Company: AAOI
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-040212
Chunk: 14

Company: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 14
---
 Newtown Square, Pennsylvania headquarters. In 1998, she moved to Koch Industries, in Houston, to trade MTBE before being hired in 1999 by Shell to trade gasoline, and then Fuel Oil and VGO. Ms. DeLaney received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University. The Board believes Ms. DeLaney is qualified to serve as a director based on her leadership experience and extensive experience in business. 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Director Independence The Board has determined that, other than Dr. Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin, our President and Chief Executive Officer, each of the current members of the Board is an “independent director” for purposes of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) Listing Rules and Rule 10A-3(b)(1) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as the term relates to membership on the Board. In making these determinations, our Board reviewed and discussed information provided by the directors in questionnaires with questions tailored to the Nasdaq Listing Rules with regard to each director’s business and personal activities as they may relate to us and our management. Board Leadership Structure Our Board is currently chaired by our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin. The Board believes that combining the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, or Chairman, helps to ensure that the Board and management act with a common purpose, providing a single, clear chain of command to execute our strategic initiatives and business plans. In addition, the Board believes that a combined Chief Executive Officer and Chairman is better positioned to act as a bridge between management and the Board, facilitating the regular flow of information. In light of our Chief Executive Officer’s extensive history with and knowledge of our Company, the Board also believes that it is advantageous for the Company to combine the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Our Board appointed William H. Yeh as lead independent director of our Board in April 2018. As our lead independent director, Mr. Yeh (i) serves as chair of executive sessions of the independent members of the Board; (ii) serves as chair of meetings of the Board if the Chairman of the Board is absent; (iii) serves as the designated liaison between the independent members of the Board, the full Board and the management of the Company; (iv) approves information sent to the Board; (v)