AEye Announces New VP of Operations and Quality and Inducement Grant Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIDR), a global leader in software-defined, high-performance lidar solutions, today announced the grant of an inducement equity award to its newly appointed Vice President Operations and Quality, Paul Berton. The grant was approved by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors as a material inducement to Mr. Berton entering into employment with the Company in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

Mr. Berton received, as an inducement to accept employment, an incentive award of 125,000 restricted stock units (the “RSUs”). These RSUs will vest as follows: one-third of the total grant is expected to vest on May 15, 2027, and the remainder of the grant is expected to vest quarterly over the subsequent eight calendar quarters, subject to Mr. Berton’s continued employment with the Company as of each such vesting date. The RSUs are subject to the terms and conditions of the Company’s 2025 Employment Inducement Incentive Award Plan and the terms and conditions of a RSU award agreement covering the grant.

Mr. Berton joined AEye from Lucid Motors, where he led manufacturing and engineering for low-voltage ECUs across more than 30 products, with responsibility spanning NPI, manufacturing test, supply chain, and quality. He brings extensive experience scaling complex, software-intensive hardware programs and working closely with global contract manufacturing partners.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Berton has held leadership roles at Apple, Intel, and Neato Robotics, among others. He also holds an MBA from San Jose State and a BS in Computer Engineering.

Mr. Berton is leading AEye’s global operations and quality strategy, with a focus on scaling manufacturing with our partners, strengthening supply chain execution, and enhancing quality systems as we move further into production.

About AEye

AEye offers a suite of unique software-defined lidar solutions that address a wide range of real-world needs including advanced driver-assistance, vehicle autonomy, smart infrastructure, security, defense, and logistics applications. AEye’s flagship product, Apollo™, has been widely recognized for its small form factor and its ability to detect objects at up to one kilometer. In addition to Apollo™, AEye also offers STRATOS™ with the ability to detect objects at up to one-and-a-half kilometers as well as a full-stack solution through its OPTIS™ platform. OPTIS™ provides a complete system that captures a high-resolution 3D image of the world, interprets it, and provides direction to act upon what it sees in real-time.