. No such grants were made in 2022.
34
Health, Welfare and Retirement Benefits
Our NEOs are eligible to participate in our health and welfare plans to the same extent as all full-time employees are eligible, including reimbursement of certain medical expenses of the NEO or employee and, if applicable, his or her eligible dependents. We pay a portion of the premium cost for our group health plan for all participants, including our NEOs. Other health and welfare benefits include medical, dental, vision and life insurance, flexible spending accounts and short- and long-term disability.
We have established a 401(k) tax-deferred savings plan, which permits all participants, including our NEOs, to make contributions by salary deduction pursuant to Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). We are responsible for administrative costs of the 401(k) plan. We may, at our discretion, make matching contributions to the 401(k) plan. We do not generally provide our NEOs with any other perquisites or personal benefits. In 2022, the Compensation Committee approved the payment of corporate housing costs and a related tax gross-up for Dr. Danos in order to maximize the amount of time that Dr. Danos can devote to Company business by minimizing his commuting time to our headquarters from his personal residence in another state. The Compensation Committee believes such benefits to the Company significantly outweighed the incremental expense to the Company.
Our employee stock purchase plan permits participants, including our NEOs, to purchase our common stock at a discount on a tax-qualified basis through payroll deductions. The employee stock purchase plan is designed to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Section 423 of the Code. The purpose of the employee stock purchase plan is to encourage our employees, including our NEOs, to become our stockholders and better align their interests with those of our other stockholders.
Severance and Change in Control Benefits
We have entered into employment agreements with each of our NEOs which, among other things, provide for certain severance and change in control payments under certain circumstances. We believe these potential benefits discourage turnover and allow our NEOs to respond to the possibility of a change in control without being influenced by the potential effects of a change in control on their job security. These potential benefits and our employment agreements with our NEOs are described in further detail under “—Employment Agreements and Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change in Control.”
Anti-Hedging and Pledging Policy
As part of our policy against insider trading, our directors, officers, employees and certain other individuals are prohibited from purchasing financial instruments that are designed to hedge or offset any decrease in the market value of the Company’s securities. Additionally, such individuals are prohibited from engaging in transactions involving options on the Company’s securities, such as puts, calls and other derivative securities, except when receiving or exercising options granted by the Company. “Short sales” of the Company’s securities (sales of securities not already owned) are also prohibited. Furthermore, pledging of any Company securities is not permitted without the prior approval of the Company.
Compensation Committee Report
The Compensation Committee has reviewed and discussed the foregoing Compensation Discussion and Analysis with management. Based on this review and discussion, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this Proxy Statement and incorporated by reference into the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
The Compensation Committee
Daniel Tassé, Chair
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D.
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D.
35
Summary Compensation Table
The following table provides information concerning the compensation paidearned by our NEOs during the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020:
Name and Principal Position |
| Year |
| Salary |
| Bonus(1) |
| Stock |
| Option |
| Non-Equity |
| All Other |
| Total |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 2022 |
| 650,759 |
| — |
| 1,228,161 |
| 3,505,846 |
| 351,410 |
| 17,538 |
| 5,753,713 |
President and CEO |
| 2021 |
| 631,805 |
| 600,000 |
| 1,843,050 |
| 5,057,556 |
| 473,854 |
| 16,675 |
| 8,622,941 |
| 2020 |
| 613,403 |
| — |
| — |
| 6,646,254 |
| 368,042 |
| 16,388 |
| 7,644,087 | |
Vit Vasista |
| 2022 |
| 480,787 |
| — |
| 305,359 |
| 875,493 |
| 173,083 |
| 17,538 |
| 1,852,260 |
EVP, Chief Financial |
| 2021 |
| 466,783 |
| 525,000 |
| 557,628 |
| 1,535,018 |
| 245,061 |
| 16,675 |
| 3,346,165 |
Officer |
| 2020 |
| 453,188 |
| — |
| — |
| 1,230,788 |
| 181,275 |
| 16,388 |
| 1,881,639 |
Curran Simpson |
| 2022 |
| 474,933 |
| — |
| 367,117 |
| 1,052,652 |
| 185,224 |
| 17,538 |
| 2,097,463 |
EVP, Chief Operating |
| 2021 |
| 448,050 |
| 225,000 |
| 620,586 |
| 1,701,630 |
| 235,226 |
| 16,675 |
| 3,247,167 |
Officer |
| 2020 |
| 428,152 |
| — |
| — |
| 1,132,325 |
| 174,000 |
| 16,388 |
| 1,750,865 |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 2022 |
| 478,996 |
| — |
| 305,359 |
| 875,493 |
| 177,229 |
| 17,538 |
| 1,854,615 |
EVP, Chief Medical |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Officer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 2022 |
| 482,940 |
| — |
| 367,117 |
| 1,052,652 |
| 178,688 |
| 66,431 |
| 2,147,828 |
EVP, Chief Scientific |
| 2021 |
| 455,604 |
| 100,000 |
| 521,652 |
| 1,433,958 |
| 239,192 |
| 47,288 |
| 2,797,694 |
Officer |
| 2020 |
| 433,908 |
| — |
| — |
| 1,181,556 |
| 173,563 |
| 16,388 |
| 1,805,415 |
36
2022 Grants of Plan-Based Awards
The following table sets forth certain information regarding grants of plan-based awards to our NEOs during the year ended December 31, 2015. We refer2022. No other plan-based awards were granted to these individuals asany of our named executive officers.current or former NEOs during 2022.
Name and Principal Position | Year | Salary ($) | Bonus ($) | Option Awards ($)(1) | All Other Compensation ($) | Total ($) | ||||||||||||||||||
Kenneth T. Mills | 2015 | 500,000 | (2) | 275,000 | 615,882 | — | $ | 1,390,882 | ||||||||||||||||
President and Chief Executive Officer | 2014 | 500,000 | 250,000 | 361,182 | — | $ | 1,146,998 | |||||||||||||||||
Stephen Yoo, M.D. | 2015 | 340,000 | (3) | 130,900 | 156,770 | — | $ | 627,670 | ||||||||||||||||
Chief Medical Officer | 2014 | 65,625 | (4) | 20,000 | 121,471 | — | $ | 211,392 | ||||||||||||||||
Vittal K. Vasista | 2015 | 315,000 | (5) | 121,300 | 67,187 | — | $ | 503,487 | ||||||||||||||||
Chief Financial Officer | 2014 | 300,000 | 120,000 | 216,669 | — | $ | 665,881 |
|
|
|
| Estimated Possible Payouts Under |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||
Name |
| Grant Date |
| Threshold |
| Target |
| Maximum |
| All Other |
| All Other |
| Exercise or |
| Grant Date |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| — |
| — |
| 390,455 |
| 780,911 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 1/3/2022 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 35,796 |
| 170,188 |
| 34.31 |
| 4,734,006 | |
Vit Vasista |
| — |
| — |
| 192,315 |
| 384,630 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 1/3/2022 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 8,900 |
| 42,500 |
| 34.31 |
| 1,180,852 | |
Curran Simpson |
| — |
| — |
| 189,973 |
| 379,946 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 1/3/2022 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 10,700 |
| 51,100 |
| 34.31 |
| 1,419,769 | |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| — |
| — |
| 191,598 |
| 383,197 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 1/3/2022 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 8,900 |
| 42,500 |
| 34.31 |
| 1,180,852 | |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| — |
| — |
| 193,176 |
| 386,352 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 1/3/2022 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 10,700 |
| 51,100 |
| 34.31 |
| 1,419,769 |
Narrative Explanation of Certain Aspects
Base Salaries and Performance-Based Bonuses
PursuantTable.
The base salary and target annual performance bonus for each of our named executive officers for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, is listed in the table below:
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Objectives for the named executive officers’ target bonuses for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 included both subjective and objective goals determined in the discretion of our Board of Directors. In January 2016, our Compensation Committee determinedRSU was granted, provided that the Company achieved 110% of its corporate goals forrecipient provides continuous service to the year ended December 31, 2015. AsCompany.
Each of our named executive officers is eligible to receive certain benefits if his employment is terminated under certain circumstances, as described under “Employment Agreements” below.
Equity Compensation
Since our conversion to a C-corporation, we have offered stock options to our employees, including our named executive officers, as the long-term incentive component of our compensation program. We typically grant equity awards to new hires upon their commencing employment with us. Stock options allow employees to purchase shares of our common stock at a price per share equal to the fair market value of our common stock onvesting after 12 months from the date of grant and may or may not be intended to qualify as “incentive stock options” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Awards to newly hired employees generally vest with respect to 25% of the total number of option shares on the first anniversary of thebalance vesting commencement date and in equal monthly installments over the following 36 months.
As described under “Outstanding Equity Awards asmonths thereafter, provided that the optionee provides continuous service to the Company.
37
Outstanding Equity Awards as of December 31, 2015at 2022 Fiscal Year-End
The following table sets forth information regarding each outstanding and unexercised option held by each of our named executive officersNEOs as of December 31, 2015.2022. The number of shares subject to each award and, where applicable, the exercise price per share, reflects all changes as a result of our capitalization adjustments.
The vesting schedule applicable to each outstanding award is described in the footnotes to the table below.
|
(1) Except as otherwise noted, each option vests over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares underlying the option vesting after 12 months from the date of grant and the balance vesting in equal monthly installments over the 36 months thereafter, provided that the optionee provides continuous service to the Company. (2) Except as otherwise noted, each RSU vests over a four-year period, with 25% of the shares underlying the RSU vesting on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the first day of the month in which the RSU was granted, provided that the recipient provides continuous service to the Company. (3) Amounts represent the market value, based on the last reported closing price of the Company’s common stock as of December 31, 2022 ($22.68), as reported by Nasdaq, of shares underlying restricted stock units held as of December 31, 2022. (4) The option vested with respect to 120,394 shares on the vesting commencement date. The option vested with respect to 88,524 shares on the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date and vested with respect to an additional 7,377 shares following each month of service following such date. The continued vesting of the option with respect to 233,710 shares subject to the option (the “Mills Contingent Shares”) was conditioned on our completion of a financing in which we raised gross proceeds of not less than $5,000,000 on or before January 1, 2016 (a “Qualified Financing”) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Effective January 28, 2016, the compensation committee of our Board of Directors granted options to purchase 225,000 shares of our common stock to Mr. Mills, 75,000 shares of our common stock to Mr. Vasista and 70,000 shares of our common stock to Dr. Yoo. The exercise price for each of the options was $13.09 per share, which was the closing price of our common stock on January 28, 2016 as reported by NASDAQ. The options vest with respect to 25% of the sharesMills Contingent Shares as of stock which are subjectthe vesting commencement date. The option vested with respect to 25% of the optionremaining Mills Contingent Shares on January 28, 2017the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date and the remaining Mills Contingent Shares vested in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter providedthereafter.
38
20152022 Option Exercises and Stock Vested
The following table shows the number of shares acquired upon option exercise and vesting of stock awards for each named executive officerNEO during the year ended December 31, 2015.2022.
| Option Awards |
| Stock Awards | |||||||||||||
Name | Option Awards |
| Number of Shares |
| Value Realized on |
| Number of Shares Acquired on Vesting |
| Value Realized on | |||||||
Number of Shares Acquired (#) | Value Realized on Exercise ($)(1) | |||||||||||||||
Kenneth T. Mills | — | — |
| — |
| — |
| 10,246 |
| 335,044 | ||||||
Stephen Yoo, M.D | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Vittal K. Vasista | 100,000 | 291,000 | ||||||||||||||
Vit Vasista |
| 29,900 |
| 734,344 |
| 3,100 |
| 101,370 | ||||||||
Curran Simpson |
| — |
| — |
| 3,450 |
| 112,815 | ||||||||
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| — |
| — |
| 2,750 |
| 89,925 | ||||||||
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| — |
| — |
| 2,900 |
| 94,830 |
Employment Agreements and Potential Payments upon Termination or Change in Control
In connection with the IPO, our Compensation Committee retained an independent compensation consultant, Radford, to provide the committee with comparative information on executive compensation at peer group companies as well as advice on terms of employment for our named executive officers. Based on consultations with Radford, weWe have entered into new employment agreements with each of our named executive officers prior to the IPO.NEOs. Pursuant to theeach employment agreements,agreement, if we terminate the employment of our Chief Executive Officer and our other named executive officersthe respective NEO without cause or if such officerNEO voluntarily resigns for good reason, as described in the respective agreement, then eachthe NEO will be eligible to receive, contingent on his timely executing and not revoking a general release of all claims hethe NEO may have against us and on histhe NEO returning all of our property in histhe NEO’s possession, continued payment of base salary in equal monthly installments for (i) 12 months for Mr. Mills and (ii) nine months for Dr. Yoo andour NEOs other than Mr. Vasista.Mills. In addition, if the NEO elects to continue its health insurance coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”), we will pay such terminated NEO's monthly COBRA premiums for the same respective period of time. If a terminated named executive officerNEO obtains employment during the salary continuation period, then we will cease to be obligated to paymake any further payments to the terminated named executive officer any further payments. In addition, we will pay the terminated named executive officer a lump sum equal to the COBRA premiums for the same period of time.NEO.
Further, ifIf we terminate the employment of our Chief Executive Officer and our other named executive officersan NEO without cause or if such officerNEO voluntarily resigns for good reason immediately prior to or during the 18 months following a change in control, as such term is defined in our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, then eachthe NEO will be eligible to receive, contingent on histhe NEO timely executing and not revoking a general release of all claims hethe NEO may have against us and on histhe NEO returning all of our property in histhe NEO’s possession, continued payment of base salary and their(i) 1.5 times the target annual bonuscash incentive for Mr. Mills and (ii) the target annual cash incentive for our NEOs other than Mr. Mills, in equal monthly installments for (i)(a) 18 months for Mr. Mills and (ii)(b) 12 months for Dr. Yoo andour NEOs other than Mr. Vasista.Mills. In addition, we will pay the named executive officerNEO a lump sum equal to the applicable COBRA premiums for the same respective period of time. All outstanding unvested options that were outstanding as of the date of a change in control will vest if we or our successor terminates the employment of our Chief Executive Officer or other named executive officersan NEO without cause or if such officer voluntarily resigns for good reason during the remaining vesting period.
“Cause” means, with respect to Messrs. Mills and Vasista and Dr. Yoo:
“Good Reason” means an officer’s resignation within 12 months after one39
For purposes of the following conditions comes into existence without such officer’s consent, providedemployment agreements, the officer gives us written notice of the condition within 90 days after it first comes into existence and we fail to remedy such condition within 30 days after receipt of such written notice:
For purposes of the employment agreements and as defined in our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, the term “change in control” generally includes: (i) any person becoming the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of securities of the Company representing more than 50% of the total voting power represented by the Company’s then-outstanding voting securities; (ii) the consummation of the sale or disposition by the Company of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets; (iii) the consummation of a merger or consolidation of the Company with or into any other entity which results in our stockholders owning 50% or less of the surviving entity’s stock or its parent’s stock; or (iv) individuals who are members of our Board (the “Incumbent Board”), including individuals who are approved or recommended by a majority of the members of the Incumbent Board, ceasing to constitute at least a majority of the members of our Board over a period of 12 months.
The severance benefits that our NEOs may be entitled to receive under these agreements, as well as other benefits that our NEOs may be entitled to receive under other plans, may constitute parachute payments that are subject to the “golden parachute” rules of Section 280G of the Code and the excise tax of Section 4999 of the Code. If these payments are determined to be parachute payments, as calculated by our independent registered public accounting firm, the parachute payments will be reduced if, and only to the extent that, a reduction will allow the relevant NEO to receive a greater net after-tax amount than the NEO would receive absent a reduction.
The following table summarizes the hypothetical payments that could have been incurred by the Company with respect to each of our NEOs, assuming that a qualifying termination or resignation under the applicable employment agreement had occurred on December 31, 2022 and immediately prior to, or during the 18-month period following, a change in control:
Name |
| Cash Severance(1) |
| Target Annual |
| COBRA |
| Value of |
| Total(4) |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 976,139 |
| 585,683 |
| 39,849 |
| — |
| 1,601,671 |
Vit Vasista |
| 480,787 |
| 192,315 |
| 20,100 |
| — |
| 693,202 |
Curran Simpson |
| 474,933 |
| 189,973 |
| 26,566 |
| — |
| 691,472 |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 478,996 |
| 191,598 |
| — |
| — |
| 670,594 |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 482,940 |
| 193,176 |
| 26,566 |
| — |
| 702,682 |
InThe following table summarizes the hypothetical payments that could have been incurred by the Company with respect to each of our NEOs, assuming that a qualifying termination or resignation under the applicable employment agreement had occurred without the potential effects involving a change in control:
Name |
| Cash Severance(1) |
| Target Annual |
| COBRA |
| Value of |
| Total |
Kenneth T. Mills |
| 650,759 |
| — |
| 26,566 |
| — |
| 677,325 |
Vit Vasista |
| 360,590 |
| — |
| 15,075 |
| — |
| 375,665 |
Curran Simpson |
| 356,200 |
| — |
| 19,925 |
| — |
| 376,125 |
Stephen Pakola, M.D. |
| 359,247 |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 359,247 |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D. |
| 362,205 |
| — |
| 19,925 |
| — |
| 382,130 |
40
Furthermore, in connection with their employment, each of our named executive officersNEOs entered into our standard form of proprietary information and inventions agreement. The proprietary informationagreement with us. This agreement provides that our officers are,the respective NEO is generally prohibited for one year after termination of employment from, directly or indirectly, soliciting our employees or customers, or competing against us.
Retirement Benefits41
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Incentive Plans
We have established a 401(k) tax-deferred savings plan, which permits participants, including our named executive officers, to make contributions by salary deduction pursuant to Section 401(k)The following table provides information as of the Internal Revenue Code. We are responsible for administrative costs of the 401(k) plan. We may, at our discretion, make matching contributionsDecember 31, 2022 with respect to the 401(k) plan.
Employee Benefits and Perquisites
Our named executive officers are eligible to participate in our health and welfare plans to the same extent as all full-time employees would be eligible generally, including reimbursement of certain medical expenses incurred by such named executive officer and, if applicable, his or her eligible dependents. We pay 100% of the premium cost for our group health plan for allshares of our employees, including the named executive officers.
common stock that may be issued under our existing equity compensation plans. We do not generally provide our named executive officers with perquisites or other personal benefits (other than occasional payment of relocation expenses and severance benefits, as described above).
Tax and Accounting Considerations
Our Compensation Committee considers tax and accounting implications in determining all elements of ourhave any equity compensation plans programsthat have not been approved by stockholders.
Plan Category |
| Number of |
|
| Weighted- |
| Number of |
|
Equity compensation plans approved |
| 8,280,178 | (1) | (2) | $34.43 | (3) | 3,918,491 | (4) |
Equity compensation plans not approved |
| — |
|
| — |
| — |
|
Total |
| 8,280,178 |
|
| $34.43 |
| 3,918,491 |
|
42
CEO Pay Ratio
Pursuant to applicable SEC rules, we are providing the following information about the relationship of the median annual total compensation of our employees and the annual total compensation of Mr. Mills, our President and CEO.
Based on this information, in 2022, the ratio of the total compensation of Mr. Mills to the total compensation of our median employee (excluding Mr. Mills) was 31.30 to 1.
To identify our median employee and calculate this ratio, we performed the following analysis:
We believe the pay ratio reported above is a reasonable estimate based on our internal records and the methodology described above. The SEC’s rules for identifying the median employee and calculating the pay ratio based on that employee’s annual total compensation allow companies to adopt a variety of methodologies, to apply certain exclusions, and to make reasonable estimates and assumptions that reflect their employee populations and compensation practices. As a result, the pay ratio reported by other companies may not be comparable to our pay ratio, as reported above, as other companies have different employee populations and compensation practices and may utilize different methodologies, exclusions, estimates and assumptions in calculating their own pay ratios.
43
Pay Versus Performance
The following table provides the total compensation, as reported in the Summary Compensation Table ("SCT"), and the compensation actually paid ("CAP") to our Principal Executive Officer ("PEO") and, on an average basis, our other NEOs ("non-PEO NEOs") for each of the years specified, alongside our total shareholder return ("TSR"), the TSR of our peers, our net income (loss) and a Company-selected financial performance measure of ending cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The Company selected ending cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as the most important financial performance measure used to link compensation to performance in 2022 given its direct influence on our ability to maintain financial strength to achieve corporate objectives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Value of Initial Fixed $100 Investment Based On: |
|
|
|
| ||
Year |
| Summary Compensation Table Total for PEO(1) |
| Compensation Actually Paid to PEO(2)(3) |
| Average Summary Compensation Table Total for Non-PEO NEOs(4) |
| Average Compensation Actually Paid to Non-PEO NEOs(2)(5) |
| Total Shareholder Return of the Company(6) |
| Total Shareholder Return of the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index(7) |
| Net Income (Loss)(8) |
| Ending Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities(8) |
2022 |
| 5,753,713 |
| 1,411,167 |
| 1,988,042 |
| 828,152 |
| 55.36 |
| 113.65 |
| (280,321) |
| 565,202 |
2021 |
| 8,622,941 |
| 2,648,117 |
| 3,207,479 |
| 1,658,040 |
| 79.81 |
| 126.45 |
| 127,840 |
| 849,346 |
2020 |
| 7,644,087 |
| 7,578,195 |
| 1,820,462 |
| 1,729,261 |
| 110.72 |
| 126.42 |
| (111,250) |
| 522,549 |
Reconciliation of SCT Total to CAP for Kenneth T. Mills | ||||||||||||
Year |
| SCT Total |
| Grant Date Fair Value of Awards Granted During the Year Included in SCT Total |
| Year-end Fair Value of Equity Awards Granted During the Year Outstanding and Unvested at Year-end |
| Change in Fair Value During the Year of Equity Awards Granted in Prior Years Outstanding and Unvested at Year-end |
| Change in Fair Value from Prior Year-end to Vesting Date of Equity Awards Granted in Prior Years That Vested During the Year |
| CAP |
2022 |
| 5,753,713 |
| (4,734,006) |
| 2,706,578 |
| (1,673,456) |
| (641,662) |
| 1,411,167 |
2021 |
| 8,622,941 |
| (6,900,606) |
| 4,273,852 |
| (2,264,660) |
| (1,083,410) |
| 2,648,117 |
2020 |
| 7,644,087 |
| (6,646,254) |
| 7,228,210 |
| 67,721 |
| (715,569) |
| 7,578,195 |
44
Reconciliation of SCT Total to CAP for Average of Non-PEO NEOs | ||||||||||||
Year |
| SCT Total |
| Grant Date Fair Value of Awards Granted During the Year Included in SCT Total |
| Year-end Fair Value of Equity Awards Granted During the Year Outstanding and Unvested at Year-end |
| Change in Fair Value During the Year of Equity Awards Granted in Prior Years Outstanding and Unvested at Year-end |
| Change in Fair Value from Prior Year-end to Vesting Date of Equity Awards Granted in Prior Years That Vested During the Year |
| CAP |
2022 |
| 1,988,042 |
| (1,300,311) |
| 743,295 |
| (435,690) |
| (167,184) |
| 828,152 |
2021 |
| 3,207,479 |
| (2,174,538) |
| 1,346,689 |
| (456,963) |
| (264,627) |
| 1,658,040 |
2020 |
| 1,820,462 |
| (1,193,864) |
| 1,298,401 |
| 22,196 |
| (217,934) |
| 1,729,261 |
The table below presents the most important financial performance measures used by the Company to link compensation actually paid to NEOs to Company performance in 2022. Only two financial measures, which are listed alphabetically below, are currently used as performance measures under the Company’s incentive plans. The limited use of financial performance measures reflects the life cycle stage of the Company, with our incentive plans primarily focused on the advancement of our product candidate pipeline and achievement of milestones. Because we are not a commercial-stage company, we did not have any revenue during the periods presented other than license and royalty revenue. Consequently, financial performance measures other than the ending balance in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities are not as pertinent as other measures that we use to align executive compensation with our performance. For a full discussion of the factors that influence our executive compensation program, please refer to the Compensation Discussion and Analysis section of this Proxy Statement.
Most Important Financial Performance Measures (Unranked) | ||
- Ending balance in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities | ||
- Revenue |
45
The following graphs illustrate the relationships between the compensation actually paid to our NEOs and (1) TSR, (2) Net Income (Loss) and (3) cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, one of the performance figures disclosed in the pay versus performance table above for each of the years presented.
Relationship Between Compensation Actually Paid and Total Shareholder Return
Relationship Between Compensation Actually Paid and Net Income (Loss)
46
Relationship Between Compensation Actually Paid and Cash, Cash Equivalents & Marketable Securities
47
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth certain information known to us regarding beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the close of business on April 3, 2023 (the "Record Date"), by: (i) each person or entity, or group of affiliated persons or entities, that is known by us to satisfybeneficially own more than five percent of our outstanding common stock; (ii) each of our directors (including nominees); (iii) each of our named executive officers; and (iv) all of our directors, nominees and executive officers as a group.
The information in the performance-based requirements under Section 162(m)following table is based upon information supplied by our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders and information disclosed in filings with the SEC through the Record Date. Applicable percentage ownership is based on 43,465,161 shares of common stock outstanding at the Record Date.
In computing the number of shares of common stock beneficially owned by a person or entity and the percentage ownership of that person or entity, we deemed to be outstanding all shares of common stock subject to options or restricted stock units held by that person or entity that were exercisable or had vested, as applicable, as of the Record Date or may have been exercised or will have vested, as applicable, within 60 days after the Record Date. We did not deem such shares outstanding, however, for the purpose of computing the percentage beneficially owned by any other person or entity. Unless otherwise indicated, the principal address of each of the stockholders below is c/o REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner |
| Number of Shares |
| Percent of Class |
Holders of More than 5%: |
|
|
|
|
BlackRock, Inc.(2) |
| 6,686,350 |
| 15.4% |
The Vanguard Group, Inc.(3) |
| 4,272,494 |
| 9.8% |
JPMorgan Chase & Co.(4) |
| 3,794,685 |
| 8.7% |
Entities Affiliated with Allan M. Fox(5) |
| 2,882,466 |
| 6.6% |
State Street Corporation(6) |
| 2,716,189 |
| 6.2% |
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner |
| Number of Shares |
| Percent of Class |
Directors (Including Nominees) and Named Executive Officers: |
|
|
|
|
Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D.(7) |
| 28,168 |
| * |
Olivier Danos, Ph.D.(8) |
| 263,331 |
| * |
Allan M. Fox(9) |
| 2,992,023 |
| 6.9% |
Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D.(10) |
| 72,057 |
| * |
A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D.(11) |
| 133,932 |
| * |
George Migausky(12) |
| 28,168 |
| * |
Kenneth T. Mills(13) |
| 1,624,735 |
| 3.6% |
Stephen Pakola, M.D.(14) |
| 174,547 |
| * |
Curran Simpson(15) |
| 165,910 |
| * |
David C. Stump, M.D.(16) |
| 109,557 |
| * |
Daniel Tassé(17) |
| 97,057 |
| * |
Vit Vasista(18) |
| 420,933 |
| * |
Jennifer Zachary(19) |
| 11,094 |
| * |
All directors, nominees and executive officers as a group (14 persons)(20) |
| 6,316,488 |
| 13.6% |
* Less than one percent of the outstanding shares of common stock.
48
49
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
In addition to the compensation arrangements with directors and executive officers described elsewhere in this proxy statement,Proxy Statement, the following is a description of transactions since January 1, 20152022 to which we have been a party, in which the amount involved exceeded or will exceed $120,000, and in which any of our directors, executive officers or beneficial owners of more than five percent of our common stock, or an affiliate or immediate family member thereof, had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.
All of the transactions set forth below were approved by our Audit Committee or a majority of ourthe Board, of Directors, including a majority of the independent and disinterested members of our Board of Directors.the Board. We believe that we have executed all of the transactions set forth below on terms no less favorable to us than we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties. It is our intention to ensure that all future transactions between us and our officers, directors and principal stockholders and their affiliates are approved by the Audit Committee or a majority of the members of ourthe Board, of Directors, including a majority of the independent and disinterested members of ourthe Board, of Directors, and are on terms no less favorable to us than those that we could obtain from unaffiliated third parties.
FoxKiserFOXKISER LLP Strategic Services Agreement
In February 2016,January 2019, we entered into a Strategic Services Agreement (the “2019 Strategic Services Agreement)Agreement”) with FoxKiser LLP (FoxKiser). FoxKiserFOXKISER, which is (i) an affiliate of Allan M. Fox, oneour Chairman of our directors,the Board, and (ii) an affiliate of certain entities controlled by Mr. Fox which hold an aggregate of more than 5%five percent of our common stockstock.
In June 2019, the 2019 Strategic Services Agreement was amended to expand the scope of services provided and (iii) an affiliate of certain entities controlled by Daniel Kiser which hold an aggregate of more than 5% of our common stock.increase the monthly fee. In August 2020, the 2019 Strategic Services Agreement was further amended to extend the term. Pursuant to the 2019 Strategic Services Agreement, as amended, we incurincurred a monthly fixed fee of $80,000$400,000 in consideration for certain strategic planning, development and regulatory services to be provided by FoxKiser. TheFOXKISER. In December 2021, we terminated the 2019 Strategic Services Agreement, has an initial termeffective as of one year and is terminable by either party, at any time, upon sixty days’ prior written notice to the other party.June 2022.
Series D Financing
In May 2015, we entered into a stock purchase agreement (the Series D Purchase Agreement) with new and existing investors, including certain of our existing stockholders at the time who were represented by members of our Board of Directors, including entities affiliated with Venrock Partners (Venrock Partners) and Beacon Bioventures Fund III Limited Partnership (Beacon Bioventures), to raise approximately $70.5 million from the sale of 7,366,849 shares of our Series D convertible preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the Series D Preferred Stock), at a purchase price of $9.5699 per share (the Series D Financing).
Series C Financing
In January 2015, we entered into a stock purchase agreement (the Series C Purchase Agreement) with new and existing investors, including FoxKiser (which were subsequently transferred to trusts affiliated with Allan M. Fox and John Daniel Kiser) and Beacon Bioventures, which were stockholders at the time who were represented by members of our Board of Directors, to raise approximately $30.0 million, including the conversion of approximately $3.8 million in outstanding convertible notes held by FoxKiser, from the sale of 4,631,774 shares of our Series C convertible preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the Series C Preferred Stock), at a purchase price of $6.477 per share (the Series C Financing).
The following table summarizes the issuances and purchases of our preferred stock in the Series D Financing and the Series C Financing by our directors, officers or the beneficial holders of more than five percent of our capital stock or entities affiliated with them at the time of such transactions:
Name of Stockholder | REGENXBIO Director | Series C Preferred Stock | Series D Preferred Stock | Aggregate Purchase Price | ||||||||||
Donald J. Hayden, Jr. | — | 38,599 | — | $ | 250,005.73 | |||||||||
Kenneth T. Mills | — | 15,440 | — | $ | 100,004.88 | |||||||||
Vittal Vasista | — | 15,440 | — | $ | 100,004.88 | |||||||||
Entities Affiliated with Allan M. Fox | Allan M. Fox | 478,463 | (1) | — | $ | 10,684,132.48 | ||||||||
Beacon Bioventures Fund III Limited Partnership | Benjamin Auspitz(2) | 236,982 | 365,731 | $ | 7,034,939.64 | |||||||||
Brookside Capital Partners Fund, L.P. | — | 1,080,748 | 679,213 | $ | 13,500,005.29 | |||||||||
Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P. | — | 771,963 | 397,079 | $ | 8,800,001.68 | |||||||||
GFO II, LLC | Michael Gelman(3) | 771,963 | — | $ | 5,000,004.36 | |||||||||
Entities Affiliated with John Daniel Kiser | John Daniel Kiser(4) | 318,976 | (1) | — | $ | 7,872,754.98 | (2) | |||||||
Entities Affiliated with Venrock Partners | Camille Samuels(5) | 771,963 | 1,044,944 | $ | 15,000,013.95 | |||||||||
Entities Affiliated with Vivo Ventures | Edgar G. Engleman, M.D.(6) | — | 940,449 | $ | 9,000,002.89 |
Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement
In connection with the closing of the Series D Financing described above, we entered into an amended and restated investors’ rights agreement (the Investors’ Rights Agreement) with our significant stockholders, including entities affiliated with FoxKiser (which were subsequently transferred to trusts affiliated with Allan M. Fox and John Daniel Kiser), FoxKiser Holdings, LLC (Holdings), Brookside Capital Partners, Venrock Partners, Beacon Bioventures, Deerfield Management and Vivo Capital. Pursuant to this agreement, we granted such stockholders certain registration rights with respect to shares of our common stock and a right of first offer with respect to future issuances of our securities. The sections other than with regard to registration rights of the Investors’ Rights Agreement terminated pursuant to its terms upon the consummation of the IPO in September 2015.
Amended and Restated Voting Agreement
In connection with the closing of the Series D Financing, we entered into an amended and restated voting agreement (the Voting Agreement), along with certain holders of our common stock and convertible preferred stock, including FoxKiser (which were subsequently transferred to trusts affiliated with Allan M. Fox and John Daniel Kiser), Holdings, Brookside Capital Partners, Venrock Partners, Beacon Bioventures, Deerfield Management and Vivo Capital. Under the terms of the Voting Agreement, the parties had agreed, subject to certain conditions, to vote their shares so as to elect as directors the nominees designated by certain of our investors, including Holdings, which designated Luke M. Beshar, Allan M. Fox, Donald J. Hayden, Jr. and A.N. “Jerry” Karabelas, Ph.D., Venrock Partners, which designated Camille Samuels, and Vivo Capital, which
designated Edgar G. Engleman, M.D. In addition, the parties to the Voting Agreement had agreed to vote their shares so as to elect our Chief Executive Officer to our Board of Directors, who is currently Kenneth T. Mills, and additional directors nominated by the Board of Directors and elected by the holders of our common stock and preferred stock. The Voting Agreement terminated immediately prior to the completion of the IPO.
Amended and Restated Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement
In connection with the closing of the Series D Financing, we entered into a right of first refusal and co-sale agreement (the First Refusal Agreement) with certain holders of our common stock and our convertible preferred stock, including FoxKiser (which were subsequently transferred to trusts affiliated with Allan M. Fox and John Daniel Kiser), Holdings, Brookside Capital Partners, Venrock Partners, Beacon Bioventures, Deerfield Management and Vivo Capital. Allan M. Fox, one of our directors, is a partner of FoxKiser and affiliated with Holdings, Camille Samuels, one of our directors, is a general partner at Venrock Partners and Edgar G. Engleman, M.D., one of our directors, is a partner at Vivo Capital. Pursuant to the First Refusal Agreement, the holders of convertible preferred stock had a right of first refusal and co-sale in respect of certain sales of securities by our founders and management team. The First Refusal Agreement terminated upon the closing of the IPO.
Indemnification Agreements
We have entered, or will enter, into indemnification agreements with our directors, executive officers and certain key employees. Under these agreements, we agree to indemnify our directors, executive officers and certain key employees against any and all expenses incurred by them in connection with proceedings because of their status as one of our directors, executive officers or key employees to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, subject to certain limitations. In addition, these indemnification agreements provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, we will pay for all expenses incurred by our directors, executive officers and certain key employees in connection with a legal proceeding arising out of their service to us.
In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated bylawsBylaws provide that we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors and executive officers and we are authorized to purchase directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, which we currently maintain to cover our directors and executive officers.
Policies and Procedures for Related Party Transactions
In June 2015, weWe have adopted a related party transaction policy under which our directors and executive officers, including their immediate family members and affiliates, are not permitted to enter into a related party transaction with us without the prior consent of our Audit Committee, or other independent committee of ourthe Board of Directors in the caseif it is inappropriate for our Audit Committee to review such transaction due to a conflict of interest. Any request for us to enter into a transaction with an executive officer, director or any of such persons’ immediate family members or affiliates, in which the amount involved exceeds $120,000, must first be presented to our Audit Committee for review, consideration and approval. All of our directors and executive officers are required to report to our Audit Committee any such related party transaction. In approving or rejecting the proposed agreement, our Audit Committee shall consider the relevant facts and circumstances available and deemed relevant to the Audit Committee, including, but not limited to the risks, costs, and benefits to us, the terms of the transaction, the availability of other sources for comparable services or products, and, if applicable, the impact on a director’s independence. Our Audit Committee shall approve only those agreements that, in light of known circumstances, are not inconsistent with our best interests, as our Audit Committee determines in the good faith exercise of its discretion.
Stock Options
For information regarding50
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE PROXY MATERIALS AND VOTING
Why am I receiving this Proxy Statement and a related proxy card?
You have received these proxy materials because you owned shares of REGENXBIO common stock options grantedat the close of business on April 3, 2023, the record date for the Annual Meeting, and our Board is soliciting your proxy to vote at the Annual Meeting. This Proxy Statement describes matters on which we would like you to vote at the Annual Meeting so that you can make an informed decision.
Why did I receive a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials in the mail instead of a printed set of proxy materials?
Pursuant to rules adopted by the SEC, we are permitted to furnish our proxy materials over the internet to our named executive officersstockholders by delivering the Notice in the mail. This method conserves natural resources and directors, see “Corporate Governance – 2015 Director Compensation”reduces our costs, while providing stockholders with a convenient way of accessing the materials and “Executive Compensation.”
NO INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEHow may I vote at the Annual Meeting?
In REGENXBIO’s filingsYou are invited to attend the Annual Meeting to vote on the proposals described in this Proxy Statement. However, you do not need to attend the Annual Meeting to vote your shares. Instead, you may simply follow the instructions below to submit your proxy via telephone or the internet. If you received a printed set of materials, you may also vote by mail by completing, signing, dating and returning the proxy card.
When you vote, regardless of the method used, you appoint Kenneth T. Mills, our President and CEO, and Patrick J. Christmas, our EVP, Chief Legal Officer, as your representatives (or proxyholders) for the Annual Meeting. They will vote your shares at the Annual Meeting as you have instructed them or, if a matter that is not on the proxy card comes up for vote, in accordance with their best judgment. This way, your shares will be voted whether or not you attend the Annual Meeting.
Who is entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting?
Only stockholders of record at the close of business on the Record Date will be entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. On the Record Date, there were 43,465,161 shares of our common stock outstanding. All of these outstanding shares are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting (one vote per share of common stock) in connection with the SEC, informationmatters set forth in this Proxy Statement.
A list of stockholders entitled to vote will be available at the Annual Meeting and will be accessible for 10 days prior to the Annual Meeting at our principal place of business, 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, during ordinary business hours.
What is sometimes “incorporateda stockholder of record and how can I vote if I am a stockholder of record?
If, on the Record Date, your shares of common stock were registered directly in your name with our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., then you are a stockholder of record. Stockholders of record may vote via the internet, telephone or mail (if you received a proxy card by reference.mail) as described below. Stockholders also may attend the meeting and vote in person.
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The method you use to vote will not limit your right to vote at the Annual Meeting if you decide to attend in person. Written ballots will be passed out to anyone who wants to vote at the Annual Meeting. In all cases, your shares will be voted according to your instructions.
What is a beneficial owner of shares and how can I vote if I am a beneficial owner?
If, on the Record Date, your shares of common stock were not held in your name, but rather were held through a bank, broker or other nominee, then you are the beneficial owner of shares held in “street name,” Thisand you will need to submit voting instructions to the institution that holds your shares. If you do not give instructions to your broker, your broker can vote your shares only with respect to “discretionary” items, but not with respect to “non-discretionary” items.
Discretionary items are proposals considered routine under applicable rules on which your broker may vote shares held in street name if you have not provided voting instructions. On non-discretionary items for which you do not give your broker instructions, your broker may not vote shares held in street name, which is referred to as a “broker non-vote.” Please see “—What proposals will be voted on at the Annual Meeting and what vote is required to approve each proposal?” below for details regarding broker voting for each proposal.
As a beneficial owner, you are invited to attend the Annual Meeting. If you are a beneficial owner and not the stockholder of record, you may not vote your shares in person at the Annual Meeting unless you request and obtain a valid proxy from your bank, broker or other nominee.
Can I change my vote after submitting my proxy?
Yes. You can revoke your proxy at any time before the final vote at the Annual Meeting. If you are the record holder of your shares, you may revoke your proxy in any one of three ways:
If you hold your shares in street name, you must contact the bank, broker or other nominee holding your shares and follow their instructions for changing your vote.
What is the quorum requirement?
A quorum of stockholders is necessary to conduct business at the Annual Meeting. Pursuant to our Bylaws, a quorum will be present if a majority of the voting power of outstanding shares of the Company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors is represented in person or by proxy at the Annual Meeting. On the Record Date, there were 43,465,161 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote. Thus, 21,732,581 shares must be represented by stockholders present at the Annual Meeting or represented by proxy to have a quorum.
Your shares will be counted towards the quorum if you submit a valid proxy (or one is submitted on your behalf by your bank, broker or other nominee) or if you attend the Annual Meeting and vote in person. Abstentions and broker discretionary votes will be counted for the purpose of determining whether a quorum is present for the transaction of business. If a quorum is not present, the chairman of the meeting or the holders of a majority of the votes present at the Annual Meeting may adjourn the Annual Meeting to another date.
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What proposals will be voted on at the Annual Meeting and what vote is required to approve each proposal?
The following table provides a description of the proposals that will be voted on at the Annual Meeting:
Proposal | Board Recommendation | Vote Required | Broker Discretionary Voting Allowed? |
Proposal 1: Election of three Class II directors | FOR | Plurality of Votes Cast | No |
Proposal 2: Ratification of the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) as our independent registered public accounting firm | FOR | Majority of Votes Cast | Yes |
Proposal 3: Advisory vote on executive compensation | FOR | Majority of Votes Cast | No |
Plurality of Votes Cast means that, wewith respect to Proposal 1, the nominees for director receiving the greatest number of votes will be elected. Withheld votes, abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the election of a nominee.
Majority of Votes Cast means that a proposal that receives an affirmative majority of the votes cast will be approved. Abstentions and broker non-votes, if any, will not be counted “For” or “Against” Proposal 2 or Proposal 3 and will have no effect on the outcome of either proposal. We do not expect to receive broker non-votes for Proposal 2, as banks, brokers and other nominees will have discretionary authority to vote shares for which beneficial owners do not provide voting instructions on that proposal.
Votes on each proposal will be tabulated by the inspector of elections appointed for the meeting.
Could other matters be decided at the Annual Meeting?
The Company does not know of any other matters that may be presented for action at the Annual Meeting. Should any other business come before the Annual Meeting, the individuals named as proxies on the proxy card will have discretionary authority to vote the shares represented by proxies in accordance with their best judgment. If you hold shares through a bank, broker or other nominee, the individuals named as proxies on the proxy card will not be able to vote your shares on any other business that comes before the Annual Meeting unless such individuals receive instructions from you with respect to such other business.
What happens if a director nominee is unable to stand for election?
If a nominee is unable to stand for election, the Board may either reduce the number of directors that serve on the Board or designate a substitute nominee. If the Board designates a substitute nominee, shares represented by proxies voted for the nominee who is unable to stand for election will be voted for the substitute nominee.
What happens if I submit my proxy but do not provide voting instructions?
If you submit a proxy via telephone or the internet or return a signed and dated proxy card without indicating instructions with respect to a specific proposal, your shares will be voted in accordance with the Board’s recommendation for such proposal.
If any other matter is properly presented at the Annual Meeting, the proxyholders for shares voted on the proxy card (i.e., one of the individuals named as proxies on the proxy card) will vote your shares using their best judgment.
What do I need to show to attend the Annual Meeting in person?
You will need proof of your share ownership as of the Record Date and a form of photo identification, such as a valid driver’s license. If you do not have proof of ownership and valid photo identification, you may not be admitted to the Annual Meeting. If you are referringa stockholder of record, your ownership as of the Record Date will be verified prior to admittance into the meeting. If you are not a stockholder of record but hold shares in street name, you must provide proof of beneficial ownership as of the Record Date, such as an account statement or similar evidence of ownership.
All bags, briefcases and packages will be held at registration and will not be allowed in the Annual Meeting. We will not permit the use of cameras (including cell phones and other devices with photographic capabilities) or other recording devices in the meeting room.
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Who is paying for this proxy solicitation?
The accompanying proxy is being solicited by the Board. In addition to information that has previously beenthis solicitation, directors and employees of the Company may solicit proxies in person, by telephone, or by other means of communication. Directors and employees will not be paid any additional compensation for soliciting proxies. In addition, the Company may also retain one or more third parties to aid in the solicitation of brokers, banks and institutional and other stockholders. We will pay for the entire cost of soliciting proxies. We may reimburse brokerage firms, banks and other agents for the cost of forwarding proxy materials to beneficial owners.
What happens if the Annual Meeting is postponed or adjourned?
Unless the polls have closed or you have revoked your proxy, your proxy will still be in effect and may be voted once the Annual Meeting is reconvened. However, you will still be able to change or revoke your proxy with respect to any proposal until the polls have closed for voting on such proposal.
How can I find out the results of the voting at the Annual Meeting?
Preliminary voting results are expected to be announced at the Annual Meeting. We expect to report final voting results in a Current Report on Form 8‑K filed with the SEC no later than the fourth business day after the Annual Meeting.
How can I find the Company’s proxy materials on the internet?
This Proxy Statement and the information should be considered as part ofAnnual Report are available at our website at www.regenxbio.com. You also can obtain copies without charge at the particular filing. As provided under SEC regulations, the “Report of the Audit Committee”SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the “Report of the Compensation Committee” contained in this proxy statement specifically are not incorporated by reference into any other filings with the SEC and shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material.” In addition, this proxy statement includes several website addresses. These websitemay access these materials at www.proxyvote.com. Website addresses referenced herein are intended to provide inactive, textual references only. Theonly, and the information on these websites is not part of this Proxy Statement.
How do I obtain a separate set of the Company’s proxy statement.materials if I share an address with other stockholders?
In some cases, stockholders holding their shares in a brokerage or bank account who share the same surname and address receive only one copy of the Notice. This practice is called “householding” and is designed to conserve natural resources and save printing and postage costs by reducing duplicate mailings. If you would like to have a separate copy of the Notice, the Annual Report or this Proxy Statement mailed to you or receive separate copies of future mailings, please submit your request to the address or phone number that appears on your Notice or proxy card. We will deliver such additional copies promptly upon receipt of such request.
In other cases, stockholders receiving multiple copies of proxy materials at the same address may wish to receive only one copy. If you would like to receive only one copy, please submit your request to the address or phone number that appears on your Notice or proxy card.
Can I receive future proxy materials electronically?
Yes. This Proxy Statement and the Annual Report are available on our website at www.regenxbio.com. Instead of receiving paper copies in the mail, stockholders can elect to receive an e-mail that provides a link to our future annual reports and proxy materials on the internet. If you opt to receive your proxy materials electronically, you will receive an automatic link to the proxy voting site. In addition, electing to receive your proxy materials electronically will save us the cost of producing and mailing documents to your home or business and reduce the environmental impact of our annual meetings of stockholders.
May I propose actions for consideration at next year’s annual meeting of stockholders or nominate individuals to serve as directors?
Yes. The following requirements apply to stockholder proposals, including director nominations, for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders:
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Requirements for Stockholder Proposals to Be Considered for Inclusion in the Company’s Proxy Materials
Stockholders interested in submitting a proposal (other than the nomination of directors) for inclusion in the proxy materials to be distributed by us for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders may do so by following the procedures prescribed in Rule 14a‑8 promulgated under the Exchange Act. To be eligible for inclusion in the Company’s proxy materials, stockholder proposals must be received at our principal executive offices no later than the close of business on December 8, 2023, which is the 120th day prior to the first anniversary of the date that we released this Proxy Statement to our stockholders for the Annual Meeting. To be included in our proxy materials, your proposal also must comply with our Bylaws and Rule 14a‑8 promulgated under the Exchange Act regarding the inclusion of stockholder proposals in company-sponsored proxy materials. If we change the date of our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders by more than 30 days from the anniversary of this year’s Annual Meeting, stockholder proposals must be received a reasonable time before we begin to print and mail our proxy materials for our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. Such proposals should be sent to REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, Attention: Corporate Secretary.
Requirements for Stockholder Nomination of Director Candidates and Stockholder Proposals Not Intended for Inclusion in the Company’s Proxy Materials
Stockholders who wish to nominate persons for election to the Board at our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders or who wish to present a proposal at our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, but who do not intend for such proposal to be included in the Company’s proxy materials for such meeting, must deliver written notice of the nomination or proposal to our Corporate Secretary at our principal executive offices no earlier than January 22, 2024, which is the 75th day prior to the first anniversary of the date we released this Proxy Statement to our stockholders for the Annual Meeting, and no later than February 21, 2024, which is the 45th day prior to the first anniversary of the date we released this Proxy Statement to our stockholders for the Annual Meeting. However, if we change the date of our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders by more than 30 days from the anniversary of this year’s Annual Meeting, such nominations and proposals must be received no later than the close of business on the later of (a) the 90th day prior to our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders and (b) the 10th day following the day we first publicly announce the date of our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. The stockholder’s written notice must include certain information concerning the stockholder and each nominee and proposal, as specified in our Bylaws. In addition to satisfying the foregoing requirements under the Company’s Bylaws, stockholders who intend to solicit proxies in support of director nominees other than the Board’s nominees must provide notice that sets forth the information required by Rule 14a-19 promulgated under the Exchange Act and otherwise comply with the requirements of Rule 14a-19. If the stockholder does not also satisfy the requirements of Rule 14a-4 promulgated under the Exchange Act, the persons named as proxies will be allowed to use their discretionary voting authority when and if the matter is raised at the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. Such nominations or proposals should be sent to REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, Attention: Corporate Secretary.
Copy of Amended and Restated Bylaws
You may request a copy of our Bylaws to be delivered to you at no charge by writing to the Company’s Corporate Secretary at REGENXBIO Inc., 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, Attention: Corporate Secretary. In addition, we have filed a copy of our Bylaws as Exhibit 3.2 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 22, 2015, which may be accessed without charge on our website at www.regenxbio.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The information contained on our website, and in all references to our website within this Proxy Statement, shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in this Proxy Statement or in any other filing we make under the Exchange Act.
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OTHER MATTERS
The Board of Directors knows of no other matters that will be presented for consideration at the Annual Meeting. If any other matters are properly brought before the Annual Meeting, it is the intention of the persons named in the accompanying proxy tocard will vote on such matters in accordance with their best judgment.
It is important that your proxies be returned promptly and that your shares are represented at the Annual Meeting. Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, please complete, date, sign and promptly return the enclosed proxy card in the enclosed postage pre-paid envelope or vote your shares before the Annual Meeting by telephone or over the internet so your shares will be represented at the Annual Meeting.
The form of proxy card and this proxy statementProxy Statement have been approved by the Board of Directors and are being mailed and delivered to stockholders by its authority.
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CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND ASSISTANCE WITH VOTING
If you have any questions or require any assistance with voting your shares, please contact:
Investor Relations
REGENXBIO Inc.
97129804 Medical Center Drive Suite 100
Rockville, MDMaryland 20850
or
CallTelephone: (240) 552-8181
If you need additional copies of this proxy statement or voting materials, you should contact Investor Relations as described above. A copy of our Annual Report will be sent without charge to any stockholder who requests in writing, addressed to Investor Relations as described above. Our Annual Report may also be obtained via the internet at www.proxyvote.com.
SCAN TO VIEW MATERIALS & VOTE REGENXBIO INC. 9804 MEDICAL CENTER DRIVE ROCKVILLE, MD 20850 VOTE BY INTERNET - www.proxyvote.com or scan the QR Barcode above Use the Internet to transmit your voting instructions and for electronic delivery of information up until 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time the day before the cut-off date or meeting date. Have your proxy card in hand when you access the web site and follow the instructions to obtain your records and to create an electronic voting instruction form. ELECTRONIC DELIVERY OF FUTURE PROXY MATERIALS If you would like to reduce the costs incurred by our company in mailing proxy materials, you can consent to receiving all future proxy statements, proxy cards and annual reports electronically via e-mail or the Internet. To sign up for electronic delivery, please follow the instructions above to vote using the Internet and, when prompted, indicate that you agree to receive or access proxy materials electronically in future years. VOTE BY PHONE - 1-800-690-6903 Use any touch-tone telephone to transmit your voting instructions up until 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time the day before the cut-off date or meeting date. Have your proxy card in hand when you call and then follow the instructions. VOTE BY MAIL Mark, sign and date your proxy card and return it in the postage-paid envelope we have provided or return it to Vote Processing, c/o Broadridge, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, NY 11717.D74164-P70898 For All Withhold All For All Except REGENXBIO INC. To withhold authority to vote for any individual nominee(s), mark "For All Except" and write the number(s) of the nominee(s) on the line below. The Board of Directors recommends you vote FOR the following: ! ! ! 1. Election of REGENXBIO Inc.Two Class I Directors Nominees: 01) Allan M. Fox 02) Alexandra Glucksmann, Ph.D. The Board of Directors recommends you vote FOR Items 2 and 3: For Against Abstain ! ! ! 2. To ratify the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors as the independent registered public accounting firm of the Company for the year ending December 31, 2022. ! ! ! 3. To provide an advisory vote on the compensation paid to the Company's named executive officers. NOTE: Other business may be considered as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. Please sign exactly as your name(s) appear(s) hereon. When signing as attorney, executor, administrator, or other fiduciary, please give full title as such. Joint owners should each sign personally. All holders must sign. If a corporation or partnership, please sign in full corporate or partnership name by authorized officer.
Rockville, Maryland
April 18, 201657
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TO VOTE, MARK BLOCKS BELOW IN BLUE OR BLACK INK AS FOLLOWS:
THIS PROXY CARD IS VALID ONLY WHEN SIGNED AND DATED.
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Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting:
The Notice and Proxy Statement and Form 10-KAnnual Report are available at www.proxyvote.com. D74165-P70898 REGENXBIO INC. Annual Meeting of Stockholders June 3, 2022 This Proxy is Solicited on Behalf of the Board of Directors The stockholder(s) hereby appoint(s) Kenneth T. Mills and Patrick J. Christmas, or either of them, as proxies, each with the power to appoint his substitute, and hereby authorize(s) them to represent and to vote, as designated on the reverse side of this ballot, all of the shares of Common Stock of REGENXBIO Inc. that the stockholder(s) is/are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting of Stockholdersto be held on June 3, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, at 9804 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, and any adjournment or postponement thereof. This proxy, when properly executed, will be voted in the manner directed herein. If no such direction is made, this proxy will be voted in accordance with the Board of Directors' recommendations. The proxies will vote in their discretion upon any and all other matters that may properly come before the meeting and any adjournment or postponement thereof. Please mark, sign, date and return this proxy card promptly using the enclosed reply envelope. CONTINUED AND TO BE SIGNED ON REVERSE SIDE
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