Get Started for Free Contexxia identifies hard-to-find pieces of information in SEC filings. No more highlighters, no more redlining, no more poring over huge documents. Wright Medical Group N.V. (1492658) 10-K published on Feb 26, 2019 at 6:34 pm
Reporting Period: Dec 29, 2018
In addition, if our systems are damaged or cease to function properly due to any number of causes, ranging from catastrophic events to power outages to security breaches, and our business continuity plans do not effectively compensate timely, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage operations. Increased global cybersecurity vulnerabilities, threats and more sophisticated and targeted cybersecurity attacks pose a risk to the security of our systems and networks and those of our customers, suppliers and third-party service providers, and the confidentiality, availability and integrity of any underlying information and data. We have programs, processes and technologies in place to prevent, detect, contain, respond to and mitigate security related threats and potential incidents. We regularly undertake improvements to our IT systems in order to minimize vulnerabilities, in accordance with industry and regulatory standards. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access change frequently and can be difficult to detect, anticipating, identifying or preventing these intrusions or mitigating them if and when they occur, may be challenging. Our IT systems require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain, protect and enhance existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in technology and regulatory standards. We also outsource certain elements of our IT systems to third parties that, as a result of this outsourcing, could have access to certain confidential information and whose systems may also be vulnerable to these types of attacks or disruptions. There can be no assurance that our protective measures or those of these third parties will prevent or detect security breaches that could have a significant impact on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition. The failure of these systems to operate or integrate effectively with other internal, customer, supplier or third-party service provider systems and to protect the underlying IT system and data integrity, including from cyber-attacks, intrusions or other breaches or unauthorized access of these systems, or any failure by us to remediate any such attacks or breaches, may also result in damage to our reputation or competitiveness, delays in product fulfillment and reduced efficiency of our operations, and could require significant capital investments to remediate any such failure, problem or breach, all of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. We maintain cyber liability insurance; however, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from an interruption or breach of our systems.
J. Patrick Mackin joined our board of directors as a non-executive director in June 2018. Mr. Mackin currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of CryoLife, Inc., a manufacturer, processor, and distributor of medical devices and implantable human tissues used in cardiac and vascular surgical procedures focused on aortic repair. He has held this position since September 2014. He was appointed to the CryoLife board of directors in October 2014, and was appointed Chairman of the CryoLife board of directors in April 2015. Mr. Mackin has more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry. Prior to joining CryoLife, Mr. Mackin served as President of Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, the then largest operating division of Medtronic, Inc., a global medical device company, from August 2007 to August 2014. At Medtronic, he previously held the positions of Vice President, Vascular, Western Europe and Vice President and General Manager, Endovascular Business Unit. Prior to joining Medtronic in 2002, Mr. Mackin worked for six years at Genzyme, Inc. serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Cardiovascular Surgery Business Unit and as Director of Sales, Surgical Products division. Before joining Genzyme, Mr. Mackin spent four years at Deknatel/Snowden-Pencer, Inc. in various roles and three years as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Mr. Mackin has served as a director of Opsens, Inc., a fiber optic sensors manufacturer, since 2016. Mr. Mackin received an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Mackin’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his experience as a chief executive officer of a medical device company and various other officer positions with medical device companies and his deep knowledge of the medical device industry.
Prior to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law on December 22, 2017 (referred to as the Tax Act), in designing our executive compensation program, we considered the deductibility of executive compensation under Code Section 162(m). At the time the compensation committee made compensation decisions for our executive officers for 2018, Code Section 162(m) provided that we may not deduct each year more than $1 million paid to certain executive officers, other than “performance-based” compensation meeting certain requirements. The Tax Act, among other things, repealed the exemption from Code Section 162(m)’s deduction limit for “performance-based” compensation for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. Our compensation plans were designed with the intention of satisfying the requirements for “performance-based” compensation as defined in Code Section 162(m) prior to the effective date of the Tax Act so that such awards would be exempt from the Code Section 162(m) deduction limitation. While we designed these plans to operate in this manner, the compensation committee may administer the plans in a manner that does not satisfy such requirements in order to achieve a result that the compensation committee determines to be appropriate, including by revising performance goals and/or adjustment events as needed to ensure our pay practices continue to align with performance. Despite the compensation committee’s efforts to structure performance-based compensation in a manner intended to be exempt from the Code Section 162(m) deduction limit, no assurance can be given that compensation intended to satisfy the requirements for exemption from Code Section 162(m) in fact will.
Promotion Offer Letters with Lance A. Berry and Kevin D. Cordell. Effective January 2019, Lance A. Berry was promoted to Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, and Kevin D. Cordell was promoted to Executive Vice President, Chief Global Commercial Officer. In connection with these promotions, in December 2018, we entered into offer letters with each of these officers pursuant to which we agreed to pay him an annual base salary of $515,000, provide a target annual incentive opportunity equal to 75%, in the case of Mr. Berry, and 70%, in the case of Mr. Cordell, of his annual base salary, and a target long-term incentive opportunity equal to 275%, in the case of Mr. Berry, and 225%, in the case of Mr. Cordell, of his annual base salary.
Agreements with Peter S. Cooke. In the beginning of 2016, as part of our legacy Tornier merger integration efforts, we asked Peter S. Cooke, our then President, International to relocate his family to the United Kingdom. Despite his initial hesitation to do so, Mr. Cooke agreed. To incentivize him to relocate, we entered into a retention letter agreement with him under which we agreed to provide him certain expat relocation and temporary assignment benefits customarily provided to executives in such situations. We also agreed to pay him a $1.2 million retention payment on the second anniversary of his relocation, subject to his continuing employment through such date and other specified terms and conditions. This retention payment was made in June 2018 and was paid in lieu of any future change in control or severance payment Mr. Cooke otherwise would be entitled to receive under his separation pay agreement. In May 2018, we entered into a letter agreement with Mr. Cooke extending his expat relocation and temporary assignment benefits through December 31, 2018, which are described in more detail under “-All Other Compensation for 2018-Supplemental.” Effective January 2019, Mr. Cooke assumed the position of President, Emerging Markets, Australia and Japan, and in connection therewith, we entered into an offer letter with him pursuant to which we agreed to keep his base salary the same for two years and his target annual incentive opportunity and target long-term incentive opportunity the same for 2019. We also agreed to provide him standard benefits for executives of our Australian subsidiary, including an AUD $20,000 car allowance.
Relocation, Assignment and Expat Benefits. We provide our executive officers with customary relocation assistance benefits if they relocate at our request. For international assignments, we also provide customary assignment and expat benefits that are consistent with local policies and practices. Tax protection may be provided in these situations to avoid an executive being penalized from a tax perspective for a relocation or expat service on behalf of our company. During 2018, Mr. Morton received relocation benefits, including gross-up payments. In addition, as described above, during 2016, we asked Mr. Cooke, President, International, to relocate his family to the United Kingdom. To compensate and incentivize Mr. Cooke to relocate, we agreed to provide him standard and customary relocation, temporary assignment and expat benefits. These include cost-of-living adjustments, medical coverage, housing allowance, educational tuition fees and related transportation costs, car lease, reimbursement of certain relocation expenses and tax and tax equalization benefits. Also as previously mentioned, in 2018, we paid Mr. Cooke a $1.2 million retention payment pursuant to the terms of his June 2016 letter agreement, which amount is reflected in the “All other compensation” column of the Summary Compensation Table for 2018.