Employment Arrangements with our Named Executive Officers
Employment Agreement with Malte Peters
In connection with his appointment as Chief Executive Officer and President in July 2024, we entered into an employment agreement with Dr. Peters pursuant to which he provides services as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Hookipa Biotech GmbH, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary. Under the employment agreement, Dr. Peters receives an annual base salary of $630,000, which is subject to redetermination annually by our Compensation Committee, and he is eligible to earn annual incentive compensation of up to 55% of his base salary. Dr. Peters is also eligible to participate in the employee benefit plans available to our employees, including our stock option plan, subject to the terms of those plans. Additionally, Dr. Peters is entitled to receive reimbursement for certain business travel expenses. In the event that Dr. Peters is liable for and pays social security costs in both Germany and Austria, without any corresponding credit, we will reimburse Dr. Peters for up to €25,000 of social security costs per year. The employment agreement contains standard confidentiality, assignment of intellectual property work product and 12 months’ post-termination noncompetition, non-solicitation of employee, and non-solicitation of customer covenants.
The employment agreement provides that, in the event that Dr. Peters’ employment is terminated by us without “cause” or Dr. Peters resigns for “cause” (as defined with respect to each party in the employment agreement), subject to the execution and effectiveness of a separation agreement, including a general release of claims in our favor, Dr. Peters will be entitled to receive (i) an amount equal to 100% of his then annual base salary, payable in 12 substantially equal installments over 12 months following his termination, reduced by the amount of any payment Dr. Peters receives in lieu of the six month notice period, and (ii) up to 12 months of continued participation in our benefit plans at active employee rates. In lieu of the payments described in the preceding sentence, in the event that Dr. Peters’ employment is terminated by us without cause or Dr. Peters resigns for cause, in either case within 12 months following a “change in control” (as defined in the employment agreement), subject to the execution and effectiveness of a separation agreement, including a general release of claims in our favor, he will be entitled to receive (i) a lump sum payment equal to 1.5 times the sum of (A) Dr. Peters’ then current annual base salary (or Dr. Peters’ base salary in effect immediately prior to the change in control, if higher) plus (B) Dr. Peters’ target annual incentive compensation, (ii) up to 18 months of continued participation in our benefit plans at active employee rates, and (iii) full acceleration of vesting of all stock options and other stock-based awards held by Dr. Peters.
Consultancy Service Agreement with Malte Peters
In September 2023, we entered into a consultancy service agreement with Dr. Peters pursuant to which Dr. Peters served as ad interim Senior Clinical Advisor following the departure of Katia Schlienger, M.D., Ph.D., as our Chief Medical Officer effective as of September 30, 2023 and until March 2024. Under the consultancy service agreement, Dr. Peters agreed to provide up to eighty hours of consultancy services per month at an hourly rate of six-hundred Euros (€600).
Joern Aldag Employment Termination
In connection with our initial public offering, we entered into an amended and restated employment agreement with Joern Aldag, which set forth the terms of his employment with us as our Chief Executive Officer until his separation from that position on July 22, 2024, at which time we originally terminated the employment agreement with six months’ notice effective as of the end of the month—i.e., with an effective date of January 31, 2025. We subsequently entered into a Termination Agreement with Mr. Aldag dated as of August 31, 2024, in which we mutually agreed the effective date of the of the employment termination was July 31, 2024. Pursuant to the Termination Agreement, Mr. Aldag was not obligated to provide any services following July 22, 2024, but he is nonetheless required to be available to address any questions raised by us until April 30, 2026. During the period ending July 31, 2024, Mr. Aldag continued to receive his monthly base salary and all other monthly paid benefits. At the end of the Termination Period, Mr. Aldag became eligible for a lump-sum severance payment equal to 150% of his annual base salary (€786,906). Mr. Aldag also continued generally to vest in his outstanding stock options until January 31, 2025, the vesting of one grant covering 97,140 shares of common stock was accelerated in full, all other options not yet vested as of January 31, 2025 were forfeited, and the post-termination exercise period for all of his vested options expires April 30, 2026. As part of the Termination Agreement, Mr. Aldag provided us a general release of claims and acknowledged that he remained subject to the noncompete/nonsolicit provisions in his employment agreement for six months following the termination of his employment (through January 31, 2025).