Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
Appointment of Director
On January 10, 2023, the Board of Directors (the "Board) of the Company, upon
recommendation of the Nominating and Governance Committee of the Board,
appointed David Gryska, M.B.A. to the Board to fill a vacancy on the Board,
effective January 10, 2023. Mr. Gryska will serve as a Class II director, with a
term expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2025. In
addition, the Board appointed Mr. Gryska as a member of the Audit Committee of
the Board.
Mr. Gryska, 66, has over 35 years of experience as a senior financial executive
at life sciences and biotechnology companies. Mr. Gryska served as Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Incyte Corporation, a
pharmaceutical company, from October 2014 to December 2018. Additionally,
Mr. Gryska served as Chief Operating Officer and a director of Myrexis, Inc., a
biopharmaceutical company, from May 2012 to December 2012. From December 2006 to
October 2010, Mr. Gryska served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer of Celgene Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. From October 2004 to
December 2006, Mr. Gryska was a principal at Strategic Consulting Group, where
he provided strategic consulting to early-stage biotechnology companies.
Previously, Mr. Gryska served at Scios, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, as
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2004, and as Vice
President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer from 1998 to 2000. Scios was
acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2003. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Gryska served as
Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Cardiac Pathways, a
medical device company later acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation. Prior to
Cardiac Pathways, Mr. Gryska served as a partner at Ernst & Young (EY) in
California. Mr. Gryska serves on the board of directors Seagen Inc.
(NASDAQ:SGEN). In the past 20 years, Mr. Gryska served as a director for five
other public biotechnology companies, including Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from
2012 to 2015 and then again from 2018 to 2022, GW Pharmaceuticals plc from 2020
to 2021, and PDL BioPharma, Inc. from 2014 to 2019. Mr. Gryska holds a B.A. in
Accounting and Finance from Loyola University and an M.B.A. from Golden Gate
University.
Mr. Gryska will be compensated in accordance with the Company's amended and
restated non-employee director compensation policy (the "Policy"). Pursuant to
the Policy, Mr. Gryska will be entitled to receive $40,000 per year for service
as a member of the Board and $8,000 per year for service as a member of the
Audit Committee, each paid quarterly in arrears on a pro-rata basis.
In connection with his appointment to the Board as a non-employee director and
pursuant to the Company's 2021 Equity Incentive Plan and the Policy, Mr. Gryska
also automatically received a stock option for 50,000 shares of Common Stock of
the Company, which will vest in equal monthly installments over a three year
period such that the option is fully vested on the third anniversary of the date
of grant, subject to Mr. Gryska's continued service on the Board through each
applicable vesting date.
Mr. Gryska has entered into the Company's standard form of indemnification
agreement, a copy of which has been filed as Exhibit 10.1 of the Company's
Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-216574), as amended, originally
filed on March 9, 2017.
There is no arrangement or understanding between Mr. Gryska and any other
persons pursuant to which Mr. Gryska was elected as a director. In addition,
Mr. Gryska is not a party to any transaction, or series of transactions,
required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. There are no
family relationships between Mr. Gryska and any of the Company's directors or
executive officers.
Resignation of Director
On January 6, 2023, Patricia Walker, M.D., Ph.D. notified Forte Biosciences,
Inc. (the "Company") of her resignation as a member of the Board of Directors
(the "Board") of the Company and from all committees of the Board on which she
served, in each case effective as of January 6, 2023. Dr. Walker's resignation
is not the result of any disagreement with the Company relating to the Company's
operations, policies or practices.
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
On January 12, 2023, the Company issued a press release announcing the
appointment of Mr. Gryska as a director. A copy of the press release is
furnished herewith as Exhibit 99.1.
The information furnished in this Current Report under this Item 7.01, including
Exhibit 99.1, shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the "Exchange Act"), or
incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, or the Exchange Act, regardless of any general incorporation language
in such filing, unless expressly incorporated by specific reference in such
filing.
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Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits
Exhibit Description
99.1 Press Release dated January 12, 2023 announcing the appointment of
David Gryska to the board of directors
104 The cover page of this Current Report on Form 8-K, formatted in inline
XBRL
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