APPROVAL OF AMENDMENT OF THE 2017 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
The Board believes that our future success depends on our ability to attract and retain talented employees and that the ability to grant equity awards is a necessary and powerful recruiting and retention tool for the Company. The Board believes that equity awards motivate high levels of performance, more closely align the interests of employees and stockholders by giving employees an opportunity to hold an ownership stake in the Company and provide an effective means of recognizing employee contributions to the success of the Company.
At the 2026 Annual Meeting, we are requesting that stockholders approve an amendment to our 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”) for a one time increase of 1,000,000 shares of our common stock (“Shares”) authorized for issuance thereunder (the “Plan Amendment”). Upon recommendation of the Compensation Committee, the Board approved this Plan Amendment on May 20, 2026, subject to the approval of our stockholders at the Annual Meeting.
As of May 27, 2026, there were 12,148,113 Shares authorized for issuance under the 2017 Plan, 11,544,012 of which were subject to outstanding awards (including stock options and restricted stock units), and 604,101 Shares remained available for future grants. For Fiscal 2026, the Company used equity awards in lieu of annual cash bonuses. As part of these awards, the Board approved a grant of stock options covering 1,000,000 Shares, which is contingent upon, and will be granted only if, stockholders approve the Plan Amendment (the “Contingent Option”).
If the proposed Plan Amendment is approved by our stockholders, the number of Shares authorized and available for future grants under the 2017 Plan (including the Contingent Option) will increase by 1,000,000, to 1,604,101 Shares (subject to adjustment as provided in the 2017 Plan).
If the proposed Plan Amendment is not approved by our stockholders, the 2017 Plan will remain in effect without the amendment and awards will continue to be made under the 2017 Plan to the extent Shares remain available. However, we may not be able to continue our equity incentive program in the future. This could preclude us from successfully attracting and retaining highly skilled employees. The Board and the Compensation Committee believe that the additional Shares under the increased Share reserve will enable us to continue to use the 2017 Plan to achieve our recruiting, retention and incentive goals and will be essential to our future success.
Our executive officers and directors have an interest in the approval of the Plan Amendment because they are eligible to receive awards under the 2017 Plan.
Description of the 2017 Plan
The following paragraphs provide a summary of the principal features of the 2017 Plan and its operation. However, this summary is not a complete description of all of the provisions of the 2017 Plan and is qualified in its entirety by the specific language of the 2017 Plan. A copy of the 2017 Plan is provided as Appendix A to this Proxy Statement.
Purposes. The purposes of the 2017 Plan are to attract and retain the best available personnel for positions of substantial responsibility; to provide additional incentive to employees, directors, and consultants; and to promote the success of our business. These incentives will be provided through the grant of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance units, and performance shares as the administrator of the 2017 Plan may determine.
Eligibility. Our 2017 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, within the meaning of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to our employees and any parent and subsidiary corporations’ employees, and for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, restricted stock, RSUs, stock appreciation rights, performance units and performance shares to our employees, directors and consultants and our parent and subsidiary corporations’ employees and consultants. As of May 27, 2026, we had four non-employee directors and approximately 39 employees (including our employee directors) and three consultants.