Exhibit 10.3
SEPARATION AGREEMENT
This Separation Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Korro Bio, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Parent”, and together with its subsidiaries, including Korro Bio Ops, Inc., the “Company”), and Olukemi A. Olugemo (“Kemi Olugemo”) (the “Executive”). The Company together with the Executive shall be referred to as the “Parties.” Terms with initial capitalization not otherwise defined shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Employment Agreement (as defined below).
WHEREAS, the Executive has informed the Company that she will be resigning from her employment with the Company effective November 12, 2025 (the “Resignation Date”) and the Company has accepted her resignation;
WHEREAS, the Parties entered into an Employment Agreement effective as of May 13, 2024 (the “Employment Agreement”);
WHEREAS, the Parties entered into an Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement dated May 13, 2024 (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreement”);
WHEREAS, the Company issued stock options to the Executive pursuant to the Korro Bio, Inc. 2023 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, as amended from time to time, and associated award agreements (collectively the “Equity Documents”);
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Employment Agreement, the Company agreed to provide the Executive with certain separation pay and benefits in the event of certain cessations of employment, subject to, among other things, the Executive entering into, not revoking and complying with a Separation Agreement;
WHEREAS, in recognition of the Executive’s professionalism in connection with her departure, including her agreement to be available to advise the Company to ensure a smooth transition, the Executive’s employment with the Company will be treated as an ending pursuant to Section 3(d) of the Employment Agreement;
WHEREAS, this is the Separation Agreement referred to in the Employment Agreement; and
WHEREAS, in exchange for, among other things, the Executive entering into, and not revoking this Agreement and fully complying with the Post-Employment Continuing Obligations (as defined below), the Company shall provide the Executive with the same Separation Pay and Benefits as set forth in Section 5 of the Employment Agreement as well as the additional benefits set forth below, collectively described in Sections 1 and 3 of this Agreement (the “Separation Benefits”); and
NOW, THEREFORE, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of
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which is hereby acknowledged, the Parties hereby agree as follows:
In addition, regardless of whether this Agreement becomes effective the Executive will be provided with information regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”) under separate cover.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties, intending to be legally bound, have executed this Agreement on the date(s) indicated below.
KORRO BIO, INC.
By: | /s/ Ram Aiyar |
Name: | Ram Aiyar |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer & President |
Date: | 11/7/2025 |
EXECUTIVE
By: | /s/ Olukemi Olugemo |
Name: | Olukemi A. Olugemo |
Date: | 11/7/2025 |
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EXHIBIT A
Restrictive Covenants Agreement
Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement
This Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Assignment Agreement (the “Agreement”) is effective as of May 13, 2024 (the “Effective Date”) between me and Korro Bio, Inc., a Delaware corporation (together with any of its subsidiaries and other affiliates and its and their successors and assigns, “Korro”). As a material part of the consideration for my employment or continued employment by Korro and as a condition of my employment or continued employment by Korro and the compensation and benefits that I am paid by Korro, I agree as follows:
1. General. I understand that during the term of my employment I will have access to confidential and proprietary information of Korro, including inventions that I may conceive, make or reduce to practice alone or with other Korro employees and consultants in the course of my work as well as confidential and proprietary information of third party business partners of Korro. I understand that my employment creates a relationship of confidence and trust with Korro and I agree to comply with all the terms of this Agreement.
2. Proprietary Information.
(a) Definition. Proprietary information (“Proprietary Information”) means any non-public information of Korro in any form. I understand that all of the following types of non-public information of Korro on the list below are Proprietary Information and that such list is provided to help me better understand what constitutes Proprietary Information and is not a comprehensive list of all types of Proprietary Information:
| (i) | Inventions, including without limitation Korro Inventions (as the term is defined in Section 3(c)); |
| (ii) | business strategies and projections; |
| (iii) | research, development or commercialization plans; |
| (iv) | patent strategies or other information regarding Korro’s marketed products, products or services in development, and related market information; |
| (v) | customer lists, including without limitation information about existing and potential customers of Korro; |
| (vi) | formulas, analyses, designs, databases or other compilations of technical information, data or statistics, including without limitation data related to Korro’s clinical and preclinical studies and clinical and preclinical studies of Korro’s partners and grantees; |
| (vii) | methods or processes to identify, validate, to produce or purify biological or chemical materials, organisms, proteins, genes, gene sequences, chemical structures, expression vectors and data, targets, product specifications and compound structures; |
| (viii) | information relating to the regulatory status, approval or pricing of Korro’s investigational new drugs or marketed products, including without limitation communications and correspondence with regulatory agencies; |
| (ix) | financial information of Korro, including without limitation identities of its third party partners, financial terms of wholesales, distributors and collaboration arrangements, forecasts, tax planning, budgets, financial analyses, pricing strategies, financial audit |
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| information, employee compensation and benefits and costs of third-party services and goods; |
| (x) | information relating to Korro’s employees, contractors or other service providers; |
| (xi) | information relating to the facilities, infrastructure, machinery, equipment, computer and telephone systems, real property or other assets of Korro; and |
| (xii) | information relating to Korro’s manufacturing processes, supply chain, distribution network, and sales channels.
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(b) Use of Proprietary Information. Except as permitted by Section 8(f) of this Agreement, I will hold all Proprietary Information in the strictest confidence, will not disclose to any person who is not a Korro employee, consultant, attorney or accountant, and except with the written permission of a duly authorized officer of Korro, will not use any Proprietary Information for the benefit of anyone (including myself) other than Korro. I will notify an officer of Korro immediately if I become aware of any unauthorized use or disclosure of Proprietary Information. I assign to Korro any and all rights I may have or acquire in Proprietary Information and recognize that all Proprietary Information and all tangible materials containing Proprietary Information are and shall remain the sole property of Korro.
(c) Former Employer Information. I represent and warrant that my employment by Korro does not and will not breach any agreement with any of my former employers, including any non-compete agreement or any agreement or duty to keep in confidence or refrain from using information acquired by me prior to my employment by Korro. I will not improperly use, disclose or bring into Korro’s facilities or store on any Korro computer any non-public, confidential or proprietary information or trade secrets of any former employer or any other person or entity to whom I have an obligation to keep in confidence such information (“Former Employer Information”) without the express prior written consent of both such former employer, person or entity and Korro.
(d) Third Party Information. I understand that in the course of business from time-to-time Korro receives confidential or proprietary information from third parties (“Third-Party Information”) and that such Third-Party Information may be subject to an agreement by Korro to maintain the confidentiality of such Third-Party Information and to use it only for certain limited purposes. I will hold Third-Party Information in the strictest confidence, and will not disclose or use Third-Party Information except as expressly permitted by the agreement between Korro and such third party. If required by the terms of the agreement between Korro and a third party, I will limit internal disclosure of Third-Party Information to other Korro personnel who need to know such information to perform his/her duties at Korro and who are aware of Korro’s agreement with such third party. I will notify an officer of Korro immediately if I become aware of any unauthorized use or disclosure of Third-Party Information.
(e) Return of Korro Proprietary Information. Upon termination of my employment at Korro for any reason, or earlier upon Korro’s request at any time, I will deliver to Korro all Proprietary Information and all materials, documentation and other properties of Korro, as well as any copies, extracts, summaries or derivative works thereof, and any other materials that may embody or contain any Proprietary Information or Third-Party Information, in my possession or under my
control, including without limitation, those records maintained by me pursuant to Section 3(e), except that I may keep personal copies of (i) my compensation records, (ii) materials distributed to stockholders generally and (iii) this Agreement. I also recognize and agree that I have no expectation of privacy with respect to Korro’s telecommunications, networking or information processing systems (including without limitation, stored computer files, email messages and voice messages) and that my activity and any files or messages on or using any of those systems may be subject to inspections or monitoring by Korro’s personnel at any time without notice. If I perform any work for Korro or related to my employment using a personal computer or storage device, I agree to notify Korro of such use. Immediately upon termination of employment or request by Korro, I will follow Korro’s instructions to enable Korro personnel to remove any Proprietary Information from such computer or storage device, by the methods or processes directed by Korro. Under no circumstance will I take any Proprietary Information or Third Party Information with me when I leave Korro. If requested, I will certify in writing to Korro that I have complied with the obligations under this Section 2(e) within 10 days of Korro’s request.
3. Inventions.
(a) Inventions. As used in this Agreement, the term “Inventions” means any ideas, concepts, information, materials, methods, processes, data, programs, know-how (including without limitation negative know-how), improvements, discoveries, developments, formulae, media, protocol, assays, specifications, designs, artwork, and other copyrightable work and techniques, together with all Intellectual Property Rights in any of the items listed above. The term “Intellectual Property Rights” means all trade secrets rights, copyrights, trademark rights, patent rights and other intellectual property rights recognized at any time by the laws (including statutes and common law) of any state, country or other jurisdictions.
(b) Inventions Retained and Licensed. I represent and agree that I have listed on Exhibit A to this Agreement, in a manner that does not violate any third party rights, a complete list of all Inventions that I conceived, reduced to practice, created, or otherwise developed prior to my employment with Korro (collectively referred to as “Prior Inventions”), that belong to me (solely or jointly) and that relate to Korro’s existing or reasonably contemplated business, products or research and development, and that are not assigned by me to Korro under this Agreement. If I have not listed any Prior Inventions on Exhibit A, I represent and warrant that there are no Prior Inventions. Without limiting any of the other provisions in this Agreement or Korro’s other rights and remedies, if in the course of my employment with Korro, I incorporate into a Korro product compound, product, candidate, method, process, database, program or service a Prior Invention owned by me or in which I have an interest, or if I disclose to Korro my own or any third party’s confidential information or intellectual property (or if the performance of my work at Korro requires the incorporation of such Prior Inventions), Korro shall have and I hereby grant Korro a nonexclusive, royalty-free, fully paid-up, irrevocable, perpetual, freely sublicensable and transferable through multiple tiers, worldwide right and license to use Prior Inventions and all such confidential information and intellectual property rights for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to, the right to make, have made, modify, use, import, offer for sale, sell, copy, reproduce, distribute, reverse engineer, decompile, publicly display on any media and prepare derivative works of such Prior Invention as part of or in connection with the research, development or commercialization of such product, compound, product, candidate, method, process, database, program or service, and to practice any method related thereto.
(c) Korro Inventions. The term “Korro Inventions” means any and all Inventions, whether or not patentable or registrable under copyright or similar statutes, that I may make, create, conceive, or reduce to practice, or cause to be made, created, conceived or reduced to practice, either solely or jointly with others, during my term of employment with Korro.
(d) Assignment of Korro Inventions. I will promptly disclose all Korro Inventions to Korro. I hereby irrevocably and unconditionally assign to Korro Bio Ops, Inc., or its designee, and agree never to assert against Korro, all my right, title, and interest in and to any and all Korro Inventions. I understand and agree that the decision whether or not to commercialize or market any Korro Invention is within Korro’s sole discretion and for Korro’s sole benefit and that no royalty will be due to me as a result of Korro’s efforts to commercialize or market any such Korro Invention. I understand that this Agreement does not require my assignment to Korro of an Invention which qualifies fully for protection under Section 2870. During my employment at Korro, I will promptly and fully disclose to Korro in writing of any Inventions made during my employment at Korro that I believe meet the criteria in Section 2870 and were not otherwise disclosed on Exhibit A.
(e) Korro Inventions Assigned to the United States or Third Party. If requested by Korro, I will assign to any third party designated by Korro, including the United States government, all my right, title, and interest in and to any particular Korro Invention.
(f) Works for Hire. I acknowledge that all original works of authorship which are made by me (solely or jointly with others) within the scope of my employment and which are protectable by copyright are “works made for hire,” pursuant to United States Copyright Act (17 U.S.C., Section 101).
(g) Maintenance of Records. I will comply with all policies and procedures of Korro relating to disclosure, documentation, storage, retention and corroboration of inventive and creative activity with which I may be involved, and I will keep and maintain adequate and current records of all Inventions made by me during the period of my employment by Korro. The records will be available to and remain the sole property of Korro at all times.
(h) Cooperation. I will assist Korro in every way both during and after my employment with Korro to obtain, maintain, enforce and defend Intellectual Property Rights arising from Korro Inventions in any and all countries, states and other jurisdiction. I will execute, verify and deliver such documents and perform such other acts (including appearances as a witness) as Korro may reasonably request for use in applying for, obtaining, sustaining, enforcing and defending such Intellectual Property Rights relating to Korro Inventions. I hereby irrevocably designate and appoint Korro and each of its duly authorized officers, employees and representatives as my agent and attorney-in-fact, coupled with an interest and with full power of substitution, to act for and on my behalf to execute and file any document and to do all other lawfully permitted acts to further the purposes of the foregoing with the same legal force and effect as if executed, filed or done by me. My obligation to assist Korro under this Section 3(h) in obtaining and enforcing Intellectual Property Rights and protections relating to Korro Inventions will continue beyond the termination of my employment, but Korro will compensate me at a reasonable rate for the time actually spent by me at Korro’s request on such cooperation after my termination of employment.
4. Conflicting Employment and Other Obligations. I represent and warrant that I have not entered into, and I agree that during my employment with Korro I will not enter into, any agreement, whether written or oral, in conflict with this Agreement or my employment with Korro.
During my employment with Korro, I will not engage in any other employment, occupation, consulting or activity that is competitive or may be reasonably perceived to be in any way competitive with the business or demonstrably anticipated business of Korro, nor will I assist any other person or organization in competing or in preparing to compete with any business or demonstrably anticipated business of Korro. For the avoidance of any doubt regarding what may be a conflict with my obligations to Korro or what may be considered competitive with the business or demonstrably anticipated business of Korro, I agree to discuss with my Korro supervisor and Korro’s General Counsel and obtain Korro’s approval in advance of accepting any offer of employment, consulting engagement or other work with any pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
5. Non-Solicitation. During my employment with Korro and for one (1) year following termination of my employment with Korro for any reason, with or without cause, I will not, directly or indirectly, induce, solicit, recruit for employment or encourage any of Korro’s employees, consultants or independent contractors to leave Korro, either for myself or for any other entity.
6. Notification of New Employer. When my employment with Korro ends (for any reason), I hereby consent to Korro’s notification of my new employer about my rights and obligations under this Agreement.
7. Equitable Relief. Because my services are personal and unique and because I may have access to and become acquainted with the Proprietary Information of Korro, I acknowledge that any actual or threatened breach of this Agreement may cause Korro immediate and irreparable harm that cannot be adequately compensated by monetary damages. I also acknowledge that Korro shall have the right to enforce this Agreement and any of its provisions by injunction, specific performance or other equitable relief, without bond and without prejudice to any other rights and remedies that it may have for a breach of this Agreement.
8. General.
(a) Entire Agreement. This Agreement supplements and does not supersede any other confidentiality, assignment of inventions or restrictive covenant agreement between Korro and me (collectively, “Prior Confidentiality Agreements”), provided that any Prior Confidentiality Agreements will be interpreted consistently with Section 8(f) of this Agreement. To the extent that there is any conflict between this Agreement and any other confidentiality, assignment of inventions or restrictive covenant agreement between Korro and me, this Agreement shall govern. To the extent that this Agreement addresses other subject matters, this Agreement supersedes any previous oral or written communications, representations, understandings or agreements with Korro or any officer or representative of Korro regarding such subject matters.
(b) Binding Agreement. This Agreement shall survive the termination of my employment at Korro and shall inure to the benefit of the subsidiaries, successors and assigns of Korro and shall be binding upon my heirs, executors, assigns and administrators.
(c) Severability; Waiver. To the extent that any word, phrase, clause, or sentence in this Agreement is found to be illegal or unenforceable to the maximum extent for any reason, such illegal or unenforceable portion(s) shall be modified or deleted to the minimum extent required so as to make the Agreement, as modified, legal and enforceable under applicable laws. No waiver
of any right or remedy under this Agreement will be binding on Korro unless it is in writing and has been signed by an authorized officer of Korro.
(d) Attorney’s Fees. If I violate this Agreement, in addition to all other remedies available to Korro at law, in equity and under contract, I agree that I am obligated to pay all of Korro’s costs of enforcing this Agreement, including attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses; however, if I reside in and am subject to the law of a state that would convert this recovery of attorneys’ fees provision to a reciprocal obligation or an obligation where the prevailing party would recover fees and costs, then such recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs provision shall not apply and each party will bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs.
(e) Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to its choice of law provisions. Any claim arising under this Agreement will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. federal or Commonwealth of Massachusetts state courts and I hereby submit to, and waive any objection to, personal jurisdiction and venue in these courts for the resolution of any Claim.
(e) Modifications. This Agreement may not be changed, modified, released, discharged, abandoned, or otherwise amended, in whole or in part, except in writing and signed and delivered by me and a duly authorized officer of Korro.
(f) Protected Disclosures; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. I understand that nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with Korro, or any Korro policy limits my ability, with or without notice to Korro, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by any Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) share compensation information concerning myself or others (provided that this does not permit me to disclose compensation information concerning others that I obtain because my job responsibilities require or allow access to such information); (v) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that I have reason to believe is unlawful; or (vi) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). I further understand that pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, I shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9. Employment at Will. I understand and acknowledge that my employment with Korro is for an unspecified duration and constitutes “at-will” employment, and that my obligations under this Agreement will continue in accordance with its express terms regardless of any changes in my title, position, duties, salary, compensation or benefits or other terms and conditions of employment. I also understand that any representation to the contrary by anyone is unauthorized and invalid unless in writing and signed by a duly authorized officer of Korro. I acknowledge that I have the right to resign and Korro has the right to terminate my employment at any time, for any or no reason, with or without cause, by me or by Korro, with or without notice. In addition, this Agreement does not purport to set forth all of the terms and conditions of my employment, and, as an employee of Korro, I may have rights from and obligations to Korro that are not set forth in this Agreement. However, the terms of this Agreement shall control over any inconsistent terms in any other agreement or document.
I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY AND I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH IT IMPOSES UPON ME WITHOUT RESERVATION. NO PROMISES OR REPRESENTATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO ME TO INDUCE ME TO SIGN THIS AGREEMENT. I SIGN THIS AGREEMENT VOLUNTARILY AND FREELY.
Olukemi A. Olugemo |
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ACCEPTED AND AGREED TO: | ||||
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EMPLOYEE: |
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Dated: |
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(Signature) |
| /s/ Olukemi Olugemo | ||
(Print name) |
| Olukemi A. Olugemo | ||
(Address) |
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KORRO BIO: | ||||
Dated: |
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(Signature) |
| /s/ Stephanie Engels | ||
(Print name) |
| Stephanie Engels | ||
(Title) |
| SVP, People & Culture | ||
(Address) |
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EXHIBIT A
PRIOR INVENTIONS
1. | List of Prior Inventions. (as defined in Section 3(a) of this Agreement) |
| [ ] | I represent that I have NO Prior Inventions to disclose. |
| [ ] | I represent that I have DO HAVE Prior Inventions to disclose to Korro and I further represent and warrant that that the following is a complete list of those Prior Inventions relevant to the subject matter of my employment by Korro that have been conceived, reduced to practice, created, or otherwise developed by me alone or jointly with others prior to my engagement by Korro. To the extent that there are any issued patents or pending patent applications, or any copyright registrations or pending copyright registration applications, covering a Prior Invention listed below, I have included the applicable patent or copyright registration number, or the number of the applicable pending application, along with such Prior Invention. [Note to Employee: If a pending patent application number is confidential information of your prior employer and has not been made publicly available, you are required to state that such an application has been filed and identify the country wherein filed, but you are not required to identify the patent application number.] |
List of my Prior Inventions:
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| [ ] | Additional sheets attached. |
2. | FORMER EMPLOYER INFORMATION. (as defined in Section 2(d) of this Agreement) |
| [ ] | I have NO materials of any former employer. |
| [ ] | I have NO documents of any former employer. |
| [ ] | I propose to bring to my employment at Korro the following devices, materials and documents of my former employer, listed in a manner that does not violate the rights of my former employer, which materials and documents are not generally available to the public and may be used in my employment pursuant to the express written authorization of my former employer (a copy of which is attached hereto): |
List of Documents and Materials of Former Employer:
| [ ] | Additional sheets attached. |
Olukemi Olugemo |
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EMPLOYEE: |
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Dated: |
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(Signature) |
| /s/ Olukemi Olugemo |
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(Print name) |
| Olukemi Olugemo |
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