Company: XXII
Filing Date: 2025-06-10
Form Type: PRER14A
Source: 0001641172-25-014371
Chunk: 25

Company: 22nd Century Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-06-10
Form: PRER14A
Chunk 25
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 years achieved cash bonus, with initial grants for fiscal 2025 being set as equal to the target cash bonus amounts. Equity awards will be split as 75% non-qualifying stock options (NQSO’s) and 25% restricted stock units (RSU’s), and the number of shares to award will be determined by taking the target cash bonus as the numerator divided by the 30-day average of closing stock price prior to grant as the denominator. All equity awards will vest in equal annual installments over a three-year period.

For fiscal 2025, the table below summarized the number of NQSO’s and RSU’s granted to our executives, based on a 30-day average closing stock price of $3.54 and grant date price of $2.01.

| Name                                         |     | NQSO’s (#) |        |     | RSU’s (#) |        |
| Lawrence D. Firestone                        
 Chief Executive Officer                      |     |            | 90,043 |     |           | 30,014 |
| Daniel A. Otto                               
 Chief Financial Officer                      |     |            | 50,054 |     |           | 16,684 |
| Jonathan Staffeldt                           
 General Counsel                              |     |            | 50,054 |     |           | 16,684 |
| Robert Manfredonia                           
 Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing |     |            | 43,698 |     |           | 14,565 |
| Scott Marion                                 
 Vice President Manufacturing Operations      |     |            | 43,698 |     |           | 14,565 |

| 15 |

Retirement and other benefits

As employees, the executives were eligible to participate in health and welfare benefits, as offered to our general workforce, designed to attract and retain a skilled workforce in a competitive marketplace. These benefits help ensure that the Company has a healthy and focused workforce through reliable and competitive health and other personal benefits. We do not maintain any pension or non-qualified deferred compensation plans, but we do sponsor a 401(k)-plan pursuant to which we make a safe harbor non-elective contribution of 3% of the employee’s annual compensation, subject to certain wage maximums, to provide employees with the opportunity to save for retirement on a tax deferred basis. These benefits were considered in relation to total compensation packages, but did not materially impact decisions regarding other elements of executive officer compensation.

Policy on Hedging Transactions

We prohibit our officers and directors from engaging in hed