Document:

Dr

EXHIBIT 10.23

 

Dr.

Robert Burford

President

American Clinical Research

Consultants Inc.

PO Box 7299

Wilton, CT 06897-7299

 

November 10, 1999

 

Dear Dr. Burford:

 

On behalf of the Board and

management of Axonyx, I am delighted to memorialize the substance of your

recent conversations with Dr. Hausman, concerning your employment by Axonyx:

 

1.               You will be employed commencing on the

date of your countersigning this letter as Vice-President, Product Development

of Axonyx Inc.

 

2.               Your salary compensation will be

$100,000 per annum until either August 1, 2000, or September 1, 2000 (the

appropriate date to be agreed to by the end of July, in accordance with your

discussions with Dr. Hausman), after which it will be $150,000 per annum.

 

3.               Your equity compensation will total

options for 100,000 shares under the company’s Employee Stock Option Plan at an

exercise price of the average of the bid and ask price on the commencement date

of your employment.(1)

 

4.               Options for 12,500 shares will vest on

the commencement date of your employment. 

The remaining options will vest thereafter as follows:

 

-12,500 will vest on August 31, 2000

-25,000 will vest on August 31, 2001

-25,000 will vest on August 31, 2002

-25,000 will vest on August 31, 2003.

 

5.               The Company will provide you with $1,250

per month for your office in Wilton, Connecticut where you will perform your

duties, including computer management of Axonyx central files related to

product development.

 

6.               You will receive health benefits under

the Company’s health plan.

 

(1) This grant shall be

exclusive of any Options granted under your current arrangement with Axonyx.

 

 

7.               You will be reimbursed for all

pre-approved reasonable business related expenses.

 

If you have any questions or

comments about the foregoing, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Hausman or

me.  We look forward to the continuation

of our fruitful and productive relationship.

 

	

   

  	

  Sincerely,

  
	

   

  	

   

  
	

   

  	

  /s/ Michael Strage

  	

   

  
	

   

  	

  Michael

  Strage

  
	

   

  	

  Vice-President

  Chief Administrative Officer

  
	

   

  	

   

  
	

  Agreed to

  and accepted:

  	

   

  
	

   

  	

   

  
	

  By:

  	

   

  	

   

  	

   

  
	

   

  	

  Dr. Robert

  Burford

  	

   

  
	

   

  	

   

  
	

  Date:

  	

   

  	

   

  	

   

  
							

 

2Exhibit 10

Exhibit 10.19

 

 

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

 

 

                This EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT, dated as of

February 6, 2001 between BIONEBRASKA, INC., a corporation incorporated and

existing under the laws of Delaware and having its office at 3820 NW 46th

Street in Lincoln, Nebraska (hereinafter referred to as “Company”), and Roberta L.

Schneider, M.D., residing currently at 5250 Silo Hill Road,

Doylestown, PA 18901 (hereinafter referred to as the “Director”).

 

                WHEREAS the Company desires to employ the Director as its Vice

President and Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity Programs and, as such,

as a member of its management group; and the Director desires to be so

employed:

 

                NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing and of the mutual

promises hereinafter set forth, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1.  Employment:

Powers and Duties.

                The Company hereby employs the Director as its Vice President and

Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity Programs, pursuant to the provisions

of this Agreement.  The Director shall generally

have the responsibilities, duties and functions as set forth in Annex A

attached.  The Director shall perform

services in such capacity for the Company and for any of its affiliates or

subsidiaries with such authority and with such powers and duties as may be

prescribed or assigned to her from time to time by the Board of Directors of

the Company, by the Chairman of the Board and the C.E.O. and by the Senior Vice

President and Chief Medical Officer (“CMO”) 

In performing her services hereunder, she shall report to the CMO. She

will be a member of the management group of the Company.

 

2.  Exclusivity.

                During the term of her employment hereunder, the Director will devote

her best efforts, energy, skill and resources to her duties hereunder and to

the affairs and interests of the Company and its affiliates, joint ventures and

subsidiaries and will not, without the approval of the Board of Directors of

the Company or the Chairman of the Board and the C.E.O., actively engage in

consulting for, or in the conduct of, any other business for profit.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Director shall have the right to continue

her current equine business.

 

 

3.  Direct

Compensation

                During her employment hereunder, the Director shall receive a salary at

the annual rate of two hundred ten thousand dollars ($210,000).  This compensation will be paid in equal

monthly installments. All required tax and other deductions will be made from

such installments.  At the end of each

calendar year under this Agreement, the performance of the Director will be

reviewed.  In the event that her

performance and contributions to the Company have been in accordance with or

exceeding expectations for the particular calendar year, it is anticipated

that, assuming the Company’s situation permits, the Director will receive a

positive adjustment to her salary level over that obtained in the previous

year.

 

                In addition, assuming the Company’s situation permits, the Board of

Directors of the Company or the C.E.O. (in their respective sole discretion)

may establish for any calendar year an appropriate incentive or bonus program

which can provide to individual members of the management group of the Company

additional incentive compensation in the event that certain goals, to be

mutually agreed upon by the Company and each group member, are met or that

substantial business contributions, not in the ordinary course of her duties,

are made by the Director or other individual members of the management group to

the business of the Company during the calendar year. Notwithstanding the

foregoing, a bonus will be paid to the Director at year end at least equal to

20% of her foregoing annual compensation.

 

4.  Additional

Benefits.

                (A)  The Director shall be

provided with such health and sickness, accident, hospitalization, disability,

life and other insurance benefits as are or may be generally provided under the

Company’s and/or its affiliates’ group policies. This will include life

insurance coverage of $100,000 for the Director.

 

                (B)  When and if instituted, the

Director shall be provided with such savings and retirement plan benefits as

may be provided in general for employees under the Company’s plans, as adopted

or amended from time to time.  The

Company has established a 401(K) Plan for retirement savings for all

employees.  Initial Company

contributions to this Plan are expected to be small or non-existent, until

funding or profits of the Company permit (as determined in the sole discretion

of the Board of Directors) one or more of such contributions from time to time.

 

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5.  Long-Term

Stock Option Incentives.

                The Director shall be allotted stock options under the Company’s 1993

Stock Plan, as amended, covering a total of forty thousand (40,000) shares of

the Company’s Common Stock. These options will be governed by the provisions of

one or more Option Agreements and will be vested, and become exercisable

thereafter in accordance with the provisions of those Agreements, in three

equal annual installments over the three years, beginning as of the date which

is one year after the date of the Option Agreements. The options will terminate

in ten years after grant if not terminated sooner in accordance with the

provisions of the Option Agreements. The option price will be $12.50 per share,

being the fair market value of the shares at the time the options are granted,

as determined by the Board of Directors.

 

                The Director will be eligible for one or more additional option

participations under stock plans of the Company if and to the extent that the

Chairman of the Board and the C.E.O. or the Board of Directors at the relevant

time, in their respective sole discretion, shall consider that the work and

contributions of the Director merit such participation.

 

6.  Travel

and Expenses.

                The Company shall reimburse to the Director

all reasonable travel, hotel, entertainment and other out-of-pocket expenses

which she may from time to time incur in the course of carrying out her duties

for the Company and for any of its affiliates, joint ventures or subsidiaries.

In particular, the Company will reimburse you for all telephone,

internet and other communication expenses and other reasonable expenses

associated with the maintenance of your office. The Company will purchase, to

your specifications, a computer for your business use and will also reimburse

you for the cost of maintaining a cell phone for business. It is understood,

due to your remote location, that substantial travel to the Company’s

headquarters in Lincoln will be required from time to time. Due also to the

nature of your activities, substantial travel will be required in the U.S.,

Europe and elsewhere. Reasonable expenses of 

travel, lodging and meals incurred on the Company’s behalf will be

reimbursed to you, together with all other reasonable expenses of carrying out

your duties in this position.

 

7.  Non-Competition.

                (A)          During the term of

her employment hereunder, and for a two-year period thereafter (but only in the

event that during such two-year period the Company shall in its sole discretion

continue to pay compensation to the Director after termination of her

employment at a rate per month equal to at least one half of the monthly salary

rate enjoyed by the Director prior to the termination of her employment

hereunder), the Director agrees

 

3

 

that, unless she obtains written consent from

the Company covering a particular planned competitive activity, the Director

shall not directly or indirectly engage in, consult for, be employed by or

finance any business activity that is competitive with the businesses which are

being conducted or are planned to be conducted by the Company or by any

affiliate, joint venture or subsidiary or client or customer of the Company at

the particular time. The foregoing notwithstanding, the Company shall have no

obligation, in the event of the termination of the employment of the Director

for any reason, to pay any continuing compensation under this Section 7 to the Director

or, in the event such continuing compensation is paid for one or more months,

to continue to pay such compensation. In the event any such continuing

compensation is not paid to the Director, or is terminated after one or more

monthly payments, the foregoing restrictions on competitive activity on the

part of the Director shall not apply thereafter.

 

                (B)           In no event, without

receiving the Company’s prior written consent, will the Director, at any time

during her employment hereunder or within a period which is two years after

termination for any reason of her employment hereunder:

 

    (i)                                         preempt,

divert, disrupt or otherwise interfere with any business relationship of the

Company, or of any of its affiliates, joint ventures or subsidiaries, with any

of the clients, customers or business contacts of the Company or of any of its

affiliates, joint ventures or subsidiaries; or

 

 

   (ii)                                         employ

or solicit for employment for her own or another’s benefit, as employee,

partner, consultant, independent contractor or otherwise, or directly or

indirectly suggest to others to employ or to solicit for employment, any person

who is at the time employed by the Company or by any affiliate, joint venture,

subsidiary, client or customer of the Company.

 

8.  Intellectual

Property Rights.

                (A)  As between the Company or

any of its affiliates, joint ventures, subsidiaries or customers, as the case

may be, and the Director, all products, know-how, methods, processes,

discoveries, materials, ideas, strategies, creations, inventions, medical or

clinical ideas, results or innovations and properties pertaining or relating to

the businesses of the Company, or of any affiliate, joint venture or subsidiary

of the Company, which the Director may create by herself or with others or to

which she may become exposed, whether or not developed or invented by the

Director and whether or not developed or discovered

 

4

 

during regular working hours, shall be the

sole and absolute property of the Company or the particular affiliate, joint

venture, subsidiary or customer as the case may be, for any and all

purposes.  The Director shall not claim

to have, under this Agreement or otherwise, any right, title or interest of any

kind or nature in any of the foregoing.

 

                (B)  The Director acknowledges

that in the course of her employment hereunder she will make use of, be exposed

to, acquire and add to confidential information of the Company and its

affiliates, joint ventures and subsidiaries as well as of its customers,

clients and other persons and entities having a business relationship with the

Company, relating to such matters as (but not limited to) trade secrets,

products, technical systems, processes and procedures, clinical ideas, results

or innovations, know-how, inventions, manuals, confidential documents and

reports on paper and in electronically stored form, plans, properties,

strategies and customer or investors’ business (referred to as “Confidential

Information”); and that such Confidential Information will have a special and

unique nature and value for the Company. 

The Director agrees that with respect to any and all of the foregoing

Confidential Information, during and following the term of this Agreement,

hereof, and for so long as the same remains confidential (and beyond this time

should loss of confidentiality be caused directly or indirectly by the

Director), she will not, for any purpose (unless otherwise agreed to by the

Company in writing), divulge or disclose to persons other than those authorized

by the Company to receive the same, use or otherwise exploit any of such

Confidential Information or let or suffer others to use or otherwise exploit

such Confidential Information for any purpose other than for the benefit of the

Company or its affiliates, joint ventures or subsidiaries, as the case may be.

 

9.  Term

of Employment.

                The Director’s employment shall begin on February 6, 2001 and continue

indefinitely hereunder, unless and until terminated by either party upon

delivery of six months’ prior written notice of termination to the other party.

 

                 Notwithstanding the foregoing,

the Company shall be entitled by notice in writing to the Director to terminate

forthwith her employment with the Company under this Agreement if she shall

have engaged in any willful misconduct or misconduct involving negligence or

commit any material breach of her obligations or duties to the Company or the

Company’s employees hereunder, provided that, in the event of such a material

breach, she will be given notice thereof and afforded an opportunity to correct

the same.

 

5

 

10.  Vacation.

                The Director shall be entitled to four weeks of vacation in each

calendar year.

 

11.  Return

of Documents in Hard Copy or Electronically Stored.

                The Director shall promptly, upon the termination of her employment

with the Company hereunder, deliver and transfer over to the Company all

copies, both in hard copy and electronically created and/or stored, of reports,

memoranda, accounts, laboratory, clinical and other notebooks, records,

correspondence and e-mail (“Company Documents”) which may have been prepared by

her or have come into her possession or control in the course of her employment

and the discharge of her duties hereunder. 

Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the Company or unless the

particular item has been published in its entirety in the public domain, the

Director shall not retain any of copies of Company Documents, either in the

form of hard copy or in electronically stored form.

 

12.  Notices.

                All notices hereunder shall be in writing and delivered personally or

by registered or certified mail which shall be addressed to the Company at its

principal office, marked to the attention of the Chairman of the Board and the

C.E.O. and to the Director at the address stated in the first paragraph of this

Agreement, or in either case at such other address as shall have previously

been designated in writing by the party, to whom the notice is to be sent, to

the other party.  Any such communication

so sent by mail shall be deemed made or given upon mailing.

 

13.  Miscellaneous.

                The BioNebraska Employee Handbook (the “Handbook”) has been furnished

to the Director and shall form part of this Agreement.  The Director agrees to comply with

operational rules of the Company as adopted from time to time and set forth in

the  Handbook, so long as they are

consistent with this Agreement.  This Agreement

constitutes the entire agreement of the parties hereto relating to the subject

matter hereof and there are no written or oral terms or representations made by

either party relative to the subject matter hereof other than those contained

herein.  All of the terms and provisions

of this Agreement shall be binding upon, and shall inure to the benefit of and

be enforceable by and against, the parties to this Agreement and their

respective heirs, executors, and successors in interest. The provisions of

Sections 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14 hereunder shall survive the termination of this

Agreement to the extent necessary to accomplish the purposes of the provisions

in such Sections and in this Agreement.

 

6

 

14.  Governing

Law.

                This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with,

the laws of Nebraska.

 

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Agreement to be

executed by its duly authorized officer and the Director has executed this

Agreement, as of the date first written above.

 

 

	

   

  	

       BIONEBRASKA,

  INC.

  
	

   

  
	

   

  
	

   

  
	

   

  	

  By

  	

  /s/ Thomas R. Coolidge

  
	

   

  	

   

  	

  Thomas R. Coolidge

  
	

   

  	

   

  	

  Chairman of the Board

  
	

   

  	

   

  	

  and C.E.O.

  
	

   

  
	

   

  
	

   

  
	

  /s/ Roberta L. Schneider, M.D.

  	

   

  
	

  Roberta L. Schneider, M.D.

  	

   

  
	

           

  (the Director)

  	

   

  
				

 

 

 

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