Private & Confidential
February 25, 2021
Private & Confidential
Xxxxxx Xxxxx
Dear Xxxxxx
Following our recent discussions, this letter sets out the terms agreed with the Board of Directors (the “Board”) regarding your continued appointment as a director of GW Pharmaceuticals plc (“GW” or the “Company”).
You agree that this letter is a contract for services, and not a contract of employment. Your employment is governed by the terms of the amended and restated employment agreement with the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Greenwich Biosciences, Inc., effective as of February 25, 2021 (the “Employment Agreement”).
You also confirm that you are not subject to any restrictions that prevent you from continuing to hold office as a director or provide your services as a director of the Company.
1.1 |
Subject to the remaining provisions of this letter, your appointment shall be for an initial term commencing on the date of this letter and ending upon the conclusion of annual general meeting (“AGM”) at which you are required to retire by rotation in accordance with articles of association of the Company as amended from time to time (the “Articles”) (such term, the “Initial Term”) unless you cease to be a director for any reason during the Initial Term (including under paragraphs 1.6 or 1.7 of this letter). |
1.2 |
At the end of the Initial Term, you are required to retire as a director and, subject to the Articles, you may offer yourself for re-election at the relevant AGM. The Articles require one third of the directors to retire by rotation and seek re-election at each AGM, with each director being obliged to retire (but shall be eligible for re-election) at intervals of not more than three years. If the shareholders: |
|
(a) |
approve your re-appointment as a director at the relevant AGM then, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Board, your appointment shall continue on the terms of this letter; |
|
(b) |
do not approve your re-appointment as a director, or you are retired from office under the Articles, your appointment as a director shall terminate automatically, with immediate effect and without compensation. |
1.3 |
Your appointment is subject to the Articles and nothing in this letter shall be taken to exclude or vary the terms of the Articles as they apply to you as a director of the Company. |
1.4 |
Continuation of your appointment is contingent on your continued satisfactory performance, any relevant statutory provisions or provisions of the Articles relating to removal of a director and the terms of this letter. |
1.5 |
In accordance with the Articles, you may be required to serve on one or more Board committees. You will be supplied with the relevant committee charter on appointment to any such committee. You also may be asked to serve as an executive or non-executive director on the board of any of the Company’s subsidiaries or joint ventures. Any such appointment will be covered in a separate communication. |
1.6 |
Notwithstanding paragraphs 1.1 to paragraph 1.4, the Company may terminate your appointment with immediate effect if you have: |
|
(b) |
committed any serious or repeated breach or non-observance of your obligations to the Company (which include an obligation not to breach your statutory, fiduciary or common-law duties); |
|
(c) |
been guilty of any fraud or acted in any manner which is materially adverse to the Company's interests; |
|
(d) |
been convicted of an arrestable criminal offence (other than a road traffic offence for which a fine or non-custodial penalty is imposed); |
|
(e) |
been declared bankrupt or have made an arrangement with or for the benefit of your creditors, or if you have a county court administration order made against you under the County Court Act 1984; |
|
(g) |
not complied with the Company’s anti-corruption and bribery policy and procedures from time to time in force or the Bribery Act 2010. |
|
(a) |
your employment with Greenwich Biosciences, Inc., terminates for any reason or if you are no longer the Chief Executive Officer of Greenwich Biosciences, Inc. unless otherwise agreed to by you and the Board in writing; |
|
(b) |
you are removed as a director by resolution of the shareholders; or |
|
(c) |
you cease to be a director pursuant to any provision of the Articles. |
1.8 |
On termination of your appointment or your employment with Greenwich Biosciences, Inc., you shall, at the Company's request, resign from your office as a director of the Company and any offices you hold in any of the Company's group companies. You irrevocably appoint the Company to be your attorney in your name and on your behalf to execute documents, use your name and do all things which are necessary or desirable for the Company to obtain the full benefit of this paragraph. |
1.9 |
If matters arise which cause you concern about your role, you should discuss these matters with the chairperson. If you have any concerns which cannot be resolved, and you choose to resign for that, or any other, reason, you should provide an appropriate written statement to the chairperson for circulation to the Board. |
3. |
ROLE AND DUTIES |
3.1 |
You understand how the Board is structured and what authorities are delegated to the directors (non-executive directors and executive directors) and senior management team. |
3.2 |
The Board as a whole is collectively responsible for the success of the Company. The Board's role is to: |
|
(b) |
establish the Company's purpose, values and strategy and satisfy itself that these and its culture are aligned; |
|
(c) |
ensure that the necessary resources are in place for the Company to meet its objectives and measure performance against them; |
|
(d) |
provide entrepreneurial leadership of the Company within a framework of prudent and effective controls which enable risk to be assessed and managed; |
|
(e) |
ensure effective engagement with, and encourage participation from shareholders and stakeholders; and |
|
(f) |
ensure that workforce policies and practices are consistent with the Company’s values and support its long-term sustainable success. |
|
(e) |
the desirability of the Company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and |
3.6 |
In your role as a director, you shall also be required (along with the other members of the Board) to: |
|
(b) |
satisfy yourself on the integrity of financial information and that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and defensible; |
|
(c) |
be present in remuneration committee discussions (if invited to attend) and scrutinise the performance of management in meeting agreed goals and objectives and monitor the reporting of performance, but may not vote or be involved in any discussions regarding your own remuneration; |
|
(f) |
notify the chairperson immediately if you become aware of any matter which may affect your fitness to hold office as a company director, which may affect the fitness of any of your fellow directors (or proposed directors) to hold office as a company director or which you consider to be prejudicial to the interests of the Company; |
|
(g) |
immediately report your own wrongdoing or the wrongdoing or proposed wrongdoing of any employee or other director of the Company of which you become aware to the chairperson; |
|
(h) |
exercise your powers as a director in accordance with the Company's policies and procedures and the Bribery Act 2010; and |
4.2 |
The Company shall reimburse you for all reasonable and properly documented expenses that you incur in performing the duties of your office. The procedure and other guidance in respect of expense claims is set out in the Company’s travel policy (a copy of which will be provided to you on request) and is available from the company secretary. |
4.3 |
On termination of your appointment, you shall only be entitled to reimbursement in the normal way of any expenses properly incurred before that date. |
5. |
INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL ADVICE |
In some circumstances you may consider that you need professional advice in the furtherance of your duties as a director of the Company and it may be appropriate for you to seek advice from independent advisers at the Company’s expense. A copy of the Board’s agreed procedure under which directors may obtain such independent advice is available from the company secretary. The Company shall reimburse the reasonable cost of expenditure incurred by you in accordance with its policy.
6. |
OUTSIDE INTERESTS |
6.2 |
If you become aware of any potential or actual conflicts of interest, these should be disclosed to the chairperson and company secretary as soon as you become aware of them. |
7.2 |
You acknowledge that you must not directly or indirectly release, communicate or disclose to any third party, or use for any reason other than in the interests of the Company (or a company within its group) any Confidential Information, either during your appointment or following termination (by whatever means), without prior clearance from the chairperson. This restriction shall cease to apply to any Confidential Information which may (other than by reason of your breach) become available to the public generally. |
7.3 |
You acknowledge the need to hold and retain Company information, including Confidential Information, (in whatever format you may receive it) under appropriately secure conditions. |
8.3 |
You will promptly give the Company such information as the Company or any member of the Group may require to enable it to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations whether to any securities or investment exchange or regulatory or governmental body to which any member of the Group is, from time to time, subject or howsoever arising. |
8.4 |
You will promptly give the Company such information, records and support as the Company or any member of the Group may require to enable it to prepare for, or respond to, any proceedings, inquiries or investigations into its activities by a regulatory or governmental authority. This requirement will survive termination or expiration of your appointment (howsoever caused). |
9. |
REVIEW PROCESS |
The performance of individual directors, the chairperson and the whole Board and its committees is evaluated annually. If, in the interim, there are any matters which cause you concern about your role you should discuss them with the chairperson as soon as you can.
10. |
INSURANCE |
The Company will, at its expense, provide you with director’s and officer’s liability insurance, subject to the provisions governing such insurance and on such terms as the Board may from time to time decide (including but not limited to terms relating to the level of cover, deductibles, caps, exclusions and aggregate limits) and subject to the obtaining of insurance at reasonable rates of premium. No undertaking is given regarding the continuation of this insurance, other than that you will be covered for as long as it remains in place for the directors of the Company.
You shall advise the company secretary promptly of any change in your address or other personal contact details.
On termination of your appointment with the Company however arising, or at any time at the Board's request, you shall immediately return to the Company all Confidential Information documents, records, papers or other property belonging to the Company or any company in the Company's group which may be in your possession or under your control, and which relate in any way to the Company's or a group company's business affairs and you shall not retain any copies thereof.
You hereby irrevocably waive any moral rights in all works prepared by you, in the provision of your services to the Company, to which you are now or may at any future time be entitled under Chapter IV of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or any similar provisions of law in any jurisdiction, including (but without limitation) the right to be identified, the right of integrity and the right against false attribution, and agree not to institute, support, maintain or permit any action or claim to the effect that any treatment, exploitation or use of such works or other materials, infringes your moral rights.
|
(a) |
information about your physical or mental health or condition in order to take decisions as to your fitness to perform your duties; |
|
(b) |
information about you that may be relevant to ensuring equality of opportunity and treatment in compliance with equal opportunities legislation; and |
|
(c) |
information relating to any criminal proceedings in which you have been involved for insurance purposes and in order to comply with legal requirements and obligations to third parties. |
14.2 |
You acknowledge that the Company may make such personal data available to those who provide products or services to the Company (such as advisers and payroll administrators), regulatory authorities, potential or future employers, governmental or quasi-governmental organisations and potential purchasers of the Company or the business in which you work in accordance with our privacy notice (as updated from time to time). |
14.3 |
You acknowledge that we may transfer such personal data to our other offices or to a company in the Group or to other third parties, whether or not outside the European Economic Area, for administration purposes and other purposes in connection with your appointment, where it is |
necessary or desirable for the Company to do so. Where we transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area, we do so in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, including pursuant to appropriate safeguards where required. |
14.5 |
The Company may change its data protection policy at any time and will notify you in writing of any changes. |
No one other than you and the Company shall have any rights to enforce the terms of this letter.
No variation of this letter shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by you and the Company (or respective authorised representatives).
Your appointment with the Company and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales and you and the Company irrevocably agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with this appointment or its subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims).
Please indicate your acceptance of these terms by signing and returning the attached copy of this letter to me.
Yours sincerely
/s/ Xx. Xxxxxxxx Xxx
Xx. Xxxxxxxx Xxx
For and on behalf of the Board of Directors of GW Pharmaceuticals plc
Executed as a deed and accepted by Xxxxxx Xxxxx:/s/ Xxxxxx Xxxxx
Date: 25 February 2021
In the presence of:
Witness’s signature .............................................................................
Witness’s name (in BLOCK CAPITALS): .............................................................................
Witness’s address:.............................................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
Adopted by the Board of Directors: February 24, 2021
Effective: February 24, 2021