Axon ( Nasdaq: AXON), the global leader in connected public safety technologies, today announced the appointment of Andrea James to the role of Chief Communications Officer (CCO). In this role, James will be responsible for global corporate communications, including investor, media and public relations.
“Andrea has played an integral role in Axon’s repositioning as a top-tier technology company with the investment community and influencing the narrative for how we communicate our mission, strategy and growth plans across multiple audiences,” says Rick Smith, CEO and founder of Axon. “As an accomplished leader who has built a best-in-class investor relations function here at Axon, I’m thrilled to have Andrea at the helm of our corporate communications strategy, helping us continue to build awareness around our mission to protect life.”
“Public safety touches every one of us — and everyone deserves to live in safe communities. As the leading technology provider into this space, Axon is one of the most exciting growth stories and one of the most important social stories in the world today,” says Andrea James, CCO. “I’m thrilled to lead the communications team in support of Axon as we continue to invest in addressing society’s most deeply entrenched challenges, further scale our global presence and grow our revenue well beyond $1 billion.”
Ms. James was most recently SVP Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations. She joined Axon in 2017 and established a strong track record of driving clear and concise communication with the investment community regarding Axon’s strategy, products and financial health. She also established and served as an integral leader of Axon’s corporate strategy function, which includes mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and investments.
Ms. James has been writing, public speaking and analyzing businesses for most of her career, first as an investigative business reporter and then as a vice president and senior research analyst in the equity capital markets division of a boutique investment bank. Prior to joining Axon, she supported investor relations at Tesla and ran an executive coaching and consulting practice.
She holds a B.S. Summa Cum Laude in Computer Information Systems from American University and an M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University.
James will report to Axon’s incoming Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Officer, Brittany Bagley, who was announced in August and starts at Axon this week.
In connection with the commencement of Ms. Bagley’s employment, she was granted an equity inducement award of 137,588 restricted stock units (RSUs). Of the RSUs comprising Ms. Bagley’s inducement award, service-based RSUs vest 20,638 each on the first and second anniversaries of her start date and 24,938 on the third anniversary, subject to continued service through each vesting date. Ms. Bagley also received a sign-on RSU award of 28,378 shares that vest one third upon the anniversary of her start date and then in eight equal quarterly installments thereafter, provided that the award contains a provision for forward acceleration related to future promotion opportunities. Ms. Bagley also received 42,996 shares of performance-based RSUs as part of our eXponential Stock Performance Plan (referred to as “XSUs”), which vest in 3 equal tranches upon the achievement of both a market capitalization goal and an internal operational goal based on revenue.
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