Item 5.02Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On April 28, 2022, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Syneos Health, Inc.
(the "Company") appointed Michelle Keefe as the Company's Chief Executive
Officer and as a Class I director, each effective as of April 29, 2022 (the
"Effective Date"), succeeding Alistair Macdonald, who resigned from both
positions as of the Effective Date. Also as of the Effective Date, Michael
Brooks was appointed to serve as the Company's Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to her appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Keefe, 55, served
as the Company's President, Medical Affairs & Commercial Solutions since
November 2021, and President, Commercial Solutions from December 2017 to
November 2021. Prior to joining Syneos Health, Ms. Keefe spent six years at the
Publicis Groupe, a communications holding company, taking on roles of increasing
responsibility culminating as a group president in the Publicis Health Division
from February 2012 to December 2017. From January 2015 to April 2016, Ms. Keefe
was President and CEO of Publicis Touchpoint Solutions. From May 2016 to
November 2017, Ms. Keefe was Group President at Publicis Health. Ms. Keefe
broadened her healthcare experience by joining the Visiting Nurse Service of New
York ("VNSNY"), the largest not for profit homecare business in the United
States, from 2010 to 2012 where she was the VP of market development. Prior to
joining the VNSNY, Ms. Keefe spent 22 years rising through the ranks at Pfizer,
a global pharmaceutical corporation, in a variety of sales, marketing and
general management roles, culminating as a Regional President. Ms. Keefe
received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Seton Hall University. Ms.
Keefe currently serves on the board of directors of the Healthcare
Businesswomen's Association and Execu-Search, a leading recruitment, contract
staffing, and workforce solutions firm. The Board believes that Ms. Keefe's
significant leadership experience and extensive knowledge of the full
commercialization of biopharmaceutical products will be valuable contributions
to the Board.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Operating Officer, Michael Brooks, 48, served
as the Company's Chief Development Officer & Global Head Clinical Development
Solutions since November 2021 after serving as Chief Development Officer from
July 2021 to November 2021. Prior to joining Syneos Health, Mr. Brooks held
multiple leadership roles at LabCorp (Covance), a leading global contract
research organization. From November 2019 to November 2020, Mr. Brooks served as
President & Global Head, Clinical Development & Commercialization Services and
from December 2018 to November 2019 as Chief Diagnostics Operations Excellence
Officer. Prior to joining LabCorp, Mr. Brooks held various leadership positions
at PRA Health Sciences from February 2015 to November 2018. He received his
Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from North Carolina State University
("NCSU") and is currently a member of the NCSU College of Sciences Foundation
Board of Directors. Mr. Brooks' spouse is also an employee of the Company.
Between January 1, 2021 and March 25, 2022, the Company paid Mr. Brooks' spouse
a total of $479,445 in cash compensation, granted her restricted stock unit
awards with an aggregate grant date fair value of $597,704, and provided her
with benefits valued at $43,539.
Letter Agreement with Michelle Keefe, Chief Executive Officer
In connection with her appointment as Chief Executive Officer, the Company
entered into a letter agreement with Ms. Keefe (the "Keefe Letter Agreement") on
the Effective Date. The Keefe Letter Agreement outlines, among other things, Ms.
Keefe's compensation as Chief Executive Officer, as follows: (i) annual base
salary of $1,000,000; (ii) annual target bonus opportunity of 120% of base
salary; (iii) an annual long term incentive grant opportunity, granted according
to the Company's normal annual grant process beginning in 2023, valued at
$5,250,000, comprised of 50% performance-based restricted stock units and 50%
restricted stock units, vesting equally over three years; and (iv) the grant of
restricted stock units in connection with her appointment, with an aggregate
dollar-denominated value equal to $3,775,000, vesting (x) as to 50% of
restricted stock units, in substantially equal installments on each of the first
anniversary of the grant date, January 18, 2024 and January 18, 2025 and (y) as
to 50% of the restricted stock units, based on the achievement of performance
goals.
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In addition, Ms. Keefe will continue to participate in the Company's Executive
Severance Plan, except (i) Ms. Keefe's cash severance opportunity will equal
200% (outside the change in control context) or 300% (within the change in
control context) of the sum of her base salary and target bonus, and (ii) she
will be entitled to 24 months' COBRA premium entitlement.
The foregoing summary of the terms of the Keefe Letter Agreement is qualified in
its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Keefe Letter Agreement, a
copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and
incorporated by reference herein.
Letter Agreement with Michael Brooks, Chief Operating Officer
In connection with his appointment as Chief Operating Officer, the Company
entered into a letter agreement with Mr. Brooks (the "Brooks Letter Agreement")
on the Effective Date. The Brooks Letter Agreement outlines, among other things,
Mr. Brooks' compensation as Chief Operating Officer, as follows: (i) annual base
salary of $750,000; (ii) annual target bonus opportunity of 100% of base salary;
(iii) an annual long term incentive grant opportunity, granted according to the
Company's normal annual grant process beginning in 2023, valued at $3,375,000,
comprised of 50% performance-based restricted stock units and 50% restricted
stock units, vesting equally over three years; and (iv) the grant of restricted
stock units in connection with his appointment, with an aggregate
dollar-denominated value equal to $1,957,500, vesting (x) as to 50% of
restricted stock units, in substantially equal installments on each of the first
anniversary of the grant date, January 18, 2024 and January 18, 2025 and (y) as
to 50% of the restricted stock units, based on the achievement of performance
goals.
In addition, Mr. Brooks will continue to participate in the Company's Executive
Severance Plan, except (i) Mr. Brooks' cash severance opportunity will equal
150% (outside the change in control context) or 250% (within the change in
control context) of the sum of his base salary and target bonus, and (ii) he
will be entitled to 24 months' COBRA premium entitlement.
The foregoing summary of the terms of the Brooks Letter Agreement is qualified
in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Brooks Letter
Agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.2 to this Current Report on
Form 8-K and incorporated by reference herein.
Agreements with Alistair Macdonald, Former Chief Executive Officer
In connection with Mr. Macdonald's resignation, he will serve as an advisor to
the Board and CEO through the end of March 2023. Mr. Macdonald will become a
consultant to the Company effective July 1, 2022. The Company (or a subsidiary)
and Mr. Macdonald entered into (i) an agreement memorializing the terms of his
continued employment as an advisor, including continued vesting of certain
Company equity awards (the "Separation Agreement") and (ii) a Consulting
Agreement (the "Consulting Agreement") that provides for a fixed fee of £150 per
hour and continued vesting of certain Company equity awards held by him during
the 12month consulting period, as well as customary restrictive covenants.
The foregoing summary of the terms of each of the Separation Agreement and the
Consulting Agreement is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete
text of the Separation Agreement and the Consulting Agreement, copies of which
are filed as Exhibits 10.3 and 10.4, respectively, to this Current Report on
Form 8K and incorporated by reference herein.
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Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
(d) Exhibits
The following exhibits are included with this Current Report on Form 8-K:
Exhibit No.
10.1 Letter Agreement between the Company and Michelle Keefe, dated April
29, 2022.
10.2 Letter Agreement between the Company and Michael Brooks, dated April
29, 2022.
10.3 Agreement between Syneos Health UK Limited and Alistair Macdonald,
dated April 29, 2022.
10.4 Consulting Agreement between the Company and Alistair Macdonald,
dated April 29, 2022.
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File - the cover page XBRL tags are
embedded with the Inline XBRL document.
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