Company: CYTK
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001140361-25-011212
Chunk: 44

Company: CYTOKINETICS INC
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 44
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 At our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, although Dr. Kaye was re-elected to the Board with a greater than a majority of votes cast, approximately 38% of votes cast for his re-election were withheld. In response to the withhold vote on Dr. Kaye’s election, our Board of Directors amended its Corporate Governance Guidelines to prohibit members of our Board of Directors from serving on more than five public company boards of directors generally, provided that if a member of our Board of Directors is also the chief executive officer of a public company, then such director is prohibited from serving on more than three public company boards of directors. Our Board of Directors believes this amendment to our Corporate Governance Guidelines is appropriate in the circumstances and that imposing specific limits on board seats is responsive to the vote on Dr. Kaye's election at our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. As a result of Dr. Kaye's resignation as Chief Executive Officer of Stoke Therapeutics in March 2025, we believe that any previously expressed concerns have now been resolved. Classified Board Structure : Our Restated Certificate classifies our Board of Directors into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms. A number of our stockholders have asked whether we intend to eliminate this structure in favor of annual elections of all directors. Our Board of Directors and the Governance Committee have given thoughtful consideration to the maintenance of a classified board structure and currently believe that it is in the best interests of stockholders to maintain that structure. As the Company continues to mature, and with the potential launch of its first commercial drug product, our Board of Directors and Governance Committee are committed to periodically re-evaluating whether maintaining a classified board structure remains in the best interests of stockholders. Performance Stock Units as Executive Compensation : Our stockholders have communicated their desire to see the Company utilize performance-based equity compensation as part of long-term executive compensation. Our Compensation Committee agreed with this feedback and granted PSUs to our named executive officers in 2024 to incentivize the achievement of specific high-value milestones. For further information on our 2024 PSU program, please refer to the Compensation, Discussion & Analysis section of this Proxy Statement. Although our Compensation Committee implemented a PSU program in 2024, we may not grant PSUs every year. We anticipate considering the adoption of more customary PSU performance conditions for commercial stage companies in our industry once the Company has sufficient commercial experience in 2026 or later. Board of Directors Role in Risk Oversight The role of our Board of Directors is to oversee the CEO and other