Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On September 3, 2025, Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into a separation agreement with Mr. Jeremy W. Smeltser, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (the “Smeltser Separation Agreement”). The Smeltser Separation Agreement was entered into by the Company in furtherance of its prior stated objective of reducing its spending and not as a result of any disagreement between Mr. Smeltser and the Company, the Board of Directors of the Company or management. Concurrently with executing the Smeltser Separation Agreement, the Company entered into an Employment Agreement with Mr. Faisal Qadir pursuant to which Mr. Qadir was appointed as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (the “Qadir Employment Agreement”).
The Company thanks Mr. Smeltser for his contributions and wishes him the best with his future endeavors. The Company congratulates and welcomes Mr. Qadir as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Smeltser Separation Agreement
The Company entered into the Smeltser Separation Agreement in connection with the Company terminating Mr. Smeltser’s employment without “cause” in accordance with Mr. Smeltser’s existing Employment Agreement, dated September 9, 2019 (the “Smeltser Employment Agreement”).
Mr. Smeltser will continue as a full-time employee of the Company until December 31, 2025 (the “Separation Date”). During such time, Mr. Smeltser will assist the Company with the timely transition of his duties and other strategic initiatives as requested by the Company. Consistent with the Smeltser Employment Agreement, for Fiscal 2025, Mr. Smeltser will continue to be paid his existing base salary, be eligible to receive the payout for a Management Incentive Plan (“MIP”) cash bonus based on actual performance and be eligible to receive the vesting of his time-based and performance equity awards vesting in Fiscal 2025. In addition, consistent with the Smeltser Employment Agreement, subject to continued compliance with his post-employment restrictive covenants, Mr. Smeltser is eligible to receive the following: (i) cash severance, in an amount equal to the sum of (x) 18-months’ base salary and (y) his target annual bonus, in each case payable over an 18-month period, (ii) a pro-rata portion of his annual bonus for Fiscal 2026 based on the number of weeks worked during such fiscal year prior to the Separation Date, (iii) health insurance benefits during the 18-month period following the Separation Date and other benefits, including the leased car program and financial and tax planning program maintained by the Company for its Executive Vice Presidents, through the Separation Date and (iv) vesting of a pro rata portion of the unvested time-based portion of his 2024 and 2025 long-term incentive plan (“LTIP”) awards and the second tranche of his 2024 supplemental award based on days served as an employee during the vesting period of the applicable award.
Other than as set forth above, Mr. Smeltser is not entitled to any other compensation or benefits in connection with his termination, he will forfeit all other unvested equity awards, and he will not participate in the Company’s Fiscal 2026 LTIP program.
The above summary is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by the Smeltser Separation Agreement, a copy of which will be filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025.
Qadir Employment Agreement
Prior to entering into the Qadir Employment Agreement, Mr. Qadir served as the Company’s Vice President of Strategic Finance and Enterprise Reporting and has been with the Company since 2012. During his tenure with the Company, Mr. Qadir has held several senior finance leadership roles, including Vice President of Investor Relations, CFO of the Global Pet Care business and CFO of the Home and Personal Care business. Before joining Spectrum Brands, Mr. Qadir held several finance leadership positions of increasing responsibility at The Black & Decker Corporation and Stanley Black & Decker from 2003 to 2012 across FP&A, Operations Finance and Controllership. Mr. Qadir earned his undergraduate degree from Institute of Business Administration in Karachi and his Master of Business Administration from Notre Dame.
