Pacts protect FBI officials
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, July 2, 2007
St. Louis — Two key Furniture Brands International executives have signed "change in control" agreements that will compensate them handsomely if their jobs are eliminated due to a sale or takeover of the company.
The agreements for Lynn Chipperfield, senior vice president and general counsel, and Nancy Webster, president of Thomasville Furniture Inds., were added to their employment contracts, FBI said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Most other key executives at FBI, including Chairman and CEO Mickey Holliman and President Tom Foy, don't have such agreements. Ralph Scozzafava, the new vice chairman and CEO-designate who began work two weeks ago, would be entitled to severance pay and benefits similar to Chipperfield and Webster if he is terminated "without cause."
According to the regulatory filing, Chipperfield and Webster would receive, among other things, one-and-a-half times their annual salaries and incentive target bonus if they are terminated as a result of sale or takeover of the company.
In addition, the two would receive a variety of payments into the company's 401(k) plan and supplemental executive retirement plan, and would be eligible for up to $40,000 in annual job hunting expenses and financial counseling.
