A123 Systems to Recharge State's Job Market

While concern for their company’s well-being is often enough to motivate executives to perform their best, positive reinforcement can never hurt. Awards and other acknowledgments can go a long way, but cash bonuses and stock options are, of course, also customary. (Image courtesy: a123systems.com)

After gaining over $370 million from its IPO in September and increasing its revenues by over 30% from 2008 to 2009, Watertown, Massachusetts’ A123 Systems Inc. awarded its three top executives pay packages valued at over $1 million in 2009. Leveraging its patented Nanophosphate™ technology, developed from Massachusetts Institute of Technology concepts, A123 Systems has become “one of the world's leading suppliers of high-power lithium ion batteries.”

A123’s CEO, David Vieau, and the vice president of human resources and organizational development, Andrew Cole, both received pay packages valued at $1.5 million. Vieau’s package included a $277,700 bonus and $982,740 worth of stock options, while Cole’s package included a bonus of $98,427 and $1.2 million worth of stock options. The company’s vice president of the automotive solutions group, Jason Forcier, received the third largest pay package, at $1.3 million, which included $1.2 million worth of stock options.

“The fourth quarter capped off a record year for A123 Systems and our momentum is strong entering 2010,” CEO David Vieau said. “With our IPO proceeds in place and the closure of our DOE grant during the fourth quarter, we are investing aggressively in worldwide sales, R&D, and
manufacturing capacity.”

Over the next few years, A123 intends to create more than 250 new Massachusetts’ jobs as part of an $80 million expansion plan. A123 must attain its hiring goals by the end of 2014 in order to qualify for forgiveness of its $5 million Massachusetts Clean Energy Center loan. A large portion of the new jobs created by A123 will be at the company’s Hopkinton, MA manufacturing facility. According to Governor Deval Patrick, the company’s expansion will allow it to fill the role of assembling “trailer-sized units” that will store power for the Massachusetts’s electrical grid. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/dsThNm)

“For close to four years, A123 Systems has demonstrated its ability to manufacture advanced lithium ion batteries in scale and at extremely high quality levels, and we are now expanding our capacity to ensure customers and prospects that we can scale with them to meet expected strong demand in the years ahead,” CEO Vieau explained.

So, executives gain bonuses and stock options for keeping A123 well in the black, while the company as a whole gets a $5 million forgivable loan in return for a promise to increase its Massachusetts workforce and for producing batteries to help stabilize the state’s power grid. Once again, Massachusetts has found a way to support local technology companies, create new jobs, and improve the state’s infrastructure via a single smart investment.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/bN5Wxf, http://bit.ly/a0utph, http://bit.ly/9MaQWM]