a change in control of the Company (as defined in the FIP); (vii) the outstanding, unvested portion of equity-based awards granted to each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel prior to the Closing on August 26, 2021, became fully vested; (viii) all other outstanding unvested Company equity awards held by each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel, consisting of 4,923,695 restricted stock units held by Mr. Mercer and 3,492,972 restricted stock units held by Mr. Wendel were immediately forfeited; and (ix) each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel were entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses in connection with their entry into the Separation Agreements. The Separation Agreements also included customary mutual release and non-disparagement provisions on behalf of the Company and each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel. In addition, under his Separation Agreement, Mr. Mercer agreed to serve as an independent advisor to the Board through March 31, 2023 in exchange for a $375,000 consulting fee.
Base Salary
In 2020 and 2021, each of Volta’s named executive officers received an annual base salary to compensate them for services rendered to Volta. On February 1, 2020, the base salary of each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel increased from $275,000 to $300,000. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Volta implemented a salary reduction program and reduced the annual base compensation of each named executive officer by 30% from April 16, 2020 through July 15, 2020. Mr. Wendel elected to further reduce his base salary by 100% from April 16, 2020 through July 15, 2020 (i.e., he received no base salary, as explained below). The base salaries for our named executive officers were returned to pre-reduction levels beginning July 16, 2020.
On February 1, 2021, the base salary of each of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel increased from $300,000 to $450,000 and $300,000 to $400,000, respectively. Mr. Chadwick joined Volta on April 1, 2021 at a base salary of $400,000.
The actual base salary received by each named executive officer is set forth above in the Summary Compensation Table in the column titled “Salary.”
Cash Bonus
Each named executive officer’s employment agreement provides that the named executive officer will be eligible to earn a discretionary annual bonus equal to a percentage of his base salary as determined by the Board. In 2020, Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel were eligible to earn annual cash bonuses based on their performance, as determined by the Board, in its discretion. In 2021, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Wendel and Mr. Chadwick were eligible to earn annual cash bonuses based on their performance, as determined by the Board, in its discretion.
The actual annual cash bonuses awarded to each of Volta’s named executive officers for 2020 and 2021 performance are set forth above in the Summary Compensation Table in the column titled “Bonus.”
Equity Awards
In 2020, each of Volta’s named executive officers received options to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock under the Legacy Volta Option Plan as follows: (a) Mr. Mercer received options to purchase (i) 200,000, (ii) 8,621 and (iii) 475,000 shares of Class B Common Stock, and (b) Mr. Wendel received options to purchase (i) 200,000, (ii) 28,736 and (iii) 475,000 shares of Class B Common Stock.
Under the COVID-19 salary reduction program referenced above, Volta reduced the base salary of each named executive officer by 30% as described above and offered each named executive officer the opportunity to either (i) reduce his working time or (ii) receive an option to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock under the Legacy Volta Option Plan. Each of the named executive officers elected to receive options. In addition, Mr. Wendel elected to further reduce his base salary to $0, such that he received no base salary from April 16, 2020 through July 15, 2020, in exchange for the opportunity to receive an option to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock under the Legacy Volta Option Plan. On May 12, 2020 the Legacy Volta board of directors granted Mr. Mercer and Mr. Wendel options to purchase 8,621 and 28,736 shares of Class B Common Stock, respectively. The number of shares issuable upon the exercise of each such option is equal to the total base salary that the named executive officer did not receive from April 16, 2020 until July 15, 2020 divided by $2.61, rounded up to the nearest share.
2021 Equity Awards
In April 2021, Mr. Chadwick received options to purchase 606,750 shares of Class A Common Stock.
In 2021, each of Volta’s named executive officers received RSUs covering shares of Class A Common Stock as follows: (a) in November 2021, Mr. Mercer received RSUs covering (i) 5,250,000, (ii) 2,000,000 and