Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
Appointment of New Director
On March 31, 2023, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Cognizant Technology
Solutions Corporation (the "Company") increased the size of the Board to 14
directors and appointed Abraham ("Bram") Schot to the Board, effective April 3,
2023. Mr. Schot will stand for re-election at the 2023 annual meeting of
shareholders. The Board determined that Mr. Schot qualifies as an "independent
director" under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC. Mr. Schot was
selected as a director based on his significant international operational,
managerial and technological expertise in the automotive industry, as summarized
below.
Mr. Schot, 61, brings to Cognizant more than three decades of experience in the
automotive industry, including management positions at DaimlerChrysler,
Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen Group and Audi.
From 2011 to 2020, he worked for the Volkswagen AG group of companies, including
most recently as the Chairman and CEO of the Audi Group, Member of the Group
Board of Volkswagen AG, Chairman Premium Car Group, Chief Commercial Officer
Volkswagen Group and Vice Chairman Porsche Holding, Salzburg, Austria from 2018
to April 2020. Prior positions include his roles as a Member of the Board of the
Audi Group from 2016 to 2018, Member of the Board of Volkswagen CV from 2011 to
2016, and President and CEO of Daimler/Mercedes-Benz Italia from 2006 to 2011.
From 2003 to 2006 he was President & CEO of DaimlerChrysler in the Netherlands.
Prior to that, Mr. Schot held a number of director and senior leadership roles
within Mercedes-Benz and Daimler AG in the Netherlands.
Mr. Schot currently sits on the Board of Directors of Shell plc and Signify NV.
He has also been an Associate Professor of Practice in Corporate Strategy at the
SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Italy, since 2021 and has held senior
advisory roles with various companies, including, currently, ADS-Tec Holding
since 2022, Carlyle Group since 2021 and TomTom N.V. since 2020. Mr. Schot
received a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Bradford,
England.
In connection with his appointment, Mr. Schot will receive compensation for
serving on the Board as follows:
•A cash retainer of $18,082 (the pro-rated portion of the $100,000 annual cash
retainer amount paid to all directors for service between the 2022 and 2023
annual meetings of shareholders of the Company); and
•The grant of a number of restricted stock units equal in value to $37,973, as
measured by the closing price of the Company's Class A Common Stock, par value
$0.01 per share on April 3, 2023 (rounded down to the nearest whole share), with
such stock grant to vest on April 3, 2024 (such grant being the pro-rated
portion of the $210,000 in restricted stock units, based on fair market value on
date of grant, granted to all directors for service between the 2022 and 2023
annual meetings of shareholders of the Company).
Mr. Schot will enter into the Company's standard form of indemnification
agreement for directors and officers with the Company.
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