Another executive placed on administrative leave is out at The Chemours Co.
A month after former CEO Mark Newman stepped down, Jonathan Lock resigned as the chemical maker’s CFO and SVP on April 23, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing posted Thursday evening.
Lock will have more time to acquire common stock options as part of his separation agreement. However, Lock will not receive a severance, equity award, or any other compensation.
Chemours is actively seeking its next CFO. Matt Abbott, Chemours' SVP and chief enterprise transformation officer, has been serving as the interim CFO and accounting officer since Feb. 29.
Lock’s resignation comes a month after an internal investigation found he, Newman, and VP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer Camela Wisel tried maneuvering up to $575 million in vendor payments and receivables schedules over the last two years.
The schedule manipulation was the executives’ attempt to meet cash flow targets, which would have determined an incentive compensation, the company’s audit committee said. The investigation delayed the company’s 2023 annual financial report filing to the SEC, originally due on Feb. 28.
Chemours took immediate action in the wake of the financial scandal. Last month, the company parted ways with Newman and appointed Denise Dignam as its new president and CEO.
Chemours has also initiated a comprehensive revamp of its financial reporting policies. Additionally, the company's compensation committee will review the metrics used to determine executive and employee incentive compensation.
“We have fundamentally changed how we operate at the top of this organization,” Dignam said in a March 28 earnings call. “We are now business led rather than corporate led. This means more decision-making at the business level, and it means lowering corporate costs and embedding resources in the businesses.”
Lock served as the CFO and SVP for approximately 10 months. When he was appointed in June 2023, Lock’s $600,000 base salary was eligible for an annual incentive plan targeting 75% of his compensation as well as a long-term incentive plan award of $1 million, according to a May 2023 SEC filing.
