Board Composition and Governance Matters Sample Clauses

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Board Composition and Governance Matters 

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Related to Board Composition and Governance Matters

• Governance Matters (a) The Company shall cause the Investor Designated Director to be elected or appointed on the Closing Date to the Board of Directors as well as the board of directors of the Bank (the “Bank Board”), subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a member of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board. The Company shall recommend to its shareholders the election of the Investor Designated Director to the Board of Directors at the Company’s annual meeting, subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a director of the Company. If the Investor no longer has the Qualifying Ownership Interest, it shall have no further rights under Sections 3.4(a), 3.4(b), 3.4(c) and 3.4(d) and, in each case, at the written request of the Board of Directors, the Investor shall use all reasonable best efforts to cause the Investor Designated Director to resign from the Board of Directors and the Bank Board as promptly as possible thereafter. The Board of Directors and the Bank Board shall cause the Investor Designated Director to be appointed to the committees of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board, as applicable, identified by the Investor, so long as the Investor Designated Director qualifies to serve on such committees subject to satisfaction of all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a committee member. (b) For so long as the Investor owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, ten percent (10%) or more of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (as adjusted from time to time for any reorganization, recapitalization, stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, or other like changes in the Company’s capitalization) (the “Qualifying Ownership Interest”), the Investor Designated Director shall, subject to applicable Law, be the nominee of the Company and the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Nominating Committee”) to serve on the Board of Directors and on the Bank Board. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to have the Investor Designated Director elected as director of the Company by the shareholders of the Company and the Company shall solicit proxies for the Investor Designated Director to the same extent as it does for any of its other nominees to the Board of Directors. (c) For so long as the Investor owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, the Qualifying Ownership Interest, the Investor Designated Director shall, subject to applicable Law (including the applicable rules of the NYSE), be appointed to the committees of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board (or any other committees performing similar functions of the foregoing committees) identified by the Investor. (d) Subject to Section 3.4(a), upon the death, disability, resignation, retirement, disqualification or removal from office of a Designated Investor Director, the Investor shall have the right to designate the replacement for the Investor Designated Director, which replacement shall be reasonably acceptable to the Company and shall satisfy all legal and governance requirements regarding service as a member of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board, as applicable. The Board of Directors shall use its reasonable best efforts to take all action required to fill the vacancy resulting therefrom with such person (including such person, subject to applicable Law, being the Company’s and the Nominating Committee’s nominee to serve on the Board of Directors, calling a special meeting of shareholders to vote on such person, using all reasonable best efforts to have such person elected as director of the Company by the shareholders of the Company and the Company soliciting proxies for such person to the same extent as it does for any of its other nominees to the Board of Directors). (e) For so long the Investor with its Affiliates owns, in the aggregate with its Affiliates, five percent (5%) or more of the aggregate number of outstanding shares of Common Stock (as adjusted from time to time for any reorganization, recapitalization, stock dividend, stock split, reverse stock split, or other like changes in the Company’s capitalization), the Company shall, subject to applicable Law, invite a person designated by the Investor and reasonably acceptable to the Board of Directors (the “Observer”) to attend all meetings of the Board of Directors and the Bank Board (including any meetings of committees thereof which the Investor Designated Director is a member) in a nonvoting observer capacity. If the Investor no longer beneficially owns the minimum number of Common Shares as specified in the first sentence of this Section 3.4(e), the Investor shall have no further rights under this Section 3.4(e). The Investor shall cause the Observer to agree to hold in confidence and trust and to act in a fiduciary manner with respect to all information provided to such Observer and the Company, the Board of Directors, the Bank Board and any committees thereof shall have the right to withhold any information and to exclude the Observer from any meeting or portion thereof (i) if doing so is, in the opinion of counsel to the Company, necessary to protect the attorney-client privilege between the Company and counsel or (ii) if the Board of Directors, the Bank Board or any committee thereof determines in good faith, after consultation with counsel, that fiduciary requirements under applicable Law would make attendance by the Observer inappropriate. The Observer shall have no right to vote on any matters presented to the Board of Directors, the Bank Board or any committee thereof. (f) The Investor Designated Director shall be entitled to the same compensation, including fees, and the same indemnification and insurance coverage in connection with his or her role as a director as the other members of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, as applicable, and the Investor Designated Director shall be entitled to reimbursement for documented, reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, or any committee thereof, to the same extent as the other members of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board, as applicable. The Company shall notify the Investor Designated Director of all regular meetings and special meetings of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board and of all regular and special meetings of any committee of the Board of Directors or the Bank Board of which the Investor Designated Director is a member in accordance with the applicable bylaws. The Company and the Bank shall provide the Investor Designated Director with copies of all notices, minutes, consents and other material that they provide to all other members of their respective boards of directors concurrently as such materials are provided to the other members. (g) Each of the Company and the Bank acknowledges that the Designated Investor Director may have certain rights to indemnification, advancement of expenses and/or insurance provided by the Investor and/or certain of its Affiliates (collectively, the “Investor Indemnitors”). Each of the Company and the Bank hereby agrees (1) that it is the indemnitor of first resort (i.e., its obligations to the Designated Investor Director are primary and any obligation of the Investor Indemnitors to advance expenses or to provide indemnification for the same expenses or liabilities incurred by the Designated Investor Director are secondary), and (2) that it shall be required to advance the full amount of expenses incurred by the Designated Investor Director and shall be liable for the full amount of all expenses and liabilities incurred by the Designated Investor Director, in each case to the extent legally permitted and as required by the terms of this Agreement and the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the Company and the Bank (and any other agreement regarding indemnification between the Company and/or the Bank, on the one hand, and the Designated Investor Director, on the other hand), without regard to any rights the Designated Investor Director may have against any Investor Indemnitor. The Company further agrees that no advancement or payment by any Investor Indemnitor on behalf of the Designated Investor Director with respect to any claim for which the Designated Investor Director has sought indemnification from the Company shall affect the foregoing and the Investor Indemnitors shall have a right of contribution and/or be subrogated to the extent of such advancement or payment to all of the rights of recovery of the Designated Investor Director against the Company. The Company agrees that the Investor Indemnitors are express third party beneficiaries of the terms of this Section 3.4(g). (h) For the purposes of the definition of “Change in Control” under the Benefit Plans, the Company acknowledges and agrees that the Investor Designated Director shall be deemed to be an “Incumbent Director” as defined in the applicable Benefit Plans.

• Board Composition and Board Designations The Company shall ensure that: (i) the qualifications of the persons serving as members of the Board of Directors and the overall composition of the Board comply with the Sxxxxxxx-Xxxxx Act, with the Exchange Act and with the listing rules of the Exchange or any other national securities exchange, as the case may be, in the event the Company seeks to have its Public Securities listed on another exchange or quoted on an automated quotation system, and (ii) if applicable, at least one member of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as such term is defined under Regulation S-K and the listing rules of the Exchange.

• Corporate Governance Matters (a) Holdco and Sorin shall take all actions within their power as may be necessary to cause (i) for a period beginning as of the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time and ending on the date of the first annual meeting of the members of Holdco following the completion of the second full fiscal year of Holdco (such period, the “Initial Period”) the number of directors constituting the Holdco board of directors as of the Effective Times to be nine (9) and (ii) the Holdco board of directors during the Initial Period to be composed as follows: (A) four (4) individuals designated by Cyberonics prior to the Closing Date (each, a “Cyberonics Designee”), (B) four individuals designated by Sorin prior to the Closing Date (each, a “Sorin Designee”) and (C) one (1) director mutually agreed to by Sorin and Cyberonics, who shall meet the independence standards of the NASDAQ applicable to non-controlled domestic U.S. issuers. (b) Sorin and Holdco shall take all corporate actions as may be necessary to cause, effective as of the Sorin Merger Effective Time and Cyberonics Merger Effective Time, as the case may be: (i) the Chief Executive Officer of Sorin as of immediately prior to the Sorin Merger Effective Time to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Sorin Merger Surviving Company immediately following the Sorin Merger Effective Time until the end of the Initial Period, (ii) the Chief Executive Officer of Cyberonics as of immediately prior to the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time to serve as the Chairman of the Holdco board of directors for the Initial Period, (iii) a Cyberonics Designee to serve as the Chairman of the audit and compensation committees of the Holdco board of directors for the Initial Period, (iv) each committee of the Holdco board of directors to have at least three (3) members and (v) a Sorin Designee to serve as a member of each committee of the Holdco board of directors during the Initial Period. (c) For as long as the Holdco Shares are listed on the NASDAQ, Holdco shall comply with all NASDAQ corporate governance standards set forth in Rule 5600 of the NASDAQ Stock Market Rules applicable to non-controlled domestic U.S. issuers, regardless of whether Holdco is a foreign private issuer. For as long as the Holdco Shares are listed on the LSE, Holdco shall comply with all Listing Rules and any other Laws applicable to it. (d) Prior to the Closing Date, Sorin and Holdco shall procure the passing of resolutions of the shareholders of Holdco providing for the reregistration of Holdco as a public limited company. (e) Subject to applicable Law, Sorin and Cyberonics shall take all requisite action to cause the organizational documents of those entities that will be Subsidiaries of Holdco to be substantially in such form as agreed by Cyberonics and Sorin, effective as of the Cyberonics Merger Effective Time. (f) As promptly as practicable after the Effective Times, the Sorin Merger Surviving Company shall take all requisite action to cause the composition of the board of directors or other governing body of each of the Subsidiaries of the Sorin Merger Surviving Company to reflect representation by directors designated by Cyberonics immediately prior to the Effective Times, on the one hand, and directors designated by Sorin immediately prior to the Effective Times, on the other hand, that is proportionate to the relative representation of directors designated by such party on the Holdco board of directors as of the Effective Times as provided in Section 5.18(a), unless otherwise mutually agreed by Sorin and Cyberonics. (g) The Cyberonics Designees, the Sorin Designees and each of their respective successors on the Holdco board of directors during the first three (3) years following the Effective Times are express third-party beneficiaries of Sections 5.18(a) and 5.18(b).

• Formation and Composition The Parties to this agreement will maintain a Joint Administration and Dispute Resolution Committee (JADRC) consisting of five (5) representatives of the employers and five (5) representatives of the Provincial Bargaining Council.

• Board Composition (a) On the date of this Agreement, the Company shall cause the Person(s), if any, listed on Schedule B to be designated as Minority Shareholder Observers (as defined below) with all rights set forth in Section 2.1(d) (it being understood that at any time after the date hereof until the date that the Minority Shareholder Observer(s) are appointed to the Board as directors pursuant to the immediately following sentence, the Company shall, promptly upon receipt of a written request from the Minority Shareholder Representative, cause any Person(s) named in such written request to be designated as Minority Shareholder Observer(s); provided, that there may be no more than two Minority Shareholder Observers at any one time). As soon as reasonably practicable following receipt of the Company Shareholder Approval and in any case within one Business Day thereafter, the Board shall increase the size of the Board by two directors and cause such persons to be appointed to the Board as directors; provided, that if the Company Shareholder Approval is not obtained by the date that is 30 days prior to the Designation Date for the Next Annual Meeting, (i) the Company shall take all commercially reasonable actions necessary to cause the election of two Minority Shareholder Observers to the Board as directors at the Next Annual Meeting or (ii) if the Minority Shareholders no longer beneficially own, in the aggregate, 66% or more of the Minority Shares, the Company shall take all commercially reasonable actions necessary to cause the election of one Minority Shareholder Observer, designated by the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders, to be elected to the Board as director at the Next Annual Meeting; in each case, the Company’s obligations to take all commercially reasonable actions necessary to cause the election of such Minority Shareholder Observers to the Board as directors shall include the obligation of the Company to take all actions to cause such Minority Shareholder Observers to be nominated by the Board, including the Governance Committee, for election at the Next Annual Meeting. Thereafter, and for so long as (i) the Minority Shareholders continue to beneficially own, in the aggregate, 66% or more of the Minority Shares (the “Two Designee Threshold”), the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders shall have the right to designate two directors for election to the Board and (ii)(x) the Minority Shareholders continue to beneficially own, in the aggregate, 10% or more of the then outstanding Equity Securities, or (y) the Minority Shareholders beneficially own, in the aggregate, less than 10% of the then outstanding Equity Securities but such Minority Shareholders continue to beneficially own, in the aggregate, 33% or more of the Minority Shares (“One Designee Threshold”), then the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders shall have the right to designate one director for election to the Board (each such director nominee, including such initial nominees, a “Minority Shareholder Designee”), such percentages in each case calculated on a fully diluted basis giving effect to any securities, warrants, options or other rights convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities of the Company, whether or not subject to contingencies or passage of time, or both; provided, that, if the Minority Shareholders’ beneficial ownership, in the aggregate, of Equity Securities (x) falls below the Two Designee Threshold, then one Minority Shareholder Designee, designated by the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders, shall resign from the Board as promptly as practicable upon the Minority Shareholder Representative becoming aware of the Minority Shareholders falling below such threshold, or (y) falls below the One Designee Threshold, then the Minority Shareholder Designee shall resign from the Board as promptly as practicable upon the Minority Shareholder Representative becoming aware of the Minority Shareholders falling below such threshold. So long as the Minority Shareholder Representative, on behalf of the Minority Shareholders, has the right to designate at least one director for election to the Board, one Minority Shareholder Designee designated by the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders shall be entitled to serve on each committee of the Board except as prohibited by applicable law or stock exchange requirements; provided, that if such Minority Shareholder Designee is so prohibited, such Minority Shareholder Designee shall nonetheless have the right to participate as a non-voting observer on such committee (any such observer, a “Committee Observer”). In each case, the Company shall take all commercially reasonable actions necessary to cause the appointment of such Minority Shareholder Designee(s) (x) to the Board (including taking all actions to cause such Minority Shareholder Designee(s) to be nominated by the Board, including the Governance Committee, for election at each annual meeting of the shareholders of Company (or at any special shareholder meeting of the Company at which the Board is to be elected)) and (y) to the applicable committee of the Board (including taking all actions to cause such Minority Shareholder Designee(s) to be elected by the Board to serve on such committee of the Board). (b) Each Minority Shareholder Designee shall comply in all respects with the Company’s corporate governance guidelines as in effect from time to time, in each case as determined by the Board’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee (the “Governance Committee”); provided, that the Company hereby acknowledges and agrees that the initial Minority Shareholder Designees comply with such corporate governance guidelines. The Minority Shareholder Representative shall notify the Company of any proposed Minority Shareholder Designee in writing no later than the latest date on which shareholders of the Company may make nominations to the Board in accordance with the Code of Regulations (such date, the “Designation Date”), together with all information concerning such nominee required to be delivered to the Company by the Code of Regulations and such other information reasonably requested by the Company; provided, that the Company shall give the Shareholder Representative 30 days written notice of the Designation Date; provided, further, that that in the event the Minority Shareholder Representative fails to provide any such notice, the Minority Shareholder Designees shall be the person(s) then serving as the Minority Shareholder Designees as long as the Minority Shareholder Representative provides such information to the Company promptly upon request by the Company. (c) In the event of the death, disability, resignation or removal of a Minority Shareholder Designee, the Board will promptly elect to the Board a replacement director designated by the Minority Shareholder Representative, subject to the fulfillment of the requirements set forth in first sentence of Section 2.1(b), to fill the resulting vacancy, and such individual shall then be deemed a Minority Shareholder Designee for all purposes under this Agreement. In the event the Minority Shareholder Representative fails to designate a replacement director to fill any such vacancy, such Board seat shall remain vacant until the Minority Shareholder Representative designates such replacement director to fill such vacancy. (d) So long as the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders has the right to designate any Minority Shareholder Designee for election to the Board pursuant to Section 2.1(b), the Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders shall have the right to designate a non-voting observer to the Board in lieu of, or as a replacement for, any Minority Shareholder Designee (any such observer, a “Minority Shareholder Observer”). Each Minority Shareholder Observer shall be entitled to (x) attend all meetings of the Board and each applicable committee of the Board except as prohibited by applicable law or stock exchange requirements and (y) receive all materials with respect to such meetings. The Minority Shareholder Representative on behalf of the Minority Shareholders shall have the right to remove or replace any Minority Shareholder Observer at any time from time to time, subject to compliance with the first sentence of Section 2.1(b). The Company shall (x) notify each Minority Shareholder Observer of all meetings of the Board (and the applicable committees thereof) using the same form of communication used to notify the directors on the Board and (y) provide each Minority Shareholder Observer with copies of all notices, minutes, consents and other materials provided to the directors on the Board no later than the time that such materials are provided to the directors. Each Minority Shareholder Observer shall be entitled to reimbursement for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings of the Board (and the applicable committees thereof) to the same extent as directors on the Board. (e) If a Committee Observer is designated pursuant to Section 2.1(a), such Committee Observer shall be entitled to (x) attend all meetings of each committee of the Board except as prohibited by applicable law or stock exchange requirements and (y) receive all materials with respect to such meetings. The Company shall (x) notify each Committee Observer of all meetings of the committees of the Board using the same form of communication used to notify the members of such committee and (y) provide each Committee Observer with copies of all notices, minutes, consents and other materials provided to the members of such committee no later than the time that such materials are provided to the members. Each Committee Observer shall be entitled to reimbursement for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings of the committees of the Board to the same extent as members of such committees.

• Governance (a) The HSP represents, warrants and covenants that it has established, and will maintain for the period during which this Agreement is in effect, policies and procedures: that set out a code of conduct for, and that identify the ethical responsibilities for all persons at all levels of the HSP’s organization; to ensure the ongoing effective functioning of the HSP; for effective and appropriate decision-making; for effective and prudent risk-management, including the identification and management of potential, actual and perceived conflicts of interest; for the prudent and effective management of the Funding; to monitor and ensure the accurate and timely fulfillment of the HSP’s obligations under this Agreement and compliance with the Enabling Legislation; to enable the preparation, approval and delivery of all Reports; to address complaints about the provision of Services, the management or governance of the HSP; and to deal with such other matters as the HSP considers necessary to ensure that the HSP carries out its obligations under this Agreement. (b) The HSP represents and warrants that: it has, or will have within 60 Days of the execution of this Agreement, a Performance Agreement with its CEO that ties a reasonable portion of the CEO’s compensation plan to the CEO’s performance; it will take all reasonable care to ensure that its CEO complies with the Performance Agreement; it will enforce the HSP’s rights under the Performance Agreement; and a reasonable portion of any compensation award provided to the CEO during the term of this Agreement will be pursuant to an evaluation of the CEO’s performance under the Performance Agreement and the CEO’s achievement of performance goals and performance improvement targets and in compliance with Applicable Law. “compensation award”, for the purposes of Section 9.3(b)(4) above, means all forms of payment, benefits and perquisites paid or provided, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a CEO who performs duties and functions that entitle him or her to be paid.

• Composition and Meetings The Committee shall be comprised of equal number of representatives of the hospital and from the Union. The number of representatives is to be determined locally, and shall consist of at least two representatives from each party. Meetings of the Committee shall be held during normal working hours. Representatives attending such meetings during their regularly-scheduled hours of work shall not lose regular earnings as a result of such attendance. The Hospital shall make typing and other such clerical assistance available as required. Each party shall appoint a co-chair for the Committee. Co-chairs shall chair alternate meetings of the committee and will be jointly responsible for establishing the agenda of the Committee meetings, preparing minutes and writing such correspondence as the Committee may direct. To allow the Labour Adjustment Committee to carry out its mandated role under this Article, the Hospital will provide the Committee with pertinent financial and staffing information and with a copy of any reorganization plans which impact on the bargaining unit. The Committee shall submit its written recommendations to the Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital and the Board of Trustees. Where there is no consensus within the Committee, the individual members of the committee shall be entitled to submit their own recommendations. Any agreement between the Hospital and the Union resulting from the above review concerning the method of implementation will take precedence over the other provisions of this agreement.

• Composition of Board The Board shall consist of up to seven (7) Voting Directors and one non-voting Chair. The Voting Directors shall be elected by the Members as set forth in clause (iii) below.

• Composition of the Board At and following the Closing, each of the Partners and the Sponsor, severally and not jointly, agrees to take, for so long as such Party holds of record or beneficially owns any Registrable Securities, all Necessary Action to cause the Board to be comprised of eleven (11) directors nominated in accordance with this Article II, initially consisting of (i) seven (7) of whom have been nominated by the Partners, and thereafter designated pursuant to Section 2.1(b) or Section 2.1(d) of this Investor Rights Agreement (each, a “Partner Director”), at least four (4) of whom shall satisfy all applicable independence requirements (including at least two (2) of whom shall be sufficiently independent to serve on the audit and compensation committees of the Board), (ii) three (3) of whom have been nominated by the Sponsor, and thereafter designated pursuant to Section 2.1(c) or Section 2.1(d) of this Investor Rights Agreement (each, a “Sponsor Director”), at least one (1) of whom shall satisfy all applicable independence requirements (including being sufficiently independent to serve on the audit committee of the Board as a chair and the compensation committee as a member), and (iii) one (1) of whom has been jointly nominated by the mutual agreement of Sponsor and the Partners (the “Joint Director”), which Joint Director shall satisfy all applicable independence requirements. At and following the Closing, each of the Sponsor and the Partners, severally and not jointly, agrees to take, for so long as such Party holds of record or beneficially owns any Registrable Securities, all Necessary Action to cause the foregoing directors to be divided into three (3) classes of directors, with each class serving for staggered three (3) year terms. The initial term of the Class I directors shall expire immediately following PubCo’s 2022 annual meeting of stockholders at which directors are elected. The initial term of the Class II directors shall expire immediately following PubCo’s 2023 annual meeting of stockholders at which directors are elected. The initial term of the Class III directors shall expire immediately following PubCo’s 2024 annual meeting at which directors are elected.

• GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS Enforceability of the Agreement