Company: KROS
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-037982
Chunk: 58

Company: Keros Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 58
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 annual grants thereafter. Additional grants may occur periodically in order to incentivize and reward executives as our Compensation Committee and our Board determine appropriate. As of December 31, 2024, all equity awards granted to our named executive officers, other than our Chief Executive Officer, had been in the form of stock options that vest based on continuous service with us. Our Compensation Committee believes that stock options are inherently performance-based and automatically link executive pay to stockholder return, as the value realized, if any, from an award of stock options is dependent upon, and directly proportionate to, future appreciation in our stock price. Regardless of the reported value in the Summary Compensation Table, our named executive officers will only receive value from their stock options if the market price of our common stock increases above the market price of our common stock at the time of grant and remains above such price as the stock options continue to vest. In 2024, we introduced performance-vesting stock options into our Chief Executive Officer’s long-term incentive package. Our Compensation Committee believes a more diversified long-term incentive program, pursuant to which both performance and time-vesting stock options are granted to our Chief Executive Officer, better balances our goal of retaining Dr. Seehra, enhancing stockholder value and motivating and incentivizing extraordinary performance. In 2025, we introduced restricted stock unit awards into our executive compensation program, as described below. Each of our named executive officers holds stock options under our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “ 2020 Plan ”), and some hold options under our 2017 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended. Such options were granted subject to the general terms of the applicable plan and the applicable forms of stock option agreement thereunder. All options are granted with a per share exercise price equal the closing price of our common stock on the grant date. All options have a maximum term of up to 10 years from the date of grant, subject to earlier expiration following the cessation of an executive officer’s continuous service with us. Option vesting is subject to acceleration as described below under “Potential Payments upon Termination or Change of Control.” The specific vesting terms of each named executive officer’s stock options are described below under “Outstanding Equity Awards as of December 31, 2024.” For additional information about our equity compensation plans, please see the section titled “Equity Benefit Plans below.

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2024 Equity Awards In February 2024, upon the recommendation of our Compensation Committee, our Board