Freedom Environmental Services, Inc.
2009 STOCK OPTION
PLAN
______________________________________
1. Purpose
. The purpose of this Plan is to advance the interests
of Freedom Environmental Services, Inc., a Delaware corporation
(the “Company”), by providing an additional incentive
to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified and competent
persons who are key to the Company, including key employees,
consultants, independent contractors, Officers and Directors, and
upon whose efforts and judgment the success of the Company and its
Subsidiaries is largely dependent, by authorizing the grant of
options to purchase Common Stock of the Company and other related
benefits to persons who are eligible to participate hereunder,
thereby encouraging stock ownership in the Company by such persons,
all upon and subject to the terms and conditions of this
Plan.
2. Definitions
. As used herein, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
(a)
“Board” shall mean the Board of Directors of the
Company.
(b)
“Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i) a determination by
the Company that there has been a willful, reckless or grossly
negligent failure by the Optionee to perform his or her duties as
an employee of the Company;
(ii) a determination by
the Company that there has been a willful breach by the Optionee of
any of the material terms or provisions of any employment agreement
between such Optionee and the Company;
(iii) any conduct by the
Optionee that either results in his or her conviction of a felony
under the laws of the United States of America or any state
thereof, or of an equivalent crime under the laws of any other
jurisdiction;
(iv) a determination by
the Company that the Optionee has committed an act or acts
involving fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, theft, breach of
fiduciary duty or material dishonesty against the Company, its
properties or personnel;
(v) any act by the
Optionee that the Company determines to be in willful or wanton
disregard of the Company’s best interests, or which results,
or is intended to result, directly or indirectly, in improper gain
or personal enrichment of the Optionee at the expense of the
Company;
(vi) a determination by
the Company that there has been a willful, reckless or grossly
negligent failure by the Optionee to comply with any rules,
regulations,
(vii) policies or
procedures of the Company, or that the Optionee has engaged in any
act, behavior or conduct demonstrating a deliberate and material
violation or disregard of standards of behavior that the Company
has a right to expect of its employees; or ›
(viii) if the Optionee,
while employed by the Company and for two years thereafter,
violates a confidentiality and/or noncompete agreement with the
Company, or fails to safeguard, divulges, communicates, uses to the
detriment of the Company or for the benefit of any person or
persons, or misuses in any way, any Confidential Information;
provided, however, that, if the Optionee has entered into a
written employment agreement with the Company which remains
effective and which expressly provides for a termination of such
Optionee’s employment for “cause,” the term
“Cause” as used herein shall have the meaning as set
forth in the Optionee’s employment agreement in lieu of the
definition of “Cause” set forth in this Section
2(b).
(c) “Change of
Control” shall mean the acquisition by any person or group
(as that term is defined in the Exchange Act, and the rules
promulgated pursuant to that act) in a single transaction or a
series of transactions of thirty percent (30%) or more in voting
power of the outstanding stock of the Company and a change of the
composition of the Board of Directors so that, within two years
after the acquisition took place, a majority of the members of the
Board of Directors of the Company, or of any corporation with which
the Company may be consolidated or merged, are persons who were not
directors or officers of the Company or one of its Subsidiaries
immediately prior to the acquisition, or to the first of a series
of transactions which resulted in the acquisition of thirty percent
(30%) or more in voting power of the outstanding stock of the
Company.
(d) “Code”
shall mean the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended.
(e)
“Committee” shall mean the stock option committee
appointed by the Board or, if not appointed, the Board.
(f) “Common
Stock” shall mean the Company’s Common Stock, par value
$.001 per share.
(g)
“Director” shall mean a member of the Board.
(h)
“Employee” shall mean any person, including officers,
directors, consultants and independent contractors employed by the
Company or any parent or Subsidiary of the Company within the
meaning of Section 3401(c) of the regulators promulgated
thereunder.
(i) “Exchange
Act” shall mean the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended.
(j) “Fair Market
Value” of a Share on any date of reference shall be the
Closing Price of a share of Common Stock on the business day
immediately preceding such date, unless the Committee in its sole
discretion shall determine otherwise in a fair and uniform
manner. For this purpose, the “Closing
Price” of the Common Stock on any business day
shall
(k) be (i) if the
Common Stock is listed or admitted for trading on any United States
national securities exchange, or if actual transactions are
otherwise reported on a consolidated transaction reporting system,
the last reported sale price of the Common Stock on such exchange
or reporting system, as reported in any newspaper of general
circulation, (ii) if the Common Stock is quoted on The Nasdaq
Stock Market (“Nasdaq”), or any similar system of
automated dissemination of quotations of securities prices in
common use, the mean between the closing high bid and low asked
quotations for such day of the Common Stock on such system, or
(iii) if neither clause (i) nor (ii) is applicable, the mean
between the high bid and low asked quotations for the Common Stock
as reported by the National Quotation Bureau, Incorporated if at
least two securities dealers have inserted both bid and asked
quotations for the Common Stock on at least five of the 10
preceding days. If the information set forth in
clauses (i) through (iii) above is unavailable or inapplicable
to the Company (e.g., if the Company’s Common Stock is not
then publicly traded or quoted), then the “Fair Market
Value” of a Share shall be the fair market value (i.e., the
price at which a willing seller would sell a Share to a willing
buyer when neither is acting under compulsion and when both have
reasonable knowledge of all relevant facts) of a share of the
Common Stock on the business day immediately preceding such date as
the Committee in its sole and absolute discretion shall determine
in a fair and uniform manner.
(l) “Incentive
Stock Option” shall mean an incentive stock option as defined
in Section 422 of the Code.
(m)
“Non-Statutory Stock Option” or “Nonqualified
Stock Option” shall mean an Option which is not an Incentive
Stock Option.
(n)
“Officer” shall mean the Company’s chairman,
president, principal financial officer, principal accounting
officer (or, if there is no such accounting officer, the
controller), any vice-president of the Company in charge of a
principal business unit, division or function (such as sales,
administration or finance), any other officer who performs a
policy-making function, or any other person who performs similar
policy-making functions for the Company. Officers of
Subsidiaries shall be deemed Officers of the Company if they
perform such policy-making functions for the Company. As
used in this paragraph, the phrase “policy-making
function” does not include policy-making functions that are
not significant. Unless specified otherwise in a
resolution by the Board, an “executive officer”
pursuant to Item 401(b) of Regulation S-K (17 C.F.R. §
229.401(b)) shall be only such person designated as an
“Officer” pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this
paragraph.
(o)
“Option” (when capitalized) shall mean any stock option
granted under this Plan.
(p)
“Optionee” shall mean a person to whom an Option is
granted under this Plan or any person who succeeds to the rights of
such person under this Plan by reason of the death of such
person.
(q) “Plan”
shall mean this 2009 Stock Option Plan of the Company, which Plan
shall be effective upon approval by the Board, subject to approval,
within 12 months of the
(r) date thereof by
holders of a majority of the Company’s issued and outstanding
Common Stock of the Company.
(s)
“Share” or “Shares” shall mean a share or
shares, as the case may be, of the Common Stock, as adjusted in
accordance with Section 10 of this Plan.
(t)
“Subsidiary” shall mean any corporation (other than the
Company) in any unbroken chain of corporations beginning with the
Company if, at the time of the granting of the Option, each of the
corporations other than the last corporation in the unbroken chain
owns stock possessing 50 percent or more of the total combined
voting power of all classes of stock in one of the other
corporations in such chain.
3. Shares and
Options . Subject to adjustment in accordance with
Section 10 hereof, the Company may issue up to three million, five
hundred thousand (3,500,000) Shares from Shares held in the
Company’s treasury or from authorized and unissued Shares
through the exercise of Options issued pursuant to the provisions
of this Plan. If any Option granted under this Plan
shall terminate, expire, or be canceled, forfeited or surrendered
as to any Shares, the Shares relating to such lapsed Option shall
be available for issuance pursuant to new Options subsequently
granted under this Plan. Upon the grant of any Option
hereunder, the authorized and unissued Shares to which such Option
relates shall be reserved for issuance to permit exercise under
this Plan. Subject to the provisions of Section 14
hereof, an Option granted hereunder shall be either an Incentive
Stock Option or a Non-Statutory Stock Option as determined by the
Committee at the time of grant of such Option and shall clearly
state whether it is an Incentive Stock Option or Non-Statutory
Stock Option. All Incentive Stock Options shall be
granted within 10 years from the effective date of this
Plan.
4. Limitations
. Options otherwise qualifying as Incentive Stock
Options hereunder will not be treated as Incentive Stock Options to
the extent that the aggregate Fair Market Value (determined at the
time the Option is granted) of the Shares, with respect to which
Options meeting the requirements of Code Section 422(b)
are exercisable for the first time by any individual during any
calendar year (under all stock option or similar plans of the
Company and any Subsidiary), exceeds $100,000.
5. Conditions for
Grant of Options .
(a) Each Option shall
be evidenced by an option agreement that may contain any term
deemed necessary or desirable by the Committee, provided such terms
are not inconsistent with this Plan or any applicable
law. Optionees shall be those persons selected by the
Committee from the class of all regular Employees of the Company or
its Subsidiaries, including Employee Directors and Officers who are
regular or former regular employees of the Company, Directors who
are not regular employees of the Company, as well as consultants to
the Company. Any person who files with the Committee, in
a form satisfactory to the Committee, a written waiver of
eligibility to receive any Option under this Plan shall not be
eligible to receive any Option under this Plan for the duration of
such waiver.
In granting
Options, the Committee shall take into consideration the
contribution the person has made, or is expected to make, to the
success of the Company or its Subsidiaries and such other factors
as the Committee shall determine. The Committee shall
also have the authority to consult with and receive recommendations
from Officers and other personnel of the Company and its
Subsidiaries with regard to these matters. The Committee
may from time to time in granting Options under this Plan prescribe
such terms and conditions concerning such Options as it deems
appropriate, provided that such terms and conditions are not more
favorable to an Optionee than those expressly permitted herein;
provided further, however, that to the extent not cancelled
pursuant to Section 9(b) hereof, upon a Change in Control, any
Options that have not yet vest