Name
Year
Base
Salary
Annual
Performance
MBO
Long-Term
Equity
Base
Salary
%
Annual
Performance
MBO
%
Long-
Term
Equity
%
Stanley T. Crooke . . . . . . . . .
2013 $735,169 $803,907 $1,203,708 27% 29% 44%
CEO&COB . . . . . . . . . . .
2014 $768,252 $720,236 $4,720,669 12% 12% 76%
Elizabeth L. Hougen . . . . . . .
2013 $365,496 $215,871 $ 167,880 49% 29% 22%
CFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2014 $377,923 $206,677 $1,132,961 22% 12% 66%
B. Lynne Parshall . . . . . . . . .
2013 $641,574 $526,171 $ 562,945 37% 30% 33%
COO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2014 $664,029 $466,895 $2,077,096 21% 15% 65%
Richard Geary . . . . . . . . . . . .
2013 $398,444 $225,918 $ 562,945 34% 19% 47%
SVP, Development. . . . . . .
2014 $411,194 $224,872 $1,132,961 23% 13% 64%
Brett Monia . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2013 $381,288 $142,983 $ 307,226 46% 17% 37%
SVP, Drug Discovery . . . .
2014 $396,158 $233,981 $1,132,961 23% 13% 64%
Base Salary
The fixed component of our compensation structure is base salary. We categorize our jobs in a system called
broad-banding. That is to say there are relatively few job levels within Isis, specifically ten levels, but the scope
of responsibility and accountability an employee may assume is broad. We do not have salary ranges, and
therefore we do not set salary minimums or maximums. It is therefore possible that someone may be in a lower
job level, but his or her salary may reach levels which exceed those of someone in a higher job level. We have
chosen not to have salary ranges because years of experience have shown that this approach often creates
unnecessary bureaucracy and a loss of talented individuals. Our aim is to attract and retain the most highly
qualified employees in an extremely competitive market.
We determine base compensation levels for all our employees primarily by
market forces. Accordingly, the Compensation Committee believes that it is important
when making its compensation decisions to be informed as to the current practices of
comparable publicly held companies with which we compete for top talent. To this
end, the Compensation Committee reviews market and peer company data, which
includes competitive information relating to the mix and levels of compensation for
executives in the life sciences industry. We obtain this information for the Executive
Peer Group based on recent public filings with the SEC. In addition, we also review
data from the Radford Global Life Sciences Survey, which is a summary of
compensation data submitted by over 500 life sciences companies. The Committee
uses these data to inform and shape its decision-making but does not strictly adhere
to quantitative benchmarks. In addition, we assess whether the scope of job
responsibilities and internal equity warrant a given base salary.
Base salary is guaranteed to all employees as wages for hours worked. It represents consideration for the
performance of job responsibilities. This portion of total cash compensation is not at risk and may increase as a
result of howwell an individual performs his or her job responsibilities.
Each year our employees are eligible to receive an appropriate merit salary increase. The Compensation
Committee sets a Company-wide merit increase budget percentage based on Isis’ performance and external
factors such as the average merit budget of comparable companies. The actual merit increase award for each
employee, including our executive officers, will vary depending upon the respective employee’s contributions to
Isis. For example, for 2014 performance the Company-wide merit increase budget was 3.5%, with a range of
individual merit award increases of 0% to 7.0%. However, regardless of individual employee variances, we do
not exceed the Company-wide approved merit budget.
The Compensation Committee evaluates each executive officer’s performance to set his or her annual merit
increase. As part of this process, the Compensation Committee reviews the written reports prepared by the CEO
evaluating the performance of each individual executive officer. The Compensation Committee carefully
considers these reports since our CEO is in the best position to evaluate our executive officers’ day-to-day and
overall performance. The Compensation Committee meets in executive session and evaluates the CEO’s
Base salaries for
CEO and COO
were
frozen
for
2011-2013.
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