Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
Effective July 21, 2022, Andrew Van Noy resigned as President and Chief
Executive Officer of AiAdvertising, Inc. (the "Company"). Mr. Van Noy will
continue to serve as Chairman of the Company's board of directors.
On July 21, 2022, Gerard Hug, age 55, was appointed as Director and Chief
Executive Officer of the Company. Prior to being appointed as CEO and Director
of the Company, Mr. Hug was Director of Operations from July 2018, where he was
instrumental in architecting and executing the Company's pivot from a
traditional agency to an Enterprise Software Technology company, focused on
commercializing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the Digital
Marketing and Advertising space. Mr. Hug was previously Chief Executive Officer
and Director of SITO Mobile from November 10, 2014 through February 2017, where
he architected and executed the successful transformation of the company from a
SMS aggregator to an industry leader in Location-Based Mobile Advertising. Mr.
Hug also served as Director of Corporate Development, Executive Vice President
of SITO Mobile Interim CEO, before his promotion to CEO in November 2014.
Between 2007 and 2010, Mr. Hug was the co-founder and President of Waveyard
Development LLC, a water-sports resort destination development company. From
2003 to June 2006, Mr. Hug served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy
Officer of Wireless Retail Inc., a $400 million wireless services company that
was among the first U.S. businesses to use the store-in-store business model to
sell mobile phones for wireless carriers through large nationwide retailers. Mr.
Hug was interim CFO for Wireless Retail Inc. leading up to its sale to Radio
Shack Corporation. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Hug was Managing Partner of Redwood
Partners, an early-stage merchant bank and advisory firm that focused on
providing early-stage capital and executive management to technology, media and
telecommunications businesses. Mr. Hug attended The Pennsylvania State
University where he studied finance on a full athletic scholarship, and was a
member of the 1986 National Championship football team under legendary coach Joe
Paterno.
The Board has concluded that Mr. Hug is qualified to serve as a director because
of the depth of his industry experience and his extensive experience as an
executive in the digital marketing space.
In connection with Mr. Hug's appointment, the Company entered into an employment
offer letter ("Employment Offer Letter") with Mr. Hug. Pursuant to the
Employment Offer Letter, Mr. Hug received a signing bonus of $100,000 and will
receive an annual base salary of $375,000. After 12 months of employment, Mr.
Hug will receive a performance and compensation review by the Company's
compensation committee of the board of directors of the Company. He will also be
eligible for an annual bonus of up to $375,000, upon meeting objectives set by
the board of directors.
The foregoing description of the Employment Offer Letter is qualified by
reference to the full text of the Employment Offer Letter, which is attached
hereto as Exhibit 10.1 and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
Exhibit No. Exhibit
10.1 Employment Offer Letter
99.1 Press Release
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