Exhibit
10.1
|
Sara
Partin
Senior
Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer
Direct Line: 949.862.3069
sara.partin@autoweb.com
|
AutoWeb, Inc.
18872 MacArthur Blvd., Suite 200
Irvine, CA 92612-1400
Phone: (949) 225-4500
www.autoweb.com
November
26, 2018
Daniel
Ingle
[PERSONAL
RESIDENCE ADDRESS REDACTED]
Re:
Offer of Employment
Dear
Mr. Ingle:
This
letter confirms the terms and conditions upon which AutoWeb, Inc.,
a Delaware corporation (“
Company
”) is offering employment
to you. Note that this offer of employment and your employment by
the Company is subject to and contingent upon (i) approval of the
terms of this offer and your appointment as an officer of the
Company by the Company’s board of directors and (ii) various
conditions and requirements that must be completed prior to
commencement of employment, which conditions and requirements are
set forth below.
1.
Employment
.
(a) Effective
as of the date you commence employment with the Company
(“
Commencement
Date
”), which date, subject to the satisfaction of the
items noted in the introductory paragraph of this letter, is
anticipated to be
January 16,
2019
,
the Company will employ you in the capacity set forth on the
Exhibit A attached hereto (“
Offer Letter Schedule
”). In such
capacity, you will report to such person or persons as may be
designated by the Company from time to time.
(b) Your
employment is at will and not for a specified term and may be
terminated by the Company or you at any time, with or without cause
or good reason and with or without prior, advance notice. This
“at-will” employment status will remain in effect
throughout the term of your employment by the Company and cannot be
modified except by a written amendment to this offer letter that is
executed by both parties (which in the case of the Company, must be
executed by the Company’s Chief Human Resources Officer) and
that expressly negates the “at-will” employment
status.
2.
Compensation,
Benefits and Expenses
.
As compensation for the services to be
rendered by you pursuant to this agreement, you will receive the
payments and be entitled to participate in the benefits set forth
below, subject to the terms and conditions set forth below or in
such payment or benefit plans or arrangements. If at any time a
conflict between anything in this letter and the applicable benefit
plan arises, the terms of the benefit plan controls. Your
compensation and benefits shall be paid or made available in
accordance with the Company’s normal payroll and other
practices and policies of the Company.
(a) The
Company hereby agrees to pay you a base salary as set forth on the
Offer Letter Schedule.
(b) You
shall be eligible to participate in annual incentive compensation
plans, if any, that may be adopted by the Company from time to time
and that are afforded generally to persons employed by the Company
at your employment level and position, geographic location and
applicable department or operations within the Company (subject to
the terms and conditions of any such annual incentive compensation
plans). Should such an annual incentive compensation plan be
adopted for any annual period, your target annual incentive
compensation opportunity will be as established by the Company for
each annual period, which may be up to a percentage set forth on
the Offer Letter Schedule of your annualized rate (i.e., 24 X
Semi-monthly Rate) based on achievement of objectives specified by
the Company each annual incentive compensation period (which may
include Company-wide performance objectives; divisional, department
or operations performance objectives and/or individual performance
objectives, allocated between and among such performance objectives
as the Company may determine) and subject to adjustment by the
Company based on the Company’s evaluation and review of your
overall individual job performance in the sole discretion of the
Company. Specific annual incentive compensation plan details,
target incentive compensation opportunity and objectives for each
annual compensation plan period will be established each year.
Awards under annual incentive plans may be prorated by the Company
in its discretion for a variety of factors, including time employed
by the Company during the year, adjustments in base compensation or
target award percentage changes during the year, and unpaid time
off. You understand that the Company’s annual incentive
compensation plans, their structure and components, specific target
incentive compensation opportunities and objectives, the
achievement of objectives and the determination of actual awards
and payouts, if any, thereunder are subject to the sole discretion
of the Company. Awards, if any, under any annual incentive
compensation plan shall only be earned by you, and payable to you,
if you remain actively employed by the Company through the date on
which award payouts are made by the Company under the applicable
annual incentive compensation plan. You will not earn any such
award if your employment ends for any reason prior to that
date.
(c) You
shall be entitled to participate in such ordinary and customary
benefits plans afforded generally to persons employed by the
Company at your employment position and level and geographic
location (subject to the terms and conditions of such benefit
plans, your enrollment in the plans and making of any required
employee contributions required for your participation in such
benefits, your ability to qualify for and satisfy the requirements
of such benefits plans). Upon commencement of employment with the
Company, you will begin accruing vacation under the Company’s
vacation accrual policy at the rate set forth on the Offer Letter
Schedule. Accrual of vacation is subject to a limitation on accrual
as set forth in the Company’s vacation accrual
policy.
(d) You
are solely responsible for the payment of any tax liability that
may result from any compensation, payments or benefits that you
receive from the Company. The Company shall have the right to
deduct or withhold from the compensation due to you hereunder any
and all sums required by applicable federal, state, local or other
laws, rules or regulations, including, without limitation federal
and state income taxes, social security or FICA taxes, and state
unemployment taxes, now applicable or that may be enacted and
become applicable during your employment by the
Company.
(e) Upon
termination of your employment by either party, whether with or
without cause, you will be entitled to receive only that portion of
your compensation, benefits, reimbursable expenses and other
payments and benefits required by applicable law or by the
Company’s compensation or benefit plans, policies or
agreements in which you participate and pursuant to which you are
entitled to receive the compensation or benefits thereunder under
the circumstances of and at the time of such termination (subject
to and payable in accordance with the terms and conditions of such
plans, policies or agreements).
3.
Pre-Hire Conditions
and Requirements
.
This offer of employment and your employment by the Company is
contingent upon various conditions and requirements for new hires
that must be completed prior to commencement of employment. These
conditions and requirements include, among other things, the
following:
(i)
Completed
Application of Employment.
(ii)
A Consent to
Conduct a Background Check and the successful completion of the
Company’s background check.
(ii)
Your
acceptance,
execution and delivery of this offer
letter.
(iii)
Your execution and
delivery of your acknowledgment and agreement to the
Company’s
Employee
Confidentiality Agreement and accompanying exhibits and schedules,
Mutual Agreement to Arbitrate, Employee Handbook and the various
policies included therein, Securities Trading Policy, and Code of
Conduct and Ethics.
(iv)
Your compliance
with all applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulation and
orders,
including (1) your
execution and delivery of an I-9 Employment Eligibility
Verification together with complying verification documents; and
(2) your execution and delivery of a W-4 Employee’s
Withholding Allowance Certificate. Upon your acceptance of this
offer letter, you will be provided instructions how to access
online, sign and return these documents.
The
documents referenced in Sections 3 (i) (ii), (iii) and (iv) above
are referred to herein as the “
Standard Employee
Documents
.”
4.
Amendments
and Waivers
. This agreement may be amended, modified,
superseded, or cancelled, and the terms and conditions hereof may
be waived, only by a written instrument signed by the parties
hereto or, in the case of a waiver, by the party waiving
compliance. No delay on the part of any party in exercising any
right, power, or privilege hereunder will operate as a waiver
thereof, nor will any waiver on the part of any party of any right
hereunder, nor any single or partial exercise of any rights
hereunder, preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the
exercise of any other right hereunder.
5.
Notices
.
Any notice required or permitted under this agreement will be
considered to be effective in the case of (i) certified mail, when
sent postage prepaid and addressed to the party for whom it is
intended at its address of record, three (3) days after deposit in
the mail; (ii) by courier or messenger service, upon receipt by
recipient as indicated on the courier's receipt; or (iii) upon
receipt of an Electronic Transmission by the party that is the
intended recipient of the Electronic Transmission. The record
addresses, facsimile numbers of record, and electronic mail
addresses of record for you are set forth on the signature page to
this agreement and for the Company as set forth in the letterhead
above and may be changed from time to time by notice from the
changing party to the other party pursuant to the provisions of
this Section 5. For purposes of this Section 5, "
Electronic Transmission
” means a
communication (i) delivered by facsimile, telecommunication or
electronic mail when directed to the facsimile number of record or
electronic mail address of record, respectively, which the intended
recipient has provided to the other party for sending notices
pursuant to this Agreement and (ii) that creates a record of
delivery and receipt that is capable of retention, retrieval, and
review, and that may thereafter be rendered into clearly legible
tangible form.
6.
Choice
of Law
. This agreement, its construction and the
determination of any rights, duties or remedies of the parties
arising out of or relating to this agreement will be governed by,
enforced under and construed in accordance with the laws of the
State of California, regardless of the laws that might otherwise
govern under applicable principles of conflicts of laws of such
state.
7.
Severability
.
Each term, covenant, condition, or provision of this agreement will
be viewed as separate and distinct, and in the event that any such
term, covenant, condition or provision will be deemed to be invalid
or unenforceable, the arbitrator or court finding such invalidity
or unenforceability will modify or reform this agreement to give as
much effect as possible to the terms and provisions of this
agreement. Any term or provision which cannot be so modified or
reformed will be deleted and the remaining terms and provisions
will continue in full force and effect.
8.
Interpretation
.
Every provision of this agreement is the result of full
negotiations between the parties, both of whom have either been
represented by counsel throughout or otherwise been given an
opportunity to seek the aid of counsel. No provision of this
agreement shall be construed in favor of or against any of the
parties hereto by reason of the extent to which any such party or
its counsel participated in the drafting thereof. Captions and
headings of sections contained in this agreement are for
convenience only and shall not control the meaning, effect, or
construction of this agreement. Time periods used in this Agreement
shall mean calendar periods unless otherwise expressly
indicated.
9.
Entire
Agreement
. This Agreement, together with the Standard
Employee Documents, is intended to be the final, complete and
exclusive agreement between the parties relating to the employment
of you by the Company and all prior or contemporaneous
understandings, representations and statements, oral or written,
are merged herein. No modification, waiver, amendment, discharge or
change of this agreement shall be valid unless the same is in
writing and signed by the party against which the enforcement
thereof is or may be sought.
10.
Counterparts;
Facsimile or PDF Signature
. This agreement may be executed
in counterparts, each of which will be deemed an original hereof
and all of which together will constitute one and the same
instrument. This agreement may be executed by facsimile or PDF
signature by either party and such signature shall be deemed
binding for all purposes hereof, without delivery of an original
signature being thereafter required.
This
offer shall expire on November 30, 2018. Should you wish to accept
this offer and its terms and conditions, please confirm your
understanding of, agreement to, and acceptance of the foregoing by
signing and returning to the undersigned the duplicate copy of this
offer letter enclosed herewith.
AUTOWEB,
INC.
By:
/s/ Sara
Partin
Sara
Partin
Senior
Vice President,
Chief
Human Resources Officer
Accepted
and Agreed
as of
the date
first
written above:
/s/ Daniel Ingle
Daniel
Ingle
[PERSONAL
RESIDENCE ADDRESS REDACTED]
Exhibit A
Offer Letter Schedule
Employment Capacity/Title:
EVP, Chief Operating
Officer
Employment Commencement Date:
January 16, 2019
Base Salary:
Semi-monthly Rate of Fifteen Thousand Eight
Hundred Thirty-four Dollars ($15,834) which equates to an
annualized rate of approximately Three Hundred Eighty Thousand
Dollars ($380,000).
Annual Incentive Compensation Target:
65%
Stock Options:
165,000. Priced at closing price of common
stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market on employment commencement date.
Stock Options shall be granted as inducement options under NASDAQ
rules.
Vacation Accrual Rate
: V
acation
accrues at a rate equal to 3 weeks (120 hours for full-time
employees) per year (5 hours per pay period).
DI
|
SP
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Employee
Initials
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Company
Initials
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Exhibit
99.1
AutoWeb Appoints Dan Ingle to Chief Operating Officer
IRVINE, Calif., January 16, 2019 —
AutoWeb, Inc.
(Nasdaq: AUTO), a robust digital marketing platform providing
advertising solutions for automotive dealers and OEMs,
has appointed Dan Ingle to the
newly created position of chief operating officer.
Ingle
brings more than two decades of automotive and technology related
experience to AutoWeb, and has spent the last 12 years with Cox
Automotive serving in various capacities. Most recently, he served
as the vice president of international business development, where
he was responsible for the global expansion of Kelley Blue Book
(KBB) and AutoTrader. Ingle was also instrumental in developing a
global vehicle valuation strategy for Cox, while launching a
scalable KBB platform in Portugal, Brazil and the UK.
Prior
to Cox, Ingle was the director of information technology at
CapitalOne Auto Finance, where he managed a technology project
portfolio that included a direct to consumer loan originations
platform as well as a loan servicing system. He has also held
positions with PeopleFirst.com, Thomson Technology Consulting Group
and Ernst & Young.
“Dan’s
operational capabilities and extensive insight into the digital
automotive marketing landscape will be a strong asset for our
executive team,” said Jared Rowe, president & CEO of
AutoWeb. “His leadership at KBB was instrumental to the
brand’s digital transformation as he modernized its vehicle
valuation process and display, while extending those capabilities
beyond the US market. We look forward to leveraging his expertise
in operating digital consumer and commercial products as we look to
execute on our various strategic initiatives in
2019.”
Ingle
commented on his appointment: “AutoWeb’s marketing
platform provides dealers and OEMs with the necessary advertising
solutions to sell vehicles in a dynamic digital landscape. I plan
to utilize my experience in managing digital platforms to further
enhance AutoWeb’s solutions and ensure we are effectively
utilizing our people, technology and data to drive growth and
deliver measurable value for our clients.”
Ingle
has served on the board of directors of JingZhenGu, a Chinese
vehicle valuation business, as well as the board of Molicar, a
Brazilian vehicle valuation business. He holds a Bachelor of
Business Administration in Management Information Systems from Ohio
University.
Inducement Options
As an
inducement for joining the company, Ingle was granted options to
acquire 165,000 shares of the company’s common stock at an
exercise price equal to $3.53 per share, which was the closing
price of the common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market
today.
The
options have a term of seven years, and one-third of the options
will vest on the first anniversary of the grant date and one
thirty-sixth of the options shall vest on each successive monthly
anniversary of the grant date for the following twenty-four months.
Vesting of the options will accelerate upon the occurrence of
certain events, including upon a change in control of the company
or upon termination of the grantee’s employment by the
company without cause or by the grantee for good
reason.
About AutoWeb, Inc.
AutoWeb,
Inc. provides high-quality consumer leads, clicks and associated
marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers
throughout the United States. The company also provides consumers
with robust and original online automotive content to help them
make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the
automotive Internet in 1995 and has since helped tens of millions
of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of
dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and has helped every
major automaker market its brand online.
Investors
and other interested parties can receive AutoWeb news alerts and
special event invitations by accessing the online registration form
at
http://investor.autoweb.com/alerts.cfm
.
Company Contact
J.P.
Hannan
Chief
Financial Officer
949-437-4651
jp.hannan@autoweb.com
Investor Relations Contact
Sean
Mansouri or Cody Slach
Liolios
Investor Relations
949-574-3860
AUTO@liolios.com