The principal financial officer and principal accounting officer of Cerence Inc., Daniel Tempesta was named chief financial officer by the board of directors on February 28, 2024, and his appointment became effective on March 18, 2024.
At Nuance Communications, Inc., where he worked from July 2015 until December 2023, Mr. Tempesta, 53, most recently held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity, he was in charge of all accounting and finance operations as well as tax, treasury, investor relations, order management, and procurement. Mr. Tempesta held positions as Senior Vice President of Finance, Chief Accounting Officer, and Corporate Controller at Nuance before being named Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Tempesta worked at Teradyne, Inc. from February 2004 to February 2008 in a number of roles, including corporate controller and chief accounting officer, before joining Nuance. Before that, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in the audit department. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management awarded him a degree in accounting.
The base pay for Mr. Tempesta is set at $500,000. Furthermore, Mr. Tempesta will be qualified to take part in the Short Term Incentive Plan of the Company, which offers a goal opportunity equivalent to 75% of his base income. Mr. Tempesta will obtain an initial equity award in conjunction with his hiring, with a target aggregate value of $3 million. This kind of reward will be made up of 50% restricted stock units based on performance and 50% restricted stock units based on time. Subject to Mr. Tempesta’s continuous employment with the Company through the relevant vesting date, the time-based restricted stock units will vest in three equal installments on October 1, 2024, October 1, 2025, and October 1, 2026. One-third of the total performance-based restricted stock units that are eligible to be earned for each fiscal year are contingent upon Mr. Tempesta’s continued employment with the Company through the applicable vesting date. The performance-based restricted stock units will be earned based on the achievement of pre-determined Company performance metrics for each of the fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026. A one-time sign-on time-based restricted stock unit award of up to $3 million (referred to as the “Sign-On RSU Award”) will also be given to Mr. Tempesta. Three equal payments will be released from the Sign-On RSU Award on December 15, 2024, December 15, 2025, and December 15, 2026. The vesting of the award will depend on Mr. Tempesta’s continuous employment with the Company from the relevant vesting date. The terms and circumstances outlined in the relevant award agreement and the 2024 Inducement Plan (as defined below) will apply to these equity awards.
