expiration of the term of such equity award; (iv) any PSUs that are outstanding and unvested as of immediately prior to such qualifying termination shall continue to be eligible to vest in accordance with the terms of the award and subject to achievement of the applicable performance goals, as if Mr. Miller’s employment with the Company had not terminated and (v) 12 months of COBRA coverage at active employee rates.
If Mr. Miller’s employment is terminated or the Miller Agreement is not renewed by the Company other than for cause or if Mr. Miller terminates his employment for good reason, in each case, during the Change of Control Period, he will be entitled to the following: (i) a cash amount equal to two (2) times the sum of Mr. Miller’s then-current annual base salary and the Miller 2024 Bonus; (ii) the Company shall take all such action as is necessary such that all of Mr. Miller’s equity grants shall immediately and irrevocably vest and, to the extent applicable, become exercisable as of the date of termination and shall remain exercisable for a period of not less than one (1) year from the date of termination, or, if earlier, the expiration of the term of such equity award; and (iii) 18 months of COBRA coverage at active employee rates.
Restrictive Covenant Provisions
Pursuant to the applicable employment arrangements with Dr. Nguyen, Mr. Luckshire, Dr. Hruby, Mr. Miller, Dr. Gomez, and Dr. Varma, during the respective terms thereof plus an additional twelve (12) months thereafter for Mr. Luckshire, Mr. Miller, Dr. Gomez, and Dr. Varma, an additional eighteen (18) months thereafter for Dr. Nguyen, and an additional twenty-four (24) months thereafter for Dr. Hruby, each executive officer has agreed not to engage in any competitive business with us, induce our employees to terminate their employment or solicit our customers. We have agreed to indemnify each of them under their respective employment arrangements for liabilities incurred because of their employment and to provide each of them with the full protection of any directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policies maintained generally for the benefit of our officers.
Our CEO Pay Ratio was calculated in compliance with the requirements set forth in Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K. Based on SEC rules for this disclosure and applying the methodology described below, we determined that our median employee’s total compensation was $163,709. The annual total combined compensation of Drs. Nguyen and Gomez, each of whom served as our Chief Executive Officer during fiscal year 2024, as set forth in the summary compensation table in this proxy statement, was $4,588,317. Accordingly, our CEO to Employee Pay Ratio is approximately 28:1.
Since two individuals served as our Chief Executive Officer during 2024, we combined the annual total compensation of each of Drs. Nguyen and Gomez in order to arrive at the annual total combined compensation of $4,588,317. Dr. Nguyen had annual total compensation of $4,449,790, which includes base salary, a signing bonus, and grants of RSUs, PSUs, and Options. Dr. Gomez had an annual total compensation of $138,527, which includes base salary and a cash bonus.
We identified the median employee using our employee population as of December 31, 2023. We used a consistently applied compensation measure - W-2 earnings - across our employee population (excluding both Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Gomez) as of such date in order to identify the median employee.
Once the median employee was identified as described above, that employee’s total annual compensation for 2024 was determined using the same rules that apply to reporting the compensation of our Named Executive Officers (including our Chief Executive Officer) in the “Total” column of the Summary Compensation Table. The total compensation amounts included in the first paragraph of this pay-ratio disclosure were determined based on that methodology. The SEC’s pay ratio disclosure rules permit the use of estimates, assumptions, and adjustments, and the SEC has acknowledged that pay ratio disclosures may involve a degree of imprecision. We believe that the foregoing pay ratio is a reasonable estimate calculated in a manner consistent with the SEC’s pay ratio disclosure rules.
The SEC rules for identifying the median compensated employee and calculating the pay ratio based on that employee’s annual total compensation allow companies to adopt a variety of methodologies, to apply certain exclusions, and to make reasonable estimates and assumptions. As such, the pay ratio reported by other companies may not be comparable to the pay ratio reported above, as other companies may have different employment and compensation practices and may utilize different methodologies, exclusions, estimates and assumptions in calculating their own pay ratios.