FARO TECHNOLOGIES INC appointed Mr. Wasserman as new CEO

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.


FARO Technologies, Inc. (the "Company") announced today that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Burger, has informed the Company that he intends to retire as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, with the retirement to be effective July 1, 2023. The Company and Mr. Burger intend to enter a transition agreement relating to Mr. Burger's retirement and continuing service as an advisor to the Company for a period of time thereafter. 


The Company also announced the appointment of Yuval Wasserman, the Company's current Chairman of the Board, as the Company's Executive Chairman, effective May 4, 2023. As of such date, Mr. Wasserman will be, on an interim basis, the most senior executive officer of the Company, and the Company's principal executive officer for purposes of the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Burger will report to Mr. Wasserman in this role. Upon Mr. Burger's retirement, Mr. Wasserman will also assume the role of Interim Chief Executive Officer. The Company has agreed to pay Mr. Wasserman a salary of $1 per year, and has granted him 112,000 restricted stock units pursuant to its 2022 Equity Incentive Plan, as compensation for his service in these roles, effective May 4, 2023. The restricted stock units will vest in full on the first anniversary of the effective date.


Mr. Wasserman, 68, has served as a director of the Company since December 2017 and as Chairman of the Board since June 2022. Currently, Mr. Wasserman serves as a director of Ichor Holdings, Ltd. (Nasdaq: ICHR), a leader in the design, engineering and manufacturing of critical fluid delivery subsystems and components for semiconductor capital equipment. Mr. Wasserman served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS), a leading manufacturer of power conversion products that transform electrical power into various usable forms, from October 2014 until his retirement date of March 1, 2021. Mr. Wasserman previously served as President of Advanced Energy Industries' Thin Films Business Unit from August 2011 to October 2014 and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from April 2009 to August 2011. He previously held roles at Advanced Energy Industries of Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Service from October 2007 to April 2009, and Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Service from August 2007 to October 2007. Prior to joining Advanced Energy Industries, Mr. Wasserman served as the President, and later as Chief Executive Officer, of Tevet Process Controls Technologies, Inc., a semiconductor metrology company, from May 2002 to July 2007. Prior to that, he held senior executive and general management positions at Boxer Cross, a metrology company acquired by Applied Materials, Inc., Fusion Systems, a plasma strip company that is a division of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACLS), and AG Associates, a semiconductor capital equipment company focused on rapid thermal processing. Mr. Wasserman started his career at National Semiconductor, Inc., where he held various engineering and management positions. Mr. Wasserman served as a director of Syncroness, Inc. (NasdaqGS: SNCR) from 2010 to 2017. His qualifications to serve as Executive Chairman include his strong experience and skills as a chief executive officer, in senior operations and engineering management, executive and financial management, and research and development management.


There are no family relationships between Mr. Wasserman and any director or executive officer of the Company that requires disclosure under Item 401(d) of Regulation S-K. There are no transactions between Mr. Wasserman or any member of his immediate family, on the one hand, and the Company or any of its subsidiaries, on the other hand, that require disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. Furthermore, there are no arrangements or understandings between Mr. Wasserman and any other persons pursuant to which Mr. Wasserman was appointed to these roles. 


On May 3, 2023, the Board also appointed Alex Davern as the lead independent director of the Board.


The Company's slate of candidates for election to the Company's Board of Directors at its upcoming annual meeting of shareholders will no longer include Mr. Burger as a candidate. The Company does not currently intend to replace Mr. Burger with another candidate and will reduce the size of its Board of Directors accordingly.


The Company intends to disclose the terms and conditions of any transition agreement with Mr. Burger, following the finalization of such an agreement, in an amendment to this Form 8-K or in the Company's upcoming Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2023.