Daphne Taylor

About Daphne Taylor

Daphne Taylor is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aptevo Therapeutics (APVO), serving as CFO since March 3, 2023. She was 59 as of June 20, 2025, is a licensed CPA (WA and CA), and holds a B.A. from Sonoma State University . She previously served as Aptevo’s VP Finance (May 2016–Aug 2022) and SVP Finance (Aug 2022–Mar 2023) with responsibility for strategic planning and budgeting, treasury, internal/external reporting, and financial compliance; earlier roles include CFO of BioLife Solutions (Aug 2011–Feb 2016), Chief Accounting Officer/Controller at Cardiac Science, and controller roles at LookSmart, SpeedTrak, CoreMark International, and Pacific Telesis; she began her career at Coopers & Lybrand . As CFO she signs SOX 302/906 certifications and executive certifications on the company’s financial statements, underscoring accountability for disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting . In November 2025, she highlighted capital raising and runway extension into 4Q26 in Aptevo’s 3Q25 business update .

Past Roles

External Roles

Fixed Compensation

The company’s proxies state NEO-level base salaries and targets for the CEO, COO, and GC in 2023–2024, but Daphne Taylor was not listed among the three NEOs in those years; her 2023 appointment 8-K provides her CFO base salary and bonus target .

Performance Compensation

• Bonus plan structure (company policy): CEO bonus weighting is 90% corporate/10% individual; other named executive officers are 70% corporate/30% individual .
• 2023 payouts (applied to NEOs): Corporate component paid at 83%; individual component paid at 110%–208% depending on individual performance .
• 2024 payouts (applied to NEOs): Corporate component paid at 72%; individual component paid at 100% .
• Metrics: Corporate goals included clinical trial progress, strategic milestones, and financial metrics set by the Compensation Committee .

Equity grant practices and award design:

• Grants generally made post-year results; no timing around MNPI; no equity grants during the four business days before/one business day after 10-Q/10-K or material 8-K filings in 2024 .
• Clawback policy adopted April 2023 for restatements per SEC/Nasdaq rules; company notes that cash bonuses (strategic/operational) and time-based equity are not considered incentive-based comp subject to recovery; no clawback events occurred in 2024 .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

Initial CFO equity awards at appointment:

• Given the three equal annual installments beginning March 3, 2023, these initial appointment awards would be fully vested by March 3, 2025, subject to continued service .
• Stock Ownership Guidelines: CEO 3x base salary; other Section 16 officers (includes CFO) 1x base salary; 50% of after-tax shares must be retained until guideline met; due to declining stock price, Covered Persons do not currently meet targets .
• Anti-hedging/pledging and clawback: Awards are subject to the company’s clawback policy and anti-hedging/pledging policies as in effect; participants must cooperate with recovery requests .

Employment Terms

Appointment and ongoing role:

• Appointed CFO on March 3, 2023 with base salary $403,745 and 40% target bonus; received 11,000 options and 11,000 RSUs vesting in three equal annual installments beginning on the grant date; participates in standard benefits .

Severance and change-in-control plan (company-level disclosure):

• The company states it has no individual employment contracts for its named executive officers; executives participate in an Amended and Restated Senior Management Severance Plan (tiers summarized below) .

Non-change-of-control termination (without Cause):

Change-in-control (double-trigger termination: without Cause or for Good Reason within 18 months of CoC, or qualifying pre-CoC termination in anticipation):

Additional plan terms:

• Conditions include compliance with non-compete/non-solicit agreements, cooperation obligations, and execution of a waiver/release; the company must advance legal costs related to plan disputes; “Cause” terminations forfeit severance .
• Awards are subject to company clawback policy and anti-hedging/pledging policies; additional forfeiture for specified misconduct is provided in the plan .
• Equity plan 280G note: CoC-related accelerations may trigger excise taxes for participants and deduction disallowance under 280G .

Investment Implications

• Pay-for-performance alignment: Cash bonuses for NEOs are predominantly tied to corporate milestones (70% weighting for non-CEO NEOs), with corporate payout modulation (83% in 2023; 72% in 2024) reflecting goal outcomes; this structure supports alignment, though proxy disclosures center on NEOs other than the CFO .
• Vesting/selling pressure: Taylor’s 3/3/2023 RSU/option grants vest in three equal installments beginning on grant date, implying vest completion by 3/3/2025—reducing incremental sell pressure from these initial awards post-1H25, subject to personal trading decisions and retention guidelines .
• Ownership alignment: Section 16 ownership guidelines (1x salary for CFO-level) plus 50% after-tax share retention requirement promote alignment; however, the company notes Covered Persons currently do not meet targets due to stock price, suggesting continued retention/accumulation until compliance is achieved .
• Retention and CoC economics: The Severance Plan’s SVP-tier benefits (75% non-CoC; 150% CoC; full equity acceleration on qualifying CoC termination) likely apply to SVP-level executives; this enhances retention but introduces potential CoC cash/equity acceleration costs that investors should factor into M&A scenarios .
• Governance and recovery: The clawback policy excludes typical annual cash bonuses (strategic/operational) and time-based equity from financial restatement-based recovery; while compliant with SEC/Nasdaq rules, this narrower scope versus some peers may be viewed as a governance consideration .
• Execution signals: As CFO, Taylor certified 3Q25 filings and communicated extended cash runway to 4Q26 after capital raises, underscoring focus on liquidity and funding clinical milestones—key to value creation for a clinical-stage biotech .