UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

SCHEDULE 14A

(Rule 14a-101)

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN PROXY STATEMENT
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

 

Check the appropriate box:

INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

40 Erie Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

NOTICE OF 2021 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

To be held June 23, 2021

You are invited to attend the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”), which will be held online on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  You may attend the meeting virtually via the Internet at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NTLA2021, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions.  You will need the 16-digit control number included with the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials being mailed to you separately in order to attend the Annual Meeting.

Stockholders of record at the close of business on April 26, 2021, the record date for the Annual Meeting, are entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the Annual Meeting or any adjournment or postponement of the Annual Meeting.  The purpose of the Annual Meeting is the following:

You can find more information on each of the matters to be voted on at the Annual Meeting, including information regarding the nominees for election to our board of directors, in the accompanying proxy statement.  The board of directors recommends a vote:

The Company is following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s “Notice and Access” rule that allows companies to furnish their proxy materials by posting them on the Internet.  As a result, we are mailing to our stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”) instead of a paper copy of the accompanying proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (the “2020 Annual Report”).  We are mailing the Notice on or about April 28, 2021, and it contains instructions on how to access both the 2020 Annual Report and accompanying proxy statement (the “Proxy Materials”) over the Internet. This method provides our stockholders with expedited access to Proxy Materials and not only lowers the cost of printing and distribution but also reduces the environmental impact of the Annual Meeting. If you would like to receive a paper copy of the Proxy Materials, free of charge, please follow the instructions on the Notice.

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Whether or not you expect to attend the Annual Meeting online, we encourage you to read the accompanying proxy statement and vote your shares as promptly as possible to ensure your representation and the presence of a quorum at the Annual Meeting on the Internet as described in the instructions included in the Notice, by telephone by calling 1-800-690-6903 and following the recorded instructions or, if you requested and received a paper copy of the Proxy Materials, by signing, dating and returning the enclosed proxy card.  If you vote your shares on the Internet or by telephone, you will need to enter the 16-digit control number provided in the Notice.  Your vote is important regardless of the number of shares you own.  If you attend the Annual Meeting online, you may vote your shares during the Annual Meeting virtually via the Internet even if you previously voted your proxy.  Your proxy is revocable in accordance with the procedures set forth in the proxy statement.

If your shares are held in “street name,” that is, held for your account by a broker or other nominee, you will receive instructions from the holder of record that you must follow for your shares to be voted.

 

 

Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 28, 2021

 

 

 

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Table of Contents

 

 

 

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INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

40 Erie Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
857-285-6200

PROXY STATEMENT

FOR THE 2021 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

to be held June 23, 2021

This proxy statement contains information about the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., which will be held online on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  You may attend the Annual Meeting virtually via the Internet at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NTLA2021, where you will be able to vote electronically and submit questions.  The board of directors of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. is using this proxy statement to solicit proxies for use at the Annual Meeting.  In this proxy statement, unless expressly stated otherwise or the context otherwise requires, the use of “Intellia,” “Company,” “our,” “we” or “us” refers to Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiary.

All properly submitted proxies will be voted in accordance with the instructions contained in those proxies.  If no instructions are specified, the proxies will be voted in accordance with the recommendation of our board of directors with respect to each of the matters set forth in the accompanying Notice of Meeting.  You may revoke your proxy at any time before it is exercised at the meeting by giving our corporate secretary written notice to that effect.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for
the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be Held on June 23, 2021

We are mailing to our stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials on or about April 28, 2021.

This proxy statement and our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K are
available for viewing, printing and downloading at www.proxyvote.com.

A copy of our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), except for exhibits, as well as this proxy statement, will be furnished without charge to any stockholder upon written request to our principal executive offices at Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary, by calling 1-800-579-1639 or by emailing IRcontact@intelliatx.com.  This proxy statement and our 2020 Annual Report are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING AND VOTING

Purpose of the Annual Meeting

At the Annual Meeting, our stockholders of record as of April 26, 2021 will consider and vote on the following matters:

As of the date of this proxy statement, we are not aware of any business to come before the Annual Meeting other than the first three items noted above.

Board of Directors Recommendation

Our board of directors unanimously recommends that you vote:

FOR the election of the three nominees to serve as the class II directors on our board of directors, each for a three-year term;

FOR the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021; and

FOR the approval, on a non-binding advisory basis, of the compensation of our named executive officers.

Availability of Proxy Materials

We are mailing to our stockholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Notice”) instead of a paper copy of the accompanying proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (the “2020 Annual Report”) on or about April 28, 2021, and it contains instructions on how to access those documents over the Internet. You will need the 16-digit control number included on the Notice to access these materials. If you would like to receive a paper copy of the Proxy Materials, free of charge, you can do so upon written request to our principal executive offices at Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary, by calling 1-800-579-1639 or by emailing sendmaterial@proxyvote.com.  To try to ensure that you receive these materials in time to vote at the annual meeting of stockholders, please make your request to the Company prior to June 9, 2021.  This proxy statement and our 2020 Annual Report are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Who Can Vote at the Annual Meeting

Only stockholders of record at the close of business on the record date of April 26, 2021 are entitled to receive notice of the Annual Meeting and to vote the shares of common stock of the Company that they held on that date.  As of April 26, 2021, there were 68,120,022 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.  Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote on each matter properly brought before the Annual Meeting.

Difference between a “stockholder of record” and a beneficial owner of shares held in “street name”

Stockholder of Record.  If you own shares that are registered directly in your name with our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., then you are considered a “stockholder of record” of those shares.  For these shares, the Notice has been sent to you directly by us. You may vote your shares by proxy prior to the Annual Meeting by following the instructions contained on the form of proxy card.

Beneficial Owners of Shares Held in Street Name.  If you own shares that are held in a brokerage account or by a bank, trust or other nominee or custodian, then you are considered the beneficial owner of those shares, which are held in “street name.”  With respect to these shares, your Proxy Materials have been forwarded to you by that organization.  The organization holding your account is considered the stockholder of record for purposes of voting at the Annual Meeting.  As the beneficial owner, you have the right to

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instruct that organization as to how to vote the shares held in your account by following the instructions contained on the voting instruction card provided to you by that organization.

How to Vote

If you are a stockholder of record, there are several ways for you to vote your shares.

If the Annual Meeting is adjourned or postponed, the deadlines above may be extended.

The voting deadlines and availability of telephone and Internet voting for beneficial owners of shares held in “street name” will depend on the voting processes of the organization that holds your shares.  Therefore, we urge you to carefully review and follow the voting instruction card and any other materials that you receive from that organization.  If you hold your shares of Intellia common stock in multiple accounts, you should vote your shares as described in each set of Proxy Materials you receive.

If you submit a proxy without giving voting instructions, your shares will be voted in the manner recommended by the board of directors on all matters presented in this proxy statement, and as the persons named as proxies in the proxy card may determine in their discretion with respect to any other matters properly presented at the Annual Meeting. You may also authorize another person or persons to act for you as proxy in a writing, signed by you or your authorized representative, specifying the details of those proxies’ authority. The original writing must be given to each of the named proxies, although it may be sent to them by electronic transmission if, from that transmission, it can be determined that the transmission was authorized by you.

Quorum

A quorum of stockholders is necessary to hold a valid meeting.  Our second amended and restated by-laws provide that a quorum will exist if stockholders holding a majority of the shares of stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote are present at the meeting virtually via the Internet or by proxy.  Under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), abstentions and broker non-votes count as present for establishing a quorum but will not be counted as votes cast.  If a quorum is not present, the meeting may be adjourned until a quorum is obtained.

Ballot Measures Considered “Routine” and “Non-Routine”

The election of the class II directors (“Proposal No. 1”) and the non-binding advisory approval of the compensation of our named executive officers (“Proposal No. 3”) are considered non-routine matters under applicable rules.  A broker or other nominee cannot vote without instructions on non-routine matters, and therefore there may be broker non-votes on Proposals No. 1 and 3.

The ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 (“Proposal No. 2”) is a matter considered routine under applicable rules.  A broker or other nominee may generally exercise discretionary authority and vote on routine matters.  If all brokers exercise this discretionary authority, no broker non-votes are expected to exist in connection with Proposal No. 2.

Votes Required For the Matters to Be Voted on at the Annual Meeting

To be elected, each of the three directors nominated in Proposal No. 1 must receive a plurality of the votes cast and entitled to vote at the meeting, meaning that the three director nominees receiving the most votes will be elected.

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The ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm in Proposal No. 2 requires the affirmative vote of the majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting and cast “for” or “against” such matter.

The approval, on a non-binding advisory basis, of the compensation of our named executive officers in Proposal No. 3 requires the affirmative vote of the majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting and cast “for” or “against” such matter.  Because your vote is advisory, it will not be binding on the board of directors or its compensation and talent development committee (the “compensation committee”), but the board of directors and compensation committee will review the voting results and take them into consideration when making future decisions about executive compensation.

Method of Counting Votes

Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote at the Annual Meeting on each matter to come before the Annual Meeting, including the election of a director, for each share held by such stockholder as of the record date.  Votes cast at the Annual Meeting or by proxy by mail, via the Internet or by telephone will be tabulated by the inspector of election appointed for the Annual Meeting, who will also determine whether a quorum is present.

Abstentions and broker “non-votes” are not included in the tabulation of the voting results on any such proposal and, therefore, do not have an impact on such proposals. A broker “non-vote” occurs when a nominee holding shares for a beneficial owner does not vote on a particular proposal because the nominee does not have discretionary voting power with respect to that item, and has not received instructions from the beneficial owner.

Revoking a Proxy; Changing Your Vote

If you are a stockholder of record, you may revoke your proxy before the final vote is taken at the Annual Meeting:

If your shares are held in “street name,” you must contact the bank, broker or other nominee holding your shares and follow their instructions for revoking or changing your vote.

Your attendance at the Annual Meeting online will not automatically revoke your proxy.

Costs of Proxy Solicitation

We will bear the costs of soliciting proxies.  In addition to solicitations by mail, our directors, officers, employees and agents, without additional remuneration, may solicit proxies by telephone, facsimile, email, personal interviews and other means. We have hired Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. to assist us in the distribution of Proxy Materials. Proxy solicitation expenses that we will pay include those for preparation, mailing, returning, and tabulating the proxies.

Voting Results

We plan to announce preliminary voting results at the Annual Meeting and will publish final results in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days following the Annual Meeting.

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PROPOSAL NO. 1 – ELECTION OF THREE CLASS II DIRECTORS

Our board of directors currently consists of eight members.  In accordance with the terms of our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and second amended and restated by-laws, our board of directors is divided into three classes, class I, class II and class III, with members of each class serving staggered three-year terms.  The members of the classes are divided as follows:

Upon the expiration of the term of a class of directors, directors in that class will be eligible to be nominated by our board of directors and elected for a new three-year term at the annual meeting of stockholders in the year in which their term expires.

Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and second amended and restated by-laws provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of our board of directors.  Our certificate of incorporation also provides that our directors may be removed only for cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the outstanding shares then entitled to vote in an annual election of directors, and that any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office.

Our board of directors has nominated Fred Cohen, M.D., D.Phil., Jean-François Formela, M.D. and Frank Verwiel, M.D. for election as the class II directors at the Annual Meeting.  The nominees are presently directors and have indicated a willingness to continue to serve as directors, if elected.  If a nominee becomes unable or unwilling to serve, however, the proxies may be voted for a substitute nominee selected by our board of directors.

We believe that it is essential that our board members represent diverse backgrounds and experiences, as set forth in our Amended and Restated Corporate Governance Guidelines.  Our Amended and Restated Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that the value of diversity should be considered in determining director candidates as well as other factors such as a candidate’s character, judgment, skills, education, expertise and absence of conflicts of interest. Accordingly, the board of directors includes the value of seeking diversity in considering whom to elect or nominate for membership in the board of directors, and expressly states that nominees shall not be discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or any other basis proscribed by law.  The board of directors seeks candidates that have broad experience and skills in areas important to the operation of our Company. We believe that the backgrounds and qualifications of our directors, considered as a group, should provide a composite mix of experience, knowledge and abilities that will allow our board to promote our strategic objectives and fulfill its responsibilities to our stockholders. In this context, we also consider a variety of attributes in selecting nominees to our board, such as:

These factors and others are considered useful by our board of directors and are reviewed in the context of an assessment of the perceived needs of our board at a particular point in time.

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Nominees for Election as Class II Directors

Biographical information, including principal occupation and business experience during the last five years, for our nominees for election as the class II directors at our Annual Meeting is set forth below as of April 26, 2021.

 

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The proxies will be voted in favor of the above nominees unless a contrary specification is made in the proxy.  The nominees have consented to serve as our directors if elected.  However, if a nominee is unable to serve or for good cause will not serve as a director, the proxies will be voted for the election of such substitute nominee as our board of directors may designate.

The board of directors recommends voting “FOR” the election of Fred Cohen, M.D., D.Phil., Jean-François Formela, M.D. and Frank Verwiel, M.D., as the class II directors, to serve for a three-year term ending at the annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2024.

 

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Directors Continuing in Office

Biographical information, including principal occupation and business experience during the last five years, for our directors continuing in office is set forth below.

Class I Directors (Term Expires at 2023 Annual Meeting)

 

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There are no family relationships between or among any of our directors or executive officers.  The principal occupation and employment during the past five years of each of our directors was carried on, in each case except as specifically identified above, with a corporation or organization that is not a parent, subsidiary or other affiliate of us.  There is no arrangement or understanding between any of our directors and any other person or persons pursuant to which he or she is to be selected as a director.

There are no material legal proceedings to which any of our directors is a party adverse to us or in which any such person has a material interest adverse to us or our subsidiary.

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Summary of Board Qualifications and Experience

 

We are focused on using the novel CRISPR/Cas-9 genome-editing technology to develop proprietary, potentially curative therapeutics that may permanently edit and/or correct disease-associated genes in the human body with a single treatment course, as well as creating engineered cell therapies to treat immune-oncological and auto-immunological diseases.  We recently transitioned into a clinical stage company, and our goal is to ultimately build a full-spectrum genome editing company that leverages our modular platform to develop and commercialize therapies for diseases with high unmet need.  We believe that our current board members, individually and as a group, have the necessary experience, knowledge and abilities to set our strategic objectives and oversee our Company as we implement our strategy.  Each of our directors is an experienced board member of publicly held companies with commercial products, and each has served on key board committees, including audit, compensation and nominating and governance committees.  They each use this experience to ensure appropriate oversight and strategic direction of Intellia’s matters.  Many of our board members, such as Drs. Cohen, Formela and Verwiel and Mr. Crowley, have been board members or executive leaders of start-up and mid-sized biopharmaceutical companies that developed therapeutic candidates using novel technologies and transitioned from preclinical to clinical and commercial stages, and use this experience to inform Intellia’s strategy.  Others, such as Ms. Dorsa and Drs. Keresty and Leonard, held executive leadership positions in established pharmaceutical companies with significant commercial therapeutic products, which helps ensure that our long-term strategy includes consideration of these factors.  Dr. Goodman’s experience as a regulator, Dr. Leonard’s experience as head of pharmaceutical research and development, and Dr. Keresty’s experience leading pharmaceutical operations and manufacturing functions allow each to provide critical input and oversight into the clinical development and manufacturing of our product candidates, both currently and in the future.  Ms. Dorsa is a financial expert, who led key financial functions in both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical industries, and Drs. Cohen, Formela and Verwiel are experienced private and public market investors with a deep and broad understanding of the financial markets and technological landscape, including competitive and complementary technologies.  Their investing and financial experience ensures that Intellia can make optimal decisions regarding its investment and use of proceeds, and strategic decisions regarding material agreements and collaborations.  Finally, the vast majority of our board members are scientifically trained, holding advanced medical and scientific doctorates, which allows them to expertly evaluate the Company’s research and development programs within the relevant technological landscape.  For these reasons, and those set forth in their biographies above, we believe that the members of our board of directors are the appropriate stewards of Intellia as we expand our pipeline and continue to move towards approval and commercialization of our product candidates.  

 

Although certain proxy advisory firms and institutional investors’ voting policies may consider Drs. Cohen and Formela as sitting on too many boards (or “overboarded”), the Company and its board of directors, as part of the re-nomination process, have evaluated each director’s commitment to Intellia’s board duties and responsibilities, historical contributions to the Company’s strategy and achievements, and the value of their experience, knowledge and skills in overseeing the Company and its strategy, and believe that they far outweigh any “overboarding” concerns.  As previously indicated, both Drs. Cohen and Formela are sophisticated public and private investors with exceptional knowledge of the biopharmaceutical technological landscape, including technologies that could be

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complementary or competitive with the Company’s.  Their diverse experience allows them to provide highly relevant, valuable input regarding research and development programs, collaborations and financing strategies for the Company.  As medical doctors (and, in the case of Dr. Cohen, as an accomplished clinical researcher), they bring an in-depth understanding of our science, the diseases that are being pursued and that the Company could potentially address, and the scientific and medical challenges that the Company must overcome, and Drs. Cohen and Formela contribute valuable guidance regarding each.  For these reasons, and those set forth in their biographies, we believe that Drs. Cohen and Formela, along with our other board members, are appropriate stewards of Intellia as we develop our platform technology, expand our pipeline and continue to move towards approval and commercialization of our product candidates. Drs. Cohen and Formela’s commitment to the Company and their director duties are further demonstrated by their respective attendance at, and level of meaningful participation in, all of the meetings of the board of directors and their assigned committees in 2020.  They are consistently prepared for meetings and are appropriately engaged with management and the other members of the board outside of the ordinary course of meetings, indicating that neither is “overboarded” in a way that negatively affects either of their service on our board.

Executive Officers Who Are Not Directors

Biographical information for our executive officers who are not directors is listed below.

 

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The principal occupation and employment during the past five years of each of our executive officers was carried on, in each case except as specifically identified above, with a corporation or organization that is not a parent, subsidiary or other affiliate of us.  There is no arrangement or understanding between any of our executive officers and any other person or persons pursuant to which he or she was or is to be selected as an executive officer.

There are no material legal proceedings to which any of our executive officers is a party adverse to us or our subsidiary or in which any such person has a material interest adverse to us or our subsidiary.

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PROPOSAL NO. 2 – RATIFICATION OF THE APPOINTMENT OF DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
AS INTELLIA’S INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2021

Intellia’s stockholders are being asked to ratify the appointment by the audit committee of the board of directors of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.  Deloitte & Touche LLP has served as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm since 2015.

The audit committee is responsible for selecting and appointing Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.  Stockholder approval is not required to appoint Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm.  However, the board of directors believes that submitting the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP to the stockholders for ratification is good corporate governance.  If the stockholders do not ratify this appointment, the audit committee will reconsider whether to retain Deloitte & Touche LLP.  Even if the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP is ratified, the audit committee, at its discretion, may direct the appointment of a different independent registered public accounting firm at any time it decides that such a change would be in the best interest of Intellia and its stockholders.

A representative of Deloitte & Touche LLP is expected to be present at the Annual Meeting and will have an opportunity to make a statement if he or she desires to do so and to respond to appropriate questions from our stockholders.

Intellia incurred the following fees from Deloitte & Touche LLP for the audit of the consolidated financial statements and for other services provided during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

 

 

Audit Committee Pre-approval Policy and Procedures

Our audit committee has adopted policies and procedures relating to the approval of all audit and non-audit services that are to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm.  This policy provides that we will not engage our independent registered public accounting firm to render audit or non-audit services, other than non-audit services that are “de minimis” under Section 10A(i)(1)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), unless the service or category of service is specifically approved in advance by our audit committee or the engagement is entered into pursuant to the pre-approval procedure described below.

From time to time, our audit committee, or one or more members of the audit committee delegated by the audit committee, may pre-approve all auditing services and the terms thereof and non-audit services (other than non-audit services prohibited under Section 10A(g) of the Exchange Act or the applicable rules of the SEC or the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”)) to be provided to the Company by the independent auditors during the next 12 months, provided that if the audit committee delegates one or more of its members to make such pre-approval decisions then such delegate(s) shall present all pre-approval decisions to the full audit committee at its first meeting following such decision.  Any such pre-approval details the particular service or category of service to be provided and is also generally subject to a maximum dollar amount. The audit committee also regularly receives updates from management about the services actually performed and the associated fees and expenses actually incurred. Management must obtain the specific prior approval of the audit committee for each engagement of the independent registered public accounting firm to perform other audit-related or other non-audit services, except that one or more members of the audit committee delegated by the audit committee may pre-approve engagements for non-audit services and any such approved non-audit services must then be presented to the audit committee at its next meeting. The audit committee does not delegate its responsibility to approve services performed by the independent registered public accounting firm to any member of management.

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During our 2020 and 2019 fiscal years, all of the services provided to us by Deloitte & Touche LLP were in accordance with the pre-approval policies and procedures described above.

The board of directors recommends voting “FOR” Proposal No. 2 to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021.

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PROPOSAL NO. 3 – ADVISORY VOTE ON NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICER COMPENSATION

Intellia’s stockholders are being asked to vote, on a non-binding advisory basis, on the compensation of our named executive officers as explained herein. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) enables our stockholders to vote to approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in this proxy statement in accordance with the SEC’s rules. In the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section below, we describe our executive compensation programs and the decisions that our board of directors and its compensation committee made regarding the 2020 compensation of our named executive officers.  We have implemented a pay-for-performance focused compensation program that is designed to motivate employees, including our named executive officers, to achieve short- and long-term results that drive the Company’s success and are in the best interests of our stockholders. We believe our compensation policy strikes an appropriate balance between the implementation of responsible, measured compensation practices and the effective provision of incentives for our named executive officers to exert their best efforts for scientific and business success.

Our stockholders voted on May 21, 2019, to have advisory votes every year to approve the compensation paid to our named executive officers, and we have adopted that approach until the next required stockholder vote on the frequency of future advisory votes. This vote is not intended to address any specific item of compensation, but rather the overall compensation of our named executive officers and the policies and practices described in this proxy statement. Accordingly, our board of directors is asking our stockholders to vote FOR the following non-binding advisory resolution on the approval of the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers as disclosed in this proxy statement:

“BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Company’s stockholders hereby approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers, as disclosed in the proxy statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders pursuant to Section 14A of the Exchange Act, including the Compensation Discussion and Analysis, the Summary Compensation Table, and the narrative disclosures that accompany the compensation tables.”

As this vote is advisory, it will not be binding upon our board of directors or compensation committee, and neither our board of directors nor our compensation committee will be required to take any action as a result of the outcome of this vote. However, our compensation committee values the views of our stockholders and will carefully consider the outcome of this vote when considering future executive compensation policies and decisions.

For approval, this proposal must receive the affirmative vote of the majority of shares properly cast on the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on Proposal No. 3.

The board of directors recommends voting “FOR” Proposal No. 3 to approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers, as disclosed in this proxy statement, including the Compensation Discussion and Analysis, the Summary Compensation Table, and the narrative disclosures that accompany the compensation tables.

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TRANSACTION OF OTHER BUSINESS

Our board of directors does not know of any other matters to be raised at the Annual Meeting.  If any other matters not mentioned in this proxy statement are properly brought before the meeting, the appropriate executive officers and directors named in this proxy statement intend to use their discretionary voting authority under the proxy to vote the proxy in accordance with their best judgment on those matters.

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Director Nomination Process

Our nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for identifying individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by our board, and recommending such persons to be nominated for election as directors, except where we are legally required by contract, law or otherwise to provide third parties with the right to nominate.

The process followed by our nominating and corporate governance committee to identify and evaluate director candidates includes requests to board members and others for recommendations, meetings from time to time to evaluate biographical information and background material relating to current directors and potential candidates, and interviews of selected candidates by management, recruiters and members of the committee and our board.  The qualifications, qualities and skills that our nominating and corporate governance committee believes must be met by a committee-recommended nominee for a position on our board of directors are as follows:

Stockholders may recommend individuals to the nominating and corporate governance committee for consideration as potential director candidates.  Any such proposals should be submitted to our corporate secretary at our principal executive offices no later than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the first anniversary of the date of the preceding year’s annual meeting and should include appropriate biographical and background material to allow the nominating and corporate governance committee to properly evaluate the potential director candidate and the number of shares of our stock beneficially owned by the stockholder proposing the candidate.  Stockholder proposals should be addressed to Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary.  Assuming that biographical and background material has been provided on a timely basis in accordance with our second amended and restated by-laws, any recommendations received from stockholders will be evaluated in the same manner as potential nominees proposed by the nominating and corporate governance committee.  If our board of directors determines to nominate and recommend the election of a stockholder-recommended nominee, then his or her name will be included on our proxy card for the next annual meeting of stockholders.  See “Stockholder Proposals” for a discussion of submitting stockholder proposals.

Director Independence

Applicable Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) rules require a majority of a listed company’s board of directors to be comprised of independent directors.  In addition, the Nasdaq rules require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit, compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees be independent; that audit committee members also satisfy independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and that compensation committee members satisfy independence criteria set forth in Rule 10C-1 under the Exchange Act.  Under applicable Nasdaq rules, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of the listed company’s board of directors, that person does not have a relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.  In order to be considered independent for purposes of Rule 10A-3, a member of an audit committee of a listed company may not, other than in his or her capacity as a member of the audit committee, the board of directors, or any other board committee, accept, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory or other compensatory fee from the listed company or any of its subsidiaries or otherwise be an affiliated person of the listed company or any of its subsidiaries.  In addition, in affirmatively determining the independence of any director who will

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serve on a company’s compensation committee, Rule 10C-1 under the Exchange Act requires that a company’s board of directors consider all factors specifically relevant to determining whether a director has a relationship to such company that is material to that director’s ability to be independent from management in connection with the duties of a compensation committee member, including:  the source of compensation to the director, including any consulting, advisory or other compensatory fee paid by such company to the director, and whether the director is affiliated with the company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

Our board of directors has determined that each of the directors who served during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, with the exception of Dr. Leonard, and each of the nominees for director at the Annual Meeting, is an independent director, including for purposes of the rules of Nasdaq and the SEC.  In making such independence determination, our board of directors considered the relationships that each non-employee director has with us and all other facts and circumstances that our board of directors deemed relevant in determining their independence, including the beneficial ownership of our capital stock by each non-employee director.  In considering the independence of the directors listed above, our board of directors considered the association of our directors with the holders of more than 5% of our common stock.  There are no family relationships among any of our directors or executive officers.  Dr. Leonard is not an independent director under these rules because he is an executive officer of the Company.

Board Committees

Our board of directors has established an audit committee, a compensation committee, and a nominating and corporate governance committee.  Each of the audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee operates under a charter, and each such committee reviews its respective charter at least annually.  A current copy of the charter for each of the audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee is posted on the corporate governance section of our website, http://ir.intelliatx.com/corporate-governance/documents-charters.

Audit Committee

Ms. Dorsa, Dr. Formela and Dr. Verwiel served on the audit committee in 2020, which is chaired by Ms. Dorsa.  Dr. Keresty joined the audit committee in April 2021.  Our board of directors has determined that each of Ms. Dorsa, Dr. Formela, Dr. Keresty and Dr. Verwiel is “independent” for audit committee purposes as that term is defined in the applicable rules of the SEC and Nasdaq, and has sufficient knowledge in financial and auditing matters to serve on the audit committee.  Our board of directors has designated Ms. Dorsa as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined under the applicable rules of the SEC.  During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, the audit committee met five times.  The report of the audit committee is included in this proxy statement under “Report of the Audit Committee.” The audit committee’s responsibilities include:

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All audit and non-audit services, other than de minimis non-audit services, to be provided to us by our independent registered public accounting firm must be approved in advance by our audit committee following the procedures described above in Audit Committee Pre-approval Policy and Procedures under Proposal 2.

Compensation and Talent Development Committee

Dr. Cohen, Ms. Dorsa, Dr. Formela, and Mr. Karsen served on the compensation and talent development committee (the “compensation committee”) in 2020, with Dr. Formela as chair. With Mr. Karsen’s departure from the Company’s board of directors, he resigned from the compensation committee as of December 31, 2020. Mr. Crowley was appointed to the compensation committee, and to serve as committee chair, beginning January 19, 2021.  Our board of directors has determined that each member of the compensation committee is “independent” as defined in the applicable Nasdaq rules.  During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, the compensation committee met six times.  The compensation committee’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

During 2020, the members of our compensation committee included Dr. Cohen, Ms. Dorsa, Dr. Formela and Mr. Karsen. None of the members of our compensation committee was an employee or officer of Intellia during 2020, a former officer of Intellia, or had any other relationships with us requiring disclosure herein. None of our executive officers currently serves or has served as a director or member of the compensation committee (or other committee serving an equivalent function) of any other entity whose executive officers served as one of our directors or a member of the compensation committee.

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Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

During 2020, Dr. Verwiel, Mr. Karsen and Dr. Goodman served on the nominating and corporate governance committee, which was chaired by Mr. Karsen until February 2020, when Dr. Verwiel became the committee chair.  With Mr. Karsen’s departure from the board of directors, he resigned from the nominating and corporate governance committee as of December 31, 2020.  Mr. Crowley and Dr. Keresty were appointed to the nominating and corporate governance committee on January 19, 2021 and April 9, 2021, respectively.  Our board of directors has determined that each member of the nominating and corporate governance committee is “independent” as defined in the applicable Nasdaq rules.  During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, the nominating and corporate governance committee met ten times.  The nominating and corporate governance committee’s responsibilities include:

Board and Committee Meetings Attendance

The full board of directors met ten times during 2020.  During 2020, each member of the board of directors attended virtually or in person or participated in 75% or more of the aggregate of (i) the total number of meetings of the board of directors (held during the period for which such person has been a director) and (ii) the total number of meetings held by all committees of the board of directors on which such person served (during the periods that such person served).

Director Attendance at Annual Meeting of Stockholders

Directors are responsible for attending the annual meeting of stockholders.  All members of the board of directors then in office attended the annual meeting of stockholders on June 18, 2020.

Stock Ownership Guidelines and Policy on Trading, Pledging and Hedging of Company Stock

The compensation committee has implemented stock ownership and retention guidelines (the “Guidelines”) for our directors and executive officers (“Covered Individuals”) to ensure they have a long-term equity stake in Intellia, to closely align the interests of both the directors and executive officers to those of our stockholders and to further our commitment to corporate governance.

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Under the Guidelines, directors and executive officers must maintain stock ownership at a level of at least three times their annual retainer (excluding any committee retainers) or base salary, as applicable.  For purposes of the Guidelines, stock ownership includes the value of common stock (including shares owned upon the vesting of restricted stock units), 65% of the net value of any vested and unexercised stock options, and 65% of the value of unvested restricted stock units subject to time-based vesting.  Unvested stock options and unvested restricted stock units that are subject to performance-based vesting are not counted toward stock ownership for purposes of the Guidelines.

Covered Individuals are expected to make a good faith effort to reach the level of ownership specified in the Guidelines by the later of  the last day of (1) the 2023 fiscal year or (2) the year containing the fifth anniversary of the individual becoming a Covered Individual. Until the Covered Individual meets the required equity ownership under the Guidelines, he or she is required to retain i) 50% of all Company shares acquired during the phase-in period (net of shares withheld to cover the exercise price or tax withholding obligations); or ii) 100% of all shares he or she acquires after the phase-in period (net of shares withheld to cover the exercise price or tax withholding obligations).

Certain transactions in our securities (such as purchases and sales of publicly traded put and call options, and short sales) create a heightened compliance risk or could create the appearance of misalignment between management and stockholders.  In addition, securities held in a margin account or pledged as collateral may be sold without consent if the owner fails to meet a margin call or defaults on the loan, thus creating the risk that a sale may occur at a time when an officer or director is aware of material, non-public information or otherwise is not permitted to trade in company securities.  Our insider trading policy expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, and all employees and their respective affiliates from engaging in short sales, which are the sale of securities of the Company that are not owned by such individual or entity at the time of the sale.  Further, our directors, executive officers, and all other employees and their respective affiliates may not engage in any purchase or sale of puts, calls or other derivative securities of the Company or any derivative securities that provide the economic equivalent of ownership of any of our securities or an opportunity, direct or indirect, to profit from any change in the value of our securities, or other hedging transactions.  In addition, our insider trading policy expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, and all other employees and their respective affiliates from borrowing against Company securities held in a margin account or, without prior approval from the audit committee (which will only be granted if the director, executive officer or employee can demonstrate the financial capacity to repay the loan without depending on the pledged securities), pledging our securities as collateral for a loan.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

We have adopted a written code of business conduct and ethics that applies to all members of our board of directors, and to all our officers and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, controller, or persons performing similar functions.  A current copy of the code is posted on the corporate governance section of our website, which is located at http://ir.intelliatx.com/corporate-governance/documents-charters.  If we make any substantive amendments to, or grant any waivers from, the code of business conduct and ethics for any officer or director, we will disclose the nature of such amendment or waiver on our website or in a current report on Form 8-K.

Board Leadership Structure and Board’s Role in Risk Oversight

Currently, the role of chairperson of the board is separated from the role of chief executive officer.  We believe that separating these positions allows our chief executive officer to focus on our day-to-day business, while allowing our chairperson of the board to lead the board of directors in its fundamental role of providing strategic advice to, and independent oversight of, management.  Our board of directors recognizes the time, effort and energy that the chief executive officer is required to devote to his position in the current business environment, as well as the commitment required to serve as our chairperson, particularly as the board of directors’ oversight responsibilities continue to evolve and expand.  While our second amended and restated by-laws and amended and restated corporate governance guidelines do not require that our chairperson and chief executive officer positions be separate, our board of directors believes that having separate positions is the appropriate leadership structure for us at this time and demonstrates our commitment to good corporate governance.

Risk is inherent with every business, and how well a business manages risk can ultimately determine its success.  We face a number of risks, including risks relating to our financial condition, research, development and clinical activities, operations, manufacturing, talent, strategic direction, cybersecurity, legal compliance and intellectual property.  Management is responsible for the day-to-day management of risks we face, while our board of directors, as a whole and through its committees, has responsibility for the oversight of risk management.  In its risk oversight role, our board of directors has the responsibility to satisfy itself that the risk management processes designed and implemented by management are adequate and functioning as designed.

The role of the board of directors in overseeing the management of our risks is conducted primarily through committees of the board of directors, as disclosed in the descriptions of each of the committees below and in the charters of each of the committees.  The full board of directors (or the appropriate board committee in the case of risks that are under the purview of a particular committee)

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discusses with management our major risk exposures, their potential impact on us, and the steps we take to manage them.  When a board committee is responsible for evaluating and overseeing the management of a particular risk or risks, the chairperson of the relevant committee is responsible for reporting on the discussion to the full board of directors during the next board meeting.  This enables the board of directors and its committees to coordinate the risk oversight role, particularly with respect to risk interrelationships.

Environmental, Social and Governance Oversight (ESG)

 

We believe that we have a corporate responsibility to foster a diverse and collaborative environment and to have a positive impact on our employee community and the communities in which we work and live. We believe the success of the Company’s mission largely depends on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. We believe programs that foster company engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, growth development, and environmental and social responsibility, while providing competitive compensation and benefits, will attract a diverse population of employees who will bring innovative ideas and creative solutions that will enable the achievement of our goals.

 

Our Culture and Values

 

Our culture is rooted in four core values, with the overarching theme of the promise we’ve made to patients and each other to act as one team to explore new ways of treating disease, disrupt the status quo, and deliver life-changing therapies:

 

 

We believe these values help us build an organization where talented people from all backgrounds can make meaningful contributions to our commitment to patients and also grow their careers. Our core values guide how we work together and deliver on our mission.

We bring our values to life with programs and policies that foster and enhance our culture. Examples include:

 

 

 

 

 

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Our Employees

 

Diversity and Inclusion:

 

As we continue to grow as an organization, we remain dedicated to championing a culture that celebrates diversity and fosters a collaboration inside the organization. We are committed to increasing representation of under-represented minorities at Intellia, particularly in leadership roles. As of March 31, 2021, our team of Senior and Executive Vice Presidents is diverse in both gender and ethnicity, as 50% of that group is female and 50% of that same leadership group is ethnically diverse.  Across our workforce, our employee population consists of 57% women and 43% men. Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from doing so in person, we continue to celebrate and educate about our diversity through virtual employee events, awareness campaigns and other programs.  Our recruiting team underwent bias awareness training, and we have sponsored career fairs and conferences at organizations focused on underrepresented minorities to ensure that we continue to attract the best talent and increase representation.

 

Growth and Development:

 

Investing in our employees’ personal and career growth is an important priority at Intellia.  We aim to provide a wide range of on-the-job development opportunities, as well as in-person, virtual, and off-site training seminars and tools.  Of particular importance is fostering of leaders with our “Manager Bootcamp” series, which aims to refine the leadership and managerial skills of our managers.  Additionally, we offer seminars and tools to our employees focused on career development within the organization.  As part of these initiatives, we conduct an annual development program for our employees to work with their managers to set professional development goals and an action plan.  We also have an internal mentorship program for our R&D employees, who can work with more senior employees to learn new skills.  Our goal is to ensure that our employees have the skills necessary to meet their current responsibilities optimally, as well as develop new skills that they may need in the future.

Compensation, Benefits, Health and Wellness:

We offer a comprehensive compensation package, which includes a competitive salary, health, dental, vision and disability insurance, and a 401(k) match.  In addition, employees generally receive Company equity upon the start of their employment with the Company and on an annual basis, and can also participate in our employee stock purchase program.  We also have a tuition reimbursement program and sponsor immigration applications as appropriate.  To ensure engagement and well-being, our employees have access to our Employee Assistance Program, a free onsite gym, and Company-sponsored employee-led clubs and teams. We are committed to equitable pay, irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, and conduct comprehensive pay equity analyses on a semi-annual basis.  Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken a flexible approach to supporting our employees in managing their work and personal responsibilities, with a focus on employee wellbeing. We have several new programs that began in 2020 aimed to promote flexibility and wellness for our employees and their families.

 

Our Community

 

We take our responsibility as a member of our local community seriously. Through our Cultural Ambassadors program and other initiatives, our employees volunteer to serve and fundraise for homeless shelters, community beautification projects, and educational initiatives, particularly STEM mentoring initiatives, in underserved communities. In addition, we have partnered with the United Negro College Fund and established an Intellia scholarship for college students from under-represented groups pursuing life science majors.

 

Our Environment

 

Although we currently have a small ecological footprint, we believe that we can make a difference in protecting our environment. Both of our current office and laboratory facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts are LEED certified, and we are preparing to occupy a third building in Cambridge in 2021 that also will be LEED certified.  To reduce pollution and avoid traffic congestion, we provide transportation benefits to our employees to encourage the use of non-automobile-based transportation, such as public transportation, cycling, and walking.  In addition, we have on-site recycling and composting programs in all our locations.  As part of our environmental and sustainability efforts, we have replaced plastic utensils and single-use drinkware with reusable and washable cutlery and glassware.  In addition, the care packages that we sent to our employees during the COVID pandemic included mostly locally sourced, environmentally friendly and biodegradable items.

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Communication with the Directors of Intellia

Any interested party with concerns about our company may report such concerns to the board of directors, or the chairperson of our board of directors and nominating and corporate governance committee, by submitting a written communication to the attention of such director at the following address:

c/o Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.
40 Erie Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
United States

You may submit your concern anonymously or confidentially by postal mail.  You may also indicate whether you are a stockholder, customer, supplier or other interested party.

A copy of any such written communication may also be forwarded to Intellia’s legal counsel and a copy of such communication may be retained for a reasonable period of time.  The recipient director may discuss the matter with Intellia’s legal counsel, with independent advisors, with non-management directors, or with Intellia’s management, or may take other action or no action as the director determines in good faith, using reasonable judgment, and applying his or her own discretion.

Communications may be forwarded to other directors if, for example, they relate to important substantive matters and include suggestions or comments that may be important for other directors to know.  In general, communications relating to corporate governance and long-term corporate strategy are more likely to be forwarded than communications relating to ordinary business affairs, personal grievances, and matters as to which we may receive repetitive or duplicative communications.

The audit committee oversees the procedures for the receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints received by Intellia regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or audit matters, and the confidential, anonymous submission by employees or other persons of concerns regarding questionable accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters.  Intellia has established a toll-free telephone number and email for reporting concerns regarding these and other compliance matters.  Reports can be made anonymously and will be forwarded to the chairperson of the audit committee of the board of directors and Intellia’s chief compliance officer.

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COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

 

Overview

This Compensation Discussion and Analysis describes the Company’s executive compensation program as it relates to the following “named executive officers.”

 

The following discussion should be read together with the compensation tables and related disclosures set forth below.

Executive Summary and Company Background

We are a leading clinical-stage genome editing company, focused on developing proprietary, potentially curative CRISPR/Cas9-based therapeutics. CRISPR/Cas9, an acronym for Clustered, Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (“CRISPR”)/CRISPR associated 9 (“Cas9”), is a technology for genome editing, the process of altering selected sequences of genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”). We believe the breakthrough CRISPR/Cas9 technology has the potential to transform medicine by both producing therapeutics that may permanently edit and/or correct disease-associated genes in the human body with a single treatment course and creating engineered cell therapies. Our combination of deep scientific, technical and clinical development experience, and proprietary innovations in genome editing and delivery technologies, along with our intellectual property (“IP”) portfolio, puts us in a position to unlock broad therapeutic applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology and create new classes of therapeutic products.

Our mission is to transform the lives of people with severe diseases by developing curative genome editing treatments. We believe we can deliver on our mission and provide long-term benefits for all of our stakeholders by focusing on four key elements:

We are cognizant that, to be successful, we need to recruit and retain executives that have excellent scientific, business and functional expertise, broad experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, and capability to produce desired strategic and operational results.  Accordingly, our executive officers’ compensation accounts for the individual’s expertise and experience, as well as his or her contribution to our Company’s objectives for the year based on our operational and individual performance metrics, and the need to incent long-term execution. This approach to executive compensation is aligned with the interests of our stockholders because it ensures that we can attract and retain key leaders while ensuring that each is incentivized to deliver optimal results for the Company.

Objectives of the Compensation Programs

The goals of our compensation programs are to ensure that the interests of our employees, including our named executive officers, are aligned with the interests of our stockholders and our business goals, and that the total compensation paid to each of our named executive officers is fair, reasonable and competitive.

We provide our executive officers with a significant portion of their compensation through equity awards, to promote the maximization of stockholder value by aligning the interests of our executive officers and stockholders, as well as cash incentive compensation based upon the achievement of corporate objectives for the year, including our operational and individual performance metrics. Our programs were specifically designed to align named executive officer and stockholder interests as the amount of compensation a named executive officer receives will vary based on our corporate performance against objective corporate goals. In addition, our named executive officers derive value from equity compensation from the appreciation in the price of shares of our common stock, which in the future is likely to fluctuate based on our corporate performance in relation to corporate goals.

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The Company, including its board of directors and its compensation and talent development committee (the “compensation committee”), considers a myriad of factors in making compensation decisions.  Among these factors are the current and expected local, national and international market conditions; compensation practices of peer biopharmaceutical companies; the Company’s market value and financial position; and the talent market, including the availability of, and demand for, particular skills and expertise.  We expect that we will continue to take these factors into account as we make compensation decisions in 2021 and beyond.

Components and Objectives of the Compensation Program

The compensation programs for our executive officers are designed to provide the following:

 

 

2020 Say-on-Pay Vote

At our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2020 Annual Meeting”), our Say-on-Pay proposal was approved, on an advisory basis, with approximately 98.5% support.

While we view the strong support expressed in the Say-on-Pay proposal as a general endorsement of our compensation program, as part of our commitment to stockholder engagement and responsiveness, after the 2020 Annual Meeting, we engaged with select top stockholders to discuss their perspective regarding, among other things, our executive compensation program, including our decisions and disclosures, and other governance practices.  Throughout 2020, we reached out to select top stockholders to specifically request feedback on these matters, and we met via teleconference with all stockholders who expressed interest and availability to provide feedback.  Our Company was represented by certain of our named executive officers, along with other senior managers and employees in our legal, human resources, and investor relations functions. This stockholder outreach supplements our standard practice of engaging with stockholders on a regular basis as part of our investor relations program, during which we are open to discuss any topic or issue raised by our stockholders, including, but not limited to, our business strategy, status of research and development programs, our executive compensation program and general corporate governance topics. We shared the feedback received with our board of directors and its committees throughout the year.  We value feedback from our stockholders and continue to evaluate other feedback received to determine what actions are appropriate and in the best interest of our stockholders and the Company, including the timing and scope of any potential actions.

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Compensation Program Governance

 

In addition to our direct compensation elements, the following features of our compensation program are designed to align our executive team with stockholder interests and with market best practices:

 

 

Role of the Compensation and Talent Development Committee in Setting Executive Compensation

Our board of directors and its compensation committee annually review the compensation for each of our executive officers in relation to our peers (see “Defining and Comparing Compensation to Market Benchmarks” section below).  In setting executive cash compensation (base salaries and incentive cash bonuses) and granting equity incentive awards, the compensation committee and the board of directors consider compensation for comparable positions in the market; the qualifications, experience and historical compensation levels of our executives; each officer’s individual performance as compared to our expectations and objectives; our desire to motivate the executive to achieve short- and long-term results that are in the best interests of our stockholders; and the desire and need to ensure the executive’s long-term commitment to our Company.  The compensation committee and the board of directors generally target compensation for each executive officer to be competitive with the compensation provided by our peers for the same or a similar position.  They use independent third-party benchmark analytics to inform compensation decisions on each executive, including the mix of base salary, bonus and long-term incentives.

Our board of directors or our compensation committee has historically determined the compensation of each of our executives.  Our compensation committee typically reviews and discusses management’s proposed compensation with the chief executive officer for all executives other than the chief executive officer.  Based on those discussions and its discretion, taking into account the factors noted above as well as considerations specific to each executive officer (including, but not limited to, each executive officers’ experience, education, and responsibilities), the compensation committee then approves, or recommends to the board of directors for approval, the compensation for each executive officer.  Compensation determinations for our executive officers are made without members of management present.  In 2020, the compensation committee continued to retain the services of Radford, which is part of the Rewards Solutions practice at Aon plc (“Radford”), as its external compensation consultant, and the board of directors and the compensation committee considered Radford’s data, analysis and recommendation on certain compensation matters as they deemed appropriate before ultimately setting compensation for the Company’s executive officers.

Role of the Compensation Consultant

We develop our compensation programs after reviewing publicly available compensation data and subscription survey data for our peer group, provided by Radford.  For 2020, our compensation committee continued to engage Radford as its independent

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compensation consultant, to advise on executive compensation matters including: overall compensation program design (including our performance-based equity award program), peer group development and updates, and director and executive compensation benchmarking.  Radford reports directly to our compensation committee.  Our compensation committee has assessed the independence of Radford consistent with Nasdaq listing standards and has concluded that the engagement of Radford does not raise any conflict of interest.

Defining and Comparing Compensation to Market Benchmarks

In evaluating the total compensation of our named executive officers, our compensation committee, using information provided by Radford, establishes a peer group of publicly traded companies in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries that is selected based on a balance of the following criteria:

 

 

Based on these criteria, our peer group for 2020, as approved by our compensation committee, was comprised of the following 19 companies: 

 

We believe that the compensation practices of our 2020 peer group provided us with appropriate compensation data for evaluating the competitiveness of the compensation of our named executive officers during 2020.

Notwithstanding any potential similarities with the 2020 peer group, due to the nature of our business, we compete for executive talent with many public companies that are larger and more established than we are or that possess greater resources than we do, and with smaller private companies that may be able to offer greater equity compensation potential.  Our compensation committee generally targets both cash and long-term incentive compensation for our executive officers at approximately the 50^th percentile of our peer group.  Although the compensation committee and the board of directors target compensation per the above, they also consider other criteria, including market factors, the experience level of the executive and the executive’s performance against established Company goals, in determining variations to this general target range.  

Other Key Performance Factors in Determining Executive Compensation

As the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by a very long product development cycle, including a lengthy research and development period and a rigorous approval phase involving clinical studies and governmental regulatory and marketing approval, many of the traditional benchmarking metrics, such as product sales, revenues and profits are inappropriate for an early stage biopharmaceutical company such as Intellia. Instead, the specific performance factors our compensation committee considers when determining the compensation of our named executive officers include:

 

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These performance factors are considered by our compensation committee and board of directors in connection with our annual performance reviews described below and are a critical component in the determination of annual cash and equity incentive awards for our executives.

2020 Base Salary

We provide base salaries to our named executive officers to compensate them with a fair and competitive base level of compensation for services rendered during the year.  Prior to making its decision, our compensation committee typically reviews and discusses management’s proposed compensation with the chief executive officer for all executives other than the chief executive officer.

 

Effective January 1, 2020, our compensation committee approved merit increases in base salary for each of our then-serving named executive officers. The table below sets forth the 2020 base salary, 2019 base salary and the adjustments to base salary for each of our named executive officers for 2020:

 

 

 

2020 Annual Cash Incentive Program

Our compensation committee aims to determine an appropriate mix of cash payments and equity incentive awards to incentivize each executive to meet short- and long-term goals and objectives. In December 2019, our compensation committee approved the annual performance-based cash incentive program for 2020, including the opportunity for eligible participants to achieve incentive awards above established bonus targets based on the Company’s performance against 2020 corporate goals.

The table below shows the target award under the annual performance-based cash incentive program as a percentage of each named executive officer’s annual base salary in 2020, the target cash award opportunity in dollars for 2020 and the actual cash bonus payments to our named executive officers for 2020 performance, which were paid in February 2021, as well as the actual bonus payment as a percentage of the target award opportunity. The details regarding the determination of these cash bonus awards are discussed below.

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Under the 2020 annual performance-based cash incentive program, awards were determined by the following formula:

 

 

Dr. Leonard’s 2020 bonus was entirely based on his leadership and execution in ensuring that the Company met its corporate goals for the year. Mr. Goddard and Drs. Lebwohl, Schiermeier and Sepp-Lorenzino’s individual performance toward corporate goals relevant to their functions in 2020 was considered in determining their overall performance and final award.  The compensation committee determines each named executive officer’s individual performance by considering the performance relative to the executive officer’s functional attainments and impact on corporate goals, as well as other factors related to conformance with the Company’s core values and policies and the expected competencies and skills for the executive’s job.

Based on these considerations, the compensation committee determined that, based on their respective overall performances, Mr. Goddard achieved 90% of his target, Dr. Lebwohl achieved 100% of his target, and Dr. Schiermeier achieved 95% of his target. The compensation committee determined that Dr. Sepp-Lorenzino achieved 110% of her target for overall performance due to exceptional performance in 2020.  

In making its determination regarding awards under the 2020 annual performance-based cash incentive program, our compensation committee considered our success against our 2020 corporate goals. The 2020 corporate goals approved by our board of directors and compensation committee, the relative weightings assigned to each goal at the beginning of the year, our actual achievement during the performance period as a percentage of target and the weighted performance against these corporate goals for 2020, as approved by our compensation committee, were as follows:

 

 

Specific achievements that the compensation committee and the board of directors reviewed to support the “Actual Achievement for 2020”, above, include the following:

Develop Curative CRISPR-Based Medicines:

Advance our Science:

Build for Long-Term Sustainability:

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Be the Best Place to make Therapies:

Long-Term Incentives

Our long-term incentive program is designed to:

 

The market for qualified and talented executives in the biopharmaceutical industry is highly competitive and we compete for talent with many companies that have greater resources than we do. Accordingly, we believe equity compensation is a crucial component of any competitive executive compensation package we offer.

Historically, our equity awards have generally taken the form of stock options.  We typically grant stock options to each of our executive officers upon commencement of employment, annually in conjunction with our review of individual and corporate performance, or, throughout the year, in connection with a promotion, change of significant responsibilities or as a special incentive.

All equity awards to our executive officers are reviewed and approved by our compensation committee or, in the case of awards to our president and chief executive officer, by the board of directors, and, other than awards to new hires or for promotions, are typically granted annually. Other than for Dr. Lebwohl who joined the Company in April 2020, the board of directors or compensation committee approved a grant, effective March 2020, of time-vested stock options to each of our named executive officers in recognition of achievements and performance during 2019 and for expected continued contributions over the equity vesting period. In connection with his hire, effective May 2020, Dr. Lebwohl was granted a new hire stock option award.

Stock option awards may vary among our executive officers based on their functional responsibilities and annual performance assessments. In addition, our compensation committee reviews all components of an executive’s compensation to ensure that his or her total compensation is consistent with our overall philosophy and objectives. All stock options granted by the Company, including those made to our executives, have exercise prices equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the date of grant, so that the recipient will not recognize any value from his or her stock options unless our share price increases above the exercise price. Accordingly, this portion of our executive officers’ compensation is at risk and is directly aligned with stockholder value creation.

In addition, the stock options granted to our executive officers, including our named executive officers, typically vest over four years. Generally, the stock options we grant to our executives have a ten-year term and vest as to 25% of the shares on the first anniversary of either the grant or vesting commencement date and then, as to the remainder, monthly thereafter in substantially equal installments until the fourth anniversary of either the grant or vesting commencement date. Vesting generally ceases upon termination of service to the Company and exercise rights typically cease three months following termination of service, except in the case of death or disability, or if otherwise modified pursuant to an agreement approved by the compensation committee or the board of directors as described in the “Benefits and Other Compensation” section below. Prior to the exercise of an option, the option holder does not have any rights as a stockholder with respect to the shares subject to such option, including voting rights or the right to receive dividends or dividend equivalents. Because the Company is still in its early clinical research stage and after consulting with its independent compensation consultant, the compensation committee historically has granted time-based vesting stock options and, more recently, restricted stock unit awards, to its employees, including the named executive officers. The compensation committee, however, regularly considers whether equity awards subject to vesting based on the achievement of specified performance metrics should be incorporated into our annual equity compensation program and, on occasion as appropriate, has granted performance-based equity awards to employees, including some of the named executive officers.

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The following table sets forth the number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of time-based stock options granted to our named executive officers in 2020:

 

Benefits and Other Compensation

Other compensation to our executives consists primarily of the broad-based benefits we offer to all regular full-time employees, including medical, dental and vision insurance, medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts, group life and disability insurance, an employee stock purchase plan and a 401(k) plan. Named executive officers are eligible to participate in all our employee benefit plans, in each case on the same basis as other employees. Pursuant to our employee stock purchase plan, employees, including our named executive officers, have an opportunity to purchase our common stock at a discount on a tax-qualified basis through payroll deductions. The employee stock purchase plan is designed to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). The purpose of the employee stock purchase plan is to encourage our employees, including our named executive officers, to become our stockholders and better align their interests with those of our other stockholders.

Our tax-qualified 401(k) plan provides eligible employees with an opportunity to save for retirement on a tax-advantaged deferred basis or as Roth deferrals.  All eligible and participating employees receive a 401(k)-match competitive with other companies in our industry. All participants’ interests in their deferred contributions and associated Company match are 100% vested when deposited.  All contributions are allocated to each participant’s individual account and are then invested in selected investment alternatives according to each participant’s directions.  The retirement plan is intended to qualify under Section 401(a) of the Code.

Currently, we do not view perquisites or other personal benefits as a significant component of our executive compensation program. We currently, and may in the future, provide perquisites to our named executive officers in situations where we believe it is appropriate to assist an individual in the performance of his or her duties, to make him or her more efficient and effective, and for recruitment and retention purposes.

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Our named executive officers are entitled, upon a qualifying termination, to certain severance and/or change in control protections pursuant to their employment agreements. See below for a chart detailing the general terms of these protections.

 

 

We do not offer any defined benefit pension plans or nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements for our employees, including our named executive officers.

Tax and Accounting Considerations

 

Deductibility of Executive Compensation

Generally, Section 162(m) of the Code (“Section 162(m)”) disallows a federal income tax deduction for public corporations of remuneration in excess of $1 million paid in any fiscal year to certain specified executive officers. For taxable years beginning before January 1, 2018, (i) these executive officers consisted of a public corporation’s principal executive officer and up to three other executive officers (other than the principal financial officer) whose compensation is required to be disclosed to stockholders under the Exchange Act, because they are our most highly-compensated executive officers and (ii) qualifying “performance-based compensation” was not subject to this deduction limit if specified requirements were met.

Pursuant to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the remuneration of a public corporation’s principal financial officer is also subject to the deduction limit. In addition, subject to certain transition rules (which apply to remuneration provided pursuant to written binding contracts which were in effect on November 2, 2017 and which are not subsequently materially modified), for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the exemption from the deduction limit for “performance-based compensation” is no longer available. Consequently, for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2017, all remuneration in excess of $1 million paid to a specified executive will not be deductible.

In designing our executive compensation program and determining the compensation of our executive officers, including our named executive officers, the compensation committee considers a variety of factors, including the potential impact of the Section 162(m) deduction limit. However, the compensation committee will not necessarily limit executive compensation to that which is or may be deductible under Section 162(m). The compensation committee will consider various alternatives to preserving the deductibility of compensation payments and benefits to the extent consistent with its compensation goals. The compensation committee believes that our stockholders’ interests are best served if its discretion and flexibility in awarding compensation is not restricted, even though some compensation may result in non-deductible compensation expense.

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Taxation of “Parachute” Payments

Sections 280G and 4999 of the Code provide that executive officers and directors who hold significant equity interests and certain other service providers may be subject to significant additional taxes if they receive payments or benefits in connection with a change in control of the Company that exceed certain prescribed limits, and that the Company (or a successor) may forfeit a deduction on the amounts subject to this additional tax. We have not agreed to provide any executive officer, including any named executive officer, with a “gross-up” or other reimbursement payment for any tax liability that the executive officer might owe as a result of the application of Sections 280G or 4999 of the Code.

Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code

Section 409A of the Code imposes additional significant taxes in the event that an executive officer, director or service provider receives “deferred compensation” that does not satisfy the requirements of Section 409A of the Code. Although we do not maintain a nonqualified deferred compensation plan, Section 409A of the Code may apply to certain severance arrangements, bonus arrangements and equity awards.  We aim to structure all our severance arrangements, bonus arrangements and equity awards in a manner to either avoid the application of Section 409A or, to the extent doing so is not possible, to comply with the applicable requirements of Section 409A of the Code.

 

 

Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation

We follow Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 718 (“FASB ASC 718”) for our stock-based compensation awards. FASB ASC 718 requires us to measure the compensation expense for all share-based payment awards made to our employees and non-employee members of our board of directors, including options to purchase shares of our common stock and other stock awards, based on the grant date “fair value” of these awards. This calculation is performed for accounting purposes and reported in the executive compensation tables required by the federal securities laws, even though the recipient of the awards may never realize any value from their awards.

Compensation Risk Assessment

We believe that our executive compensation program does not encourage excessive or unnecessary risk taking. As described more fully above, we structure our pay to consist of both fixed and variable compensation, particularly in connection with our pay-for-performance compensation philosophy. We believe this structure motivates our executives to produce superior short- and long-term results that are in the best interests of our Company and stockholders in order to attain our ultimate objective of increasing stockholder value, and we have established, and our board of directors and its compensation committee endorse, several controls to address and mitigate compensation-related risk.  As a result, we do not believe that our compensation programs are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on us.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

Executive Officer Compensation

2020 Summary Compensation Table

The following table sets forth the total compensation awarded to, earned by and paid during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020, December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 for each of our named executive officers.

 

 

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Grants of Plan-Based Awards

The following table shows information regarding grants of plan-based awards during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 to the Company’s named executive officers.

 

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

The following table presents information regarding all outstanding equity awards held by each of our named executive officers on December 31, 2020.  All of the outstanding awards were granted under our Amended and Restated 2015 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2015 Plan”).

 

 

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Option Exercises and Stock Vested

The following table sets forth, for each of the named executive officers, information with respect to the exercise of stock options or vesting of stock awards during the year ended December 31, 2020.

 

Employment, Severance and Change in Control Arrangements  

During 2020, we did not amend or restate employment agreements that were in place as of January 1, 2020 with any of our named executive officers. In April 2020, we entered into an employment agreement, of similar form to the then-existing named executive officers, with Dr. Lebwohl in connection with his hire.  Each of our named executive officers is employed at will.  The material terms of the employment agreements with our named executive officers are summarized below.

John M. Leonard, M.D.   Dr. Leonard currently receives an annual base salary of $600,000, which is subject to review and adjustment in accordance with Company policy.  Dr. Leonard is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus targeted at 55% of his base salary.  Dr. Leonard is also eligible to participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all of our employees, subject to the terms of those plans.

Glenn G. Goddard  Mr. Goddard currently receives an annual base salary of $419,200, which is subject to review and adjustment in accordance with Company policy.  Mr. Goddard is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus targeted at 40% of his base salary.  Mr. Goddard is also eligible to participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all of our employees, subject to the terms of those plans.

David Lebwohl, M.D. Dr. Lebwohl currently receives an annual base salary of $458,300, which is subject to review and adjustment in accordance with Company policy.  Dr. Lebwohl is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus targeted at 40% of his base salary.  Dr. Lebwohl is also eligible to participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all of our employees, subject to the terms of those plans.

Andrew D. Schiermeier, Ph.D. Dr. Schiermeier currently receives an annual base salary of $469,000, which is subject to review and adjustment in accordance with Company policy.  Dr. Schiermeier is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus targeted at 40% of his base salary.  Dr. Schiermeier is also eligible to participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all of our employees, subject to the terms of those plans.

Laura Sepp-Lorenzino, Ph.D. Dr. Sepp-Lorenzino currently receives an annual base salary of $441,000, which is subject to review and adjustment in accordance with Company policy.  Dr. Sepp-Lorenzino is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus targeted at 40% of her base salary.  Dr. Sepp-Lorenzino is also eligible to participate in employee benefit plans generally available to all of our employees, subject to the terms of those plans.

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Each of our named executive officers has entered into a standard form agreement with respect to proprietary information and assignment of inventions.  Among other things, this agreement obligates each named executive officer to refrain from disclosing any of our proprietary information received during the course of employment and to assign to us any inventions conceived or developed during the course of employment.  With respect to Drs. Leonard and Schiermeier, such agreement also provides that during the period of their employment and for six months thereafter, they will not compete with us and will not solicit our employees, consultants, customers or suppliers.  Because of the Massachusetts non-compete law that became effective on, and applied to employees hired after, October 1, 2018, we separated the non-competition provisions from the other provisions in our standard form agreement.  Accordingly, upon their respective employment commencement, we entered into the standard form agreement with Mr. Goddard and Drs. Lebwohl and Sepp-Lorenzino with regards to proprietary information and assignment of inventions as previously described except that the agreement does not contain non-competition obligations.  With regards to non-competition obligations, we entered into separate agreements with Mr. Goddard (on October 29, 2018), Dr. Lebwohl (on April 30, 2020) and Dr. Sepp-Lorenzino (on May 28, 2019) under which, as required by state law, we have agreed to pay each of them, respectively, 50% of his or her base salary if we decide to enforce the non-competition obligation following the period of his or her respective employment; provided that any severance payments Mr. Goddard or Drs. Lebwohl and Sepp-Lorenzino would be entitled to receive will be reduced by the amount that Mr. Goddard or Drs. Lebwohl and Sepp-Lorenzino is entitled to receive under his or her employment agreement (described below), respectively, if the non-competition agreement is enforced.

Pursuant to separate employment agreements with our named executive officers, if a named executive officer’s employment is terminated by us without cause, as defined in the employment agreements, or by the named executive officer for good reason, as defined in the employment agreements, and subject to the execution and effectiveness of a separation agreement, including a general release of claims in our favor, the named executive officer will be entitled to receive: (i) an amount equal to 12 months of base salary in the case of Dr. Leonard, or nine months of base salary in the case of the other named executive officers, in each case, payable in substantially equal installments over the 12 or nine months following termination, as applicable, and (ii) if the named executive officer is participating in our group health plan immediately prior to his or her termination, we will continue to pay our portion of coverage until 12 months following termination in the case of Dr. Leonard, or nine months following termination in the case of the other named executive officers, or, if earlier, the end of the executive officer’s COBRA health continuation period, in an amount equal to the amount that we would have made to provide health insurance to the executive officer had he or she remained employed with us.  In addition, except as otherwise provided in the applicable award agreement, all equity awards held by the named executive officer or by entities to which the named executive officer has properly transferred such awards that would have vested in the 12-month period following termination in the case of Dr. Leonard or the nine-month period following termination in the case of the other named executive officers had the named executive officer remained employed by us during such period will accelerate and vest as of the date of termination.  In lieu of the payments and benefits described above, in the event that the named executive officer’s employment is terminated by us without cause or the named executive officer resigns for good reason, in either case within 24 months following a change in control, as defined in the employment agreements, subject to the execution and effectiveness of a separation agreement, including a general release of claims in our favor, the named executive officer will be entitled to receive (i) a lump sum cash payment equal to two times in the case of Dr. Leonard, or 1.5 times in the case of the other named executive officers, the sum of (A) the officer’s then-current base salary, or the officer’s base salary in effect immediately prior to the change in control, if higher, and (B) the officer’s target annual cash incentive compensation for the then-current year, (ii) if the officer is participating in our group health plan immediately prior to his or her termination, we will continue to pay our portion of coverage until 18 months following termination or, if earlier, the end of the officer’s COBRA health continuation period in an amount equal to the amount that we would have made to provide health insurance to him or her had he or she remained employed with us and (iii) except as otherwise provided in the applicable award agreement, (A) if the named executive officer was employed by the Company for at least six consecutive months immediately prior to the change in control, full acceleration of all equity awards held by the officer or by entities to whom the officer has properly transferred such awards or (B) if the named executive officer was employed by the Company for less than six consecutive months immediately prior to the change in control, acceleration of 50% of all equity awards held by the officer or by entities to whom the officer has properly transferred such awards.

Estimated Payment and Benefits Upon Termination or Change of Control

The amount of compensation and benefits payable to each named executive officer who was employed on December 31, 2020 under our current employment agreements in various termination and change in control situations has been estimated in the tables below.  The value of the equity vesting acceleration was calculated for each of the tables below based on the assumption that the change in control and the named executive officer’s employment termination occurred on December 31, 2020.  The per share closing price of the Company’s stock on the Nasdaq Global Market as of December 31, 2020 was $54.40, which was used as the value of a share of the Company’s stock in the change in control for the calculations below.  The value of the option vesting acceleration was calculated by multiplying the number of shares underlying unvested options subject to vesting acceleration as of December 31, 2020, by the difference between the per share closing price of the Company’s stock as of December 31, 2020, and the per share exercise price for such shares underlying unvested options.

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The following table describes the potential payments and benefits upon employment termination for Dr. Leonard, as if his employment terminated as of December 31, 2020.

 

 

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The following table describes the potential payments and benefits upon employment termination for all of our named executive officers other than Dr. Leonard, as if his or her employment terminated as of December 31, 2020.

 

 

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Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table provides information as of December 31, 2020 with respect to the shares of our common stock that may be issued under our existing equity compensation plans.

 

 

CEO Pay Ratio

Our compensation and benefits philosophy and the overall structure of our compensation and benefit programs are broadly similar across the organization to encourage and reward all employees who contribute to our success. We strive to ensure the pay of each of our employees reflects the level of their job impact and responsibilities and is competitive within our peer group. Compensation rates are benchmarked and are generally set to be market-competitive in the country in which the jobs are performed. Our ongoing commitment to pay equity is critical to our success in supporting a diverse workforce with opportunities for all employees to grow, develop and contribute.

Under rules adopted pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, we are required to calculate and disclose the total compensation paid to our median paid employee, as well as the ratio of the total compensation paid to the median employee as compared to the total compensation paid to our chief executive officer (the “CEO Pay Ratio”). The paragraphs that follow describe our methodology and the resulting CEO Pay Ratio.

We identified the median employee using our employee population on December 31, 2020 (including all employees, whether employed on a full-time, part-time, seasonal or temporary basis).

We identified the median employee by looking at W-2 compensation, plus estimated bonus, the fair market value of equity grants, life and disability insurance, and the estimated value of 401(k) match (whether vested or not) as of December 31, 2020. We did not perform adjustments to the compensation paid to part-time employees to calculate what they would have been paid on a full-time basis. In identifying the median employee, we did not make any cost-of-living adjustments. Once the median employee was identified, we calculated the median employee’s annual target total direct compensation in accordance with the requirements of the Summary Compensation Table.

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Our median employee’s compensation as calculated using Summary Compensation Table requirements was $141,231. Our chief executive officer’s compensation as reported in the Summary Compensation Table was $3,635,676. Therefore, our CEO Pay Ratio is approximately 26:1.

This information is being provided for compliance purposes and is a reasonable estimate calculated in a manner consistent with SEC rules, based on our internal records and the methodology described above. The SEC rules for identifying the median compensated employee allow companies to adopt a variety of methodologies, to apply certain exclusions and to make reasonable estimates and assumptions that reflect their employee populations and compensation practices. Accordingly, the pay ratio reported by other companies may not be comparable to the pay ratio reported above, as other companies have different employee populations and compensation practices and may use different methodologies, exclusions, estimates and assumptions in calculating their own pay ratios. Neither the compensation committee nor management of the Company used the CEO Pay Ratio measure in making compensation decisions.

Director Compensation

The table below shows all compensation paid to our non-employee directors during 2020.

 

 

During 2020, we did not provide any compensation, including cash payments or equity awards, to Dr. Leonard for his service as a director.  Compensation paid to Dr. Leonard as an executive officer during 2020 is set forth under “Executive Officer Compensation—Summary Compensation Table.”

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During 2020, we compensated our non-employee directors with a cash retainer for service on the board of directors and for service on each committee on which the director is a member.  The chairperson of the board and of each committee receives a higher retainer for such service.  These fees are payable in arrears in four equal quarterly installments on the last day of each quarter, provided that the amount of such payment is prorated for any portion of such quarter that the director is not serving on our board of directors.  The fees paid to non-employee directors for service on the board of directors and for service on each committee of the board of directors on which the director is a member are as follows:

 

 

We also reimburse our non-employee directors for reasonable travel and out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending our board of director and committee meetings.

 

 

Non-Employee Director Equity Compensation

Our non-employee director equity compensation is intended to enable us to attract and retain qualified and experienced individuals to serve as directors and to align our directors’ interests with those of our stockholders.

In 2020, each non-employee director, upon his or her initial election to our board of directors, received an option to purchase 38,000 shares of our common stock. Additionally, on the date of our Company’s 2020 annual meeting of stockholders, each non-employee director was granted a non-qualified stock option to purchase 19,000 shares of common stock.  

Beginning in 2021, each non-employee director, upon his or her initial election to our board of directors, will receive an initial equity award valued at $700,000, with 50% of the value delivered in the form of stock options and 50% delivered in the form of restricted stock units. Also beginning in 2021, on the date of each annual meeting of stockholders of our Company, each non-employee director will receive an annual equity award valued at $350,000, with 50% of the value delivered in the form of stock options and 50% of delivered in the form of restricted stock units.

Our non-employee director compensation policy was approved by the board of directors as recommended by the compensation committee, which consulted with Radford and reviewed market data relating to our peer companies. We target approximately the 60^th percentile of our peer group for board compensation and use the same peer group as we use for our named executive officers’ compensation.

To be aligned with their director terms, equity awards granted to non-employee directors upon initial election to the board of directors vest over the three years following the grant date, with 33^1/3% of the shares vesting one year after the date of grant and the remaining portion of the shares vesting thereafter in substantially equal quarterly installments over the next two years, subject to continued service through such date. Equity awards granted to our non-employee directors on the date of each annual meeting vest in full upon the earlier to occur of the first anniversary of the grant date or the date of the next annual meeting of stockholders following the date of grant, subject to continued service as a director through such date.  

All equity awards issued to our non-employee directors under our director compensation program will become fully vested upon a change in control of our Company.  In addition, the form of option agreement gives non-employee directors up to three months and one day following cessation of service as a director to exercise the options, to the extent vested at the date of such cessation, provided that the director has not been removed for cause.  The exercise price of options granted to our non-employee directors under our director compensation policy is equal to the fair market value of our common stock on the date of grant.

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REPORT OF THE COMPENSATION AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

The information contained in this report shall not be deemed to be (1) “soliciting material,” (2) “filed” with the SEC, (3) subject to Regulations 14A or 14C of the Exchange Act, or (4) subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act.  This report shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any of our other filings under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

The compensation and talent development committee has reviewed and discussed the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section of this proxy statement with management.  Based on the review and discussions, the compensation and talent development committee recommended to the board of directors that the “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” section be included in this proxy statement, which is incorporated by reference in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

 

 

April 28, 2021

 

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CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Certain Relationships and Transactions

Other than compensation arrangements for our directors and named executive officers, which are described elsewhere under the “Executive Officer and Director Compensation” section of this proxy statement, below we describe transactions since January 1, 2020 to which we were a party or will be a party, in which:

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Relationship with Regeneron

Regeneron is a greater-than-5% stockholder in our company.  

License and Collaboration Agreement

In April 2016, the Company entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Regeneron (the “2016 Regeneron Agreement”). The 2016 Regeneron Agreement has two principal components: (i) a product development component under which the parties will research, develop and commercialize CRISPR/Cas-based therapeutic products primarily focused on genome editing in the liver, and (ii) a technology collaboration component, pursuant to which the Company and Regeneron will engage in research-related activities aimed at discovering and developing novel technologies and improvements to CRISPR/Cas technology to enhance the Company’s genome editing platform.  Under this agreement, the Company also may access the Regeneron Genetics Center and proprietary mouse models to be provided by Regeneron for a limited number of the Company’s liver programs.  At the inception of the 2016 Regeneron Agreement, Regeneron selected the first of its ten targets, transthyretin amyloidosis (“ATTR”), which is subject to a co-development and co-promotion agreement between the Company and Regeneron (the “ATTR Co/Co”). 

On May 30, 2020, the Company entered into (i) amendment no. 1 (the “2020 Regeneron Amendment”) to the 2016 Regeneron Agreement, (ii) co-development and co-funding agreements for the treatment of hemophilia A and hemophilia B (the “Hemophilia Co/Co”) agreements and (iii) a stock purchase agreement (the “2020 Stock Purchase Agreement”).  The collaboration expansion builds upon the jointly developed targeted transgene insertion capabilities designed to durably restore missing therapeutic protein, and to overcome the limitations of traditional gene therapy.  The collaboration was extended until April 2024, at which point Regeneron has an option to renew for an additional two years.  The 2020 Regeneron Amendment also grants Regeneron exclusive rights to develop products for five additional in vivo CRISPR/Cas-based therapeutic liver targets and non-exclusive rights to independently develop and commercialize up to 10 ex vivo gene edited products made using certain defined cell types.

Through December 31, 2020, excluding the amounts allocated to Regeneron’s purchase of the Company’s common stock, the Company recorded $145.0 million in upfront payments under the Amended Agreements and $34.8 million primarily for research and development services under the ATTR Co/Co agreement.  Through December 31, 2020, the Company has recognized $123.2 million of collaboration revenue under all arrangements, including $53.0 million, $24.6 million and $20.1 million of collaboration revenue in the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.  This includes $10.7 million, $12.0 million, and $7.5 million primarily representing payments due from Regeneron pursuant to the ATTR Co/Co agreement.  As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had accounts receivable of $2.1 million and $3.6 million, respectively, and deferred revenue of $73.9 million and $28.8 million, respectively, related to the Amended Agreements.

Equity Placement

Under the 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company sold to Regeneron 925,218 shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), for aggregate cash consideration of $30.0 million, or $32.42 per share (the “Equity Transaction”), representing a 100% premium over the volume-weighted average trading price of the Company’s Common Stock during the 30-day period prior to the closing of the Equity Transaction. Under the 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement, Regeneron will not dispose of any shares of Common Stock it beneficially owns in the Company until the termination of the Technology Collaboration Term, including any extensions thereof, subject to limited exceptions.

Further, under the Stock Purchase Agreement, Regeneron has agreed to vote, and cause its affiliates to vote, all shares of the Company’s voting securities that Regeneron is entitled to vote in a manner as recommended by the Company’s board of directors,

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except with respect to certain change of control transactions, liquidation or dissolution of the Company, issuances of Common Stock, or matters relating to the Company’s stock option or stock purchase plan or other equity compensation arrangements.

Indemnification Agreements

We have entered into agreements to indemnify our directors and executive officers.  These agreements will, among other things, require us to indemnify these individuals for certain expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and settlement amounts reasonably incurred by such person in any action or proceeding, including any action by or in our right, on account of any services undertaken by such person on behalf of our company or that person’s status as a member of our board of directors to the maximum extent allowed under Delaware law.

Policies and Procedures for Related Party Transactions

We have adopted a related party transaction approval policy that governs the review of related party transactions.  Pursuant to this written policy, if we enter into a transaction involving over $120,000 with any director, executive officer, holder of 5% or more of any class of our capital stock or any member of the immediate family of, or entities affiliated with, any of them, or any other related party, our audit committee must approve such transaction.  Any such transaction must either first be presented to our audit committee for review, consideration or approval, or, if advance review by the committee is not feasible, be reviewed, considered or approved by the committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting.  In approving or rejecting any such transaction, our audit committee is to consider the relevant facts and circumstances available and deemed relevant to the audit committee, including, but not limited to, the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction, and whether the transaction is on terms no less favorable to us than terms we could have generally obtained from an unaffiliated third party under the same or similar circumstances.  Further, when stockholders are entitled to vote on a transaction with a related party, the material facts of the related party’s relationship or interest in the transaction must be disclosed to the stockholders, who must approve the transaction in good faith.

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PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information, to the extent known by us or ascertainable from public filings, with respect to the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 31, 2021 by:

The column entitled “Percentage Beneficially Owned” is based on 67,890,334 shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2021.

Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and includes voting or investment power with respect to our common stock.  Shares of our common stock subject to options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of March 31, 2021 are considered outstanding and beneficially owned by the person holding the options for the purpose of calculating the percentage ownership of that person but not for the purpose of calculating the percentage ownership of any other person.  Except as otherwise noted, the persons and entities in this table have sole voting and investing power with respect to all of the shares of our common stock beneficially owned by them, subject to community property laws, where applicable.  Except as otherwise indicated in the table below, addresses of named beneficial owners are in care of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.

 

 

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REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE

The audit committee is appointed by the board of directors to assist the board of directors in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities with respect to (1) the integrity of Intellia’s financial statements and financial reporting process and systems of internal controls regarding finance, accounting, and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (2) the qualifications, independence, and performance of Intellia’s independent registered public accounting firm, (3) the performance of Intellia’s internal audit function, if any, and (4) other matters as set forth in the charter of the audit committee approved by the board of directors.

Management is responsible for the preparation of Intellia’s financial statements and the financial reporting process, including its system of internal control over financial reporting and its disclosure controls and procedures.  The independent registered public accounting firm is responsible for performing an audit of Intellia’s financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB and issuing a report thereon.  The audit committee’s responsibility is to monitor and oversee these processes.

In connection with these responsibilities, the audit committee reviewed and discussed with management and the independent registered public accounting firm the audited consolidated financial statements of Intellia for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, including internal control testing under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  The audit committee also discussed with the independent registered public accounting firm the matters required to be discussed by the PCAOB’s Auditing Standard No. 1301, Communication with Audit Committees, and the SEC.  In addition, the audit committee received written disclosures and the letter from the independent registered public accounting firm as required by the applicable requirements of the PCAOB regarding the independent registered public accounting firm’s communications with the audit committee concerning independence and has discussed with the independent registered public accounting firm their independence.

Based on the reviews and discussions referred to above, the audit committee recommended to the board of directors that the audited consolidated financial statements of Intellia be included in Intellia’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, that was filed with the SEC.

 

 

April 28, 2021

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HOUSEHOLDING

Some banks, brokers and other nominee record holders may be participating in the practice of “householding” proxy statements and annual reports.  This means that only one copy of our documents, including the Notice and, if applicable, the 2020 Annual Report and proxy statement, may have been sent to multiple stockholders in your household.  We will promptly deliver a separate copy of either document to you upon written request to Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary or by emailing IRcontact@intelliatx.com.  If you want to receive separate copies of the proxy statement or annual report to stockholders in the future, or if you are receiving multiple copies and would like to receive only one copy per household, you should contact your bank, broker or other nominee record holder, or you may contact us at the above address and phone number.

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSALS

A stockholder who would like to have a proposal considered for inclusion in our 2022 proxy statement must submit the proposal in accordance with the procedures outlined in Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act so that it is received by us no later than December 29, 2021.  However, if the date of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is changed by more than 30 days from the anniversary date of the previous year’s meeting, then the deadline is a reasonable time before we begin to print and send our proxy statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.  SEC rules set standards for eligibility and specify the types of stockholder proposals that may be excluded from a proxy statement.  Stockholder proposals should be addressed to Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary.

If a stockholder wishes to propose a nomination of persons for election to our board of directors or present a proposal at an annual meeting but does not wish to have the proposal considered for inclusion in our proxy statement and proxy card, our second amended and restated by-laws establish an advance notice procedure for such nominations and proposals.  Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the board of directors or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has delivered timely notice in proper form to our corporate secretary of the stockholder’s intention to bring such business before the meeting.

The required notice must be in writing and received by our corporate secretary at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting.  However, in the event that the date of the 2022 annual meeting is advanced by more than 20 days, or delayed by more than 60 days, from the first anniversary of the 2021 annual meeting, a stockholder’s notice must be so received no later than the close of business of the 90th day prior to the 2022 annual meeting or the tenth day following the day on which notice of the date of the 2022 annual meeting was first made, whichever first occurs.  For stockholder proposals to be brought before the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, the required notice must be received by our corporate secretary at our principal executive offices no earlier than close of business on February 23, 2022 and no later than close of business on March 25, 2022.  Stockholder proposals and the required notice should be addressed to Intellia Therapeutics, Inc., 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention:  Investor Relations / Corporate Secretary.

In addition to the above, a stockholder who would like to propose a nomination of persons for election to our board of directors must submit the proposal in accordance with the procedures outlined in the nominating and corporate governance committee’s charter, a current copy of which is posted on the corporate governance section of our website, http://ir.intelliatx.com/corporate-governance/documents-charters.  Specifically, all nomination recommendations must include (i) the name and address of record of the stockholder; (ii) a representation that the stockholder is a record holder of Intellia’s securities, or if the stockholder is not a record holder, evidence of ownership in accordance with Rule 14a-8(b)(2) of the Exchange Act; (iii) the name, age, business and residential address, educational background, current principal occupation or employment, and principal occupation or employment for the precedent five (5) full fiscal years of the proposed director candidate; (iv) a description of the qualifications and background of the proposed director candidate which addresses the minimum qualifications and other criteria for membership on our board of directors as set forth in the charter of the nominating and corporate governance committee; (v) a description of all arrangements or understandings between the stockholder and the proposed director candidate; (vi) the consent of the proposed director candidate (A) to be named in the proxy statement relating to Intellia’s annual meeting of stockholders and (B) to serve as a director if elected; and (vii) any other information regarding the proposed director candidate that is required to be included in a proxy statement filed pursuant to the rules of the SEC.

 

 

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INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC. 40 ERIE STREET, SUITE 130 CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 VOTE BY INTERNET Before The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Meeting") - Go to www.proxyvote.com Use the Internet to transmit your voting instructions and for electronic delivery of information up until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on June 22, 2021. Have your proxy card in hand when you access the web site and follow the instructions to obtain your records and to create an electronic voting instruction form. During The Meeting - Go to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NTLA2021 You may attend the Meeting via the Internet and vote during the Meeting. Have the information that is printed in the box marked by the arrow available and follow the instructions. VOTE BY PHONE - 1-800-690-6903 Use any touch-tone telephone to transmit your voting instructions up until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on June 22, 2021. Have your proxy card in hand when you call and then follow the instructions. VOTE BY MAIL Mark, sign and date your proxy card and return it in the postage-paid envelope we have provided or return it to Vote Processing, c/o Broadridge, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, NY 11717. TO VOTE, MARK BLOCKS BELOW IN BLUE OR BLACK INK AS FOLLOWS: D44418-P54566 KEEP THIS PORTION FOR YOUR RECORDS THIS PROXY CARD IS VALID ONLY WHEN SIGNED AND DATED. DETACH AND RETURN THIS PORTION ONLY INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC. For All Withhold All For All Except To withhold authority to vote for any individual nominee(s), mark "For All Except" and write the number(s) of the nominee(s) on the line below. The Board of Directors recommends you vote FOR the following nominees: 1. Election of Directors. Election of the following individuals nominated to serve as Class II directors, for a three-year term ending at the annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2024. 01) Fred Cohen, M.D., D.Phil. 02) Jean-François Formela, M.D. 03) Frank Verwiel, M.D. The Board of Directors recommends you vote FOR the following proposal: 2. Ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Intellia's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. The Board of Directors recommends you vote FOR the following proposal: 3. Approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of the named executive officers. NOTE: Such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment thereof. For Against Abstain For Against Abstain Please sign exactly as your name(s) appear(s) hereon. When signing as attorney, executor, administrator, or other fiduciary, please give full title as such. Joint owners should each sign personally. All holders must sign. If a corporation or partnership, please sign in full corporate or partnership name by authorized officer. Signature [PLEASE SIGN WITHIN BOX] Date Signature (Joint Owners) Date

 

 

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Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held June 23, 2021:The Notice, Proxy Statement and 2020 Annual Report are available at www.proxyvote.com. D44419-P54566 INTELLIA THERAPEUTICS, INC. Annual Meeting of Stockholders June 23, 2021 9:00 AM, EDT This proxy is solicited by the Board of Directors The undersigned hereby appoints John Leonard, M.D., Glenn Goddard and José Rivera, J.D., as proxies, each with the power to act without the other and appoint his substitute, and hereby authorizes them to represent and to vote, as designated on the reverse side of this ballot, all of the shares of common stock of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.that the undersigned is entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held online atwww.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NTLA2021 on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 9:00 AM, EDT and at any adjournment or postponement thereof. Receipt of the Notice of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, Proxy Statement and 2020 Annual Report is hereby acknowledged. This proxy, when properly executed, will be voted in the manner directed herein. If no such direction is made, this proxy will be voted in accordance with the Board of Directors' recommendations. Continued and to be signed on reverse side