Veritone Appoints New Chief Financial Officer in Planned Transition
October 08 2020 - 4:30PM
Business Wire
Company Adds Digital Media and SaaS Industry
Veteran to Accelerate Growth Strategy
Veritone, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERI), the creator of the world’s first
operating system for artificial intelligence, aiWARE™, today
announced that as part of a planned transition its Board of
Directors has appointed Michael L. Zemetra as Executive Vice
President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, effective
today.
“As our aiWARE business accelerates, we are very pleased to add
an industry veteran like Mike to the Veritone leadership team,”
Veritone Chairman and CEO Chad Steelberg said. “Mike’s extensive
experience in growing and driving performance in SaaS and digital
media companies, his deep financial acumen, and his exceptional
leadership capabilities will be great assets to Veritone as we
continue our quest to build the world’s leading AI solutions
company.”
Zemetra added, “I am excited to join the Veritone team to help
lead and scale through its next evolution, with intense focus on
customer-driven growth and expanded service offerings across a
virtually unlimited market for AI and Veritone’s SaaS offerings. I
look forward to speaking with investors on Veritone’s third quarter
conference call on November 9th.”
Zemetra succeeds Peter F. Collins, who will continue to serve in
an advisory capacity during a transition period. Collins and
Zemetra will work closely with the Company’s management team and
other stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.
“Pete has been instrumental in helping to build Veritone from a
start-up company to a leader in artificial intelligence,” said
Steelberg. “He helped to lead Veritone through our successful IPO
in May 2017, and his deep experience in business, accounting and
finance has been invaluable to us as we implemented policies and
processes, acquired and integrated three companies and scaled our
business by nearly 500% during his tenure. I want to thank Pete for
all of his many contributions to Veritone over the past four years
- we wish him all the best in the future.”
About Michael Zemetra
Zemetra brings to Veritone 25 years of financial and operational
experience in building, managing and scaling global organizations,
systems and operations for SaaS, technology, and digital media
companies. He most recently served as Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer of LiveXLive Media (Nasdaq: LIVX), a global
digital media company that operates a platform for livestream and
on-demand audio, video and podcast content, since April 2018. Prior
to that, he held senior financial leadership positions with a
number of publicly-traded SaaS, technology and digital media
companies, including J2 Global, Global Eagle Entertainment and
Demand Media (now Leaf Group). Zemetra began his career in the
technology and entertainment groups of PricewaterhouseCoopers,
where he advised large content and media companies such as The Walt
Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and LucasFilm.
Zemetra holds a Masters in Accounting from the University of
Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Business-Economics
from the University of California, Riverside, and earned his CPA
from the State of California.
The Company has filed form 8-K with the SEC, which includes the
Employment Agreement entered into with Zemetra. Pursuant to such
agreement, in connection with Zemetra’s appointment, Veritone’s
Compensation Committee granted him the following equity awards
effective October 8, 2020 under Veritone’s Inducement Grant Plan:
(i) restricted stock units (“RSUs”) representing the right to
receive upon vesting 40,000 shares of the Company’s common stock,
with 50% of such RSUs vesting on October 8, 2021 and the remainder
of such RSUs vesting in four equal quarterly installments
thereafter, subject to his continued employment through the
relevant vesting date; (ii) a time-based nonqualified stock option
to purchase 60,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, which
shall vest over a four (4) year period, with 25% of the shares
underlying such option vesting on October 8, 2021, and 1/36th of
the remaining shares underlying such option vesting for each full
month of his continuous employment thereafter, subject to his
continued employment through the relevant vesting date; and (iii) a
performance-based nonqualified stock option to purchase 120,000
shares of the Company’s common stock, which shall vest in three
equal installments based on the closing price of the Company’s
common stock exceeding $17.50, $22.50 and $27.50 per share for a
period of thirty (30) consecutive trading days, subject to his
continued employment through the relevant vesting date. The
exercise price per share of the stock options granted to Zemetra is
equal to the closing price per share of the Company’s common stock
on the grant date. The awards were granted outside of Veritone’s
existing shareholder-approved equity compensation plans, as an
inducement material to Zemetra becoming an employee of Veritone, in
accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Veritone
Veritone (Nasdaq: VERI) is a leading provider of artificial
intelligence (AI) technology and solutions. The company’s
proprietary operating system, aiWARE™, powers a diverse set of AI
applications and intelligent process automation solutions that are
transforming both commercial and government organizations. aiWARE
orchestrates an expanding ecosystem of machine learning models to
transform audio, video, and other data sources into actionable
intelligence. The company's AI developer tools enable its customers
and partners to easily develop and deploy custom applications that
leverage the power of AI to dramatically improve operational
efficiency and unlock untapped opportunities. Veritone is
headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, and has offices in Denver,
London, New York and San Diego. To learn more, visit
Veritone.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201008005951/en/
Company Contact: Brian
Alger, CFA SVP, Corporate Development & Investor Relations
Veritone, Inc. (949) 386-4318 investors@veritone.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Kirsten Chapman LHA Investor Relations (415) 433-3777
veritone@lhai.com
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