Eric Hanson
President and Chief Operating Officer at CELH
Executive
About Eric Hanson
Eric Hanson (age 53) is President and Chief Operating Officer of Celsius Holdings (CELH), appointed effective March 24, 2025. He brings 27+ years of beverage industry leadership from PepsiCo across strategic partnerships, energy drinks, commercial planning, revenue growth management, and sales/general management, and holds a B.S. in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business . For context on company performance, recent financials are below.
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($) | 653,604,000* | 1,318,014,000* | 1,355,630,000* |
| EBITDA ($) | -153,505,000* | 269,592,000* | 163,302,000* |
Values retrieved from S&P Global*
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| PepsiCo | SVP – Strategic Partnerships | 2022–2025 | Led strategic partnerships; senior commercial leadership at a global beverage leader . |
| PepsiCo | SVP – Energy Drinks | 2020–2022 | Ran energy drinks portfolio; directly relevant to CELH category execution . |
| PepsiCo | SVP – Commercial Planning & Sales Transformation | 2019–2020 | Led commercial planning and sales transformation initiatives . |
| PepsiCo | Revenue Growth Mgmt; Sales & GM roles (various) | 1997–2019 | Pricing/revenue management, field sales, and general management experience across beverages . |
Fixed Compensation
| Component | 2025 Terms | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base Salary | $700,000 | Per offer letter . |
| Target Bonus % | Not disclosed | Eligible under annual bonus plan . |
| Perquisites | $3,000/month housing allowance | Subject to annual review . |
Performance Compensation
Long-Term Equity (new-hire/annual)
| Vehicle | Grant Value | Metrics | Vesting | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual RSUs | $575,000 (50% of $1,150,000) | Service-based | Ratable annually over 3 years | Under company LTIP eligibility . |
| Annual PSUs | $575,000 (50% of $1,150,000) | Revenue and Total Shareholder Return | Cliff at 3 years (performance-based) | Metrics explicitly revenue and TSR . |
| One-time RSUs (sign-on) | $1,200,000 | Service-based | Ratable annually over 3 years | New-hire inducement equity . |
Performance metric framework and broader plan design at CELH:
- Annual cash incentive design uses financial metrics and individual goals with threshold/target/maximum and straight-line interpolation; financial goals comprise 75% of payout and include Revenue, Gross Profit, and Adjusted EBITDA for 2024 program context . For 2024, financial payout was 17% of target (Revenue below threshold, Gross Profit at threshold, Adjusted EBITDA below threshold), with individual goals separately assessed .
- Long-term plan measures three-year cumulative revenue growth and relative TSR for PSUs; RSUs vest over three years; awards targeted to align with stockholder value creation .
Annual Incentive Plan Mechanics (Reference)
| Element | Design | Weighting/Payout Curve |
|---|---|---|
| Financial metrics | Revenue; Gross Profit; Adjusted EBITDA | 75% of target; payout 0% if <80% target, 50% at 80%, 100% at target, 150% >116% . |
| Individual goals | Strategic/individual KPIs | 25% of target; payout 0–150% via 0–5 rating scale . |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Policy / Status |
|---|---|
| Stock ownership guidelines | 3x base salary for executive officers; 5x for CEO; five years to comply from the later of Nov 1, 2022 or appointment date . |
| Qualifying shares | Includes outright shares, 60% of unvested RSUs, option shares, and director share equivalents . |
| Anti-hedging | Executives and directors prohibited from hedging/monetization (short sales, options, margin) . |
| Anti-pledging | Executives and directors prohibited from pledging company equity or using it for margin debt . |
| Beneficial ownership | Hanson is listed as an executive officer for ownership reporting; individual share count not separately tabulated in the displayed table; group total for all directors/executive officers (15 persons) is 6,610,687 shares (2.55%) . |
Employment Terms
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start date / role | Appointed President & COO effective March 24, 2025 . |
| Agreements entered | Company’s current form of Indemnification Agreement, Executive Change in Control and Indemnity Agreement, and Executive Severance Program . |
| Executive Severance Plan (non-CIC) | Upon involuntary termination without cause or resignation for good reason: lump sum equal to base salary + 100% target annual bonus for year of termination, plus pro-rata target bonus for year of termination; 12 months COBRA premiums (lump sum). Offsets for statutory severance/outstanding debt; Committee discretion to vary amounts . |
| Change-in-Control Agreement (CIC) | Double-trigger window: 3 months before to 2 years after a change in control. If terminated without cause or resigns for good reason: (i) accrued obligations; (ii) cash equal to 2x (base salary + 100% target bonus); (iii) pro-rata target bonus for year of termination; (iv) 18 months COBRA premiums (lump sum) . |
| Equity treatment (plan context) | Under 2015 plan, restricted stock vests on Change in Control; PSUs require double-trigger (qualifying termination in CIC window) for full vesting. Proposed 2025 plan is structured with no single-trigger acceleration (double trigger) . |
| Post-employment covenants | CIC Agreement includes confidentiality, non-compete, non-solicit, IP covenants; indemnification provisions in favor of the executive . |
| Clawback policy | Adopted in 2023 to comply with SEC/Nasdaq; recoups incentive comp tied to financial reporting measures for three prior fiscal years upon required restatement; also subject to SOX 304 for CEO/CFO . |
Compensation Structure Analysis
- Strong equity orientation and multi-year performance design: 50/50 split between PSUs (revenue and relative TSR) and RSUs in annual LTI eligibility, plus a sign-on RSU, concentrates value in long-term alignment and retention with explicit performance gates on half of equity .
- No single-trigger CIC acceleration under 2025 plan framework; PSUs under existing awards include double-trigger protections, which is shareholder-friendly relative to immediate acceleration risk .
- Ownership alignment/discipline: 3x salary ownership guideline with five-year compliance window; anti-hedging and anti-pledging reduce misalignment/forced-sale risk .
Performance Context
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($) | 653,604,000* | 1,318,014,000* | 1,355,630,000* |
| EBITDA ($) | -153,505,000* | 269,592,000* | 163,302,000* |
Values retrieved from S&P Global*
Additional program performance reference (pre-Hanson tenure):
- 2024 annual incentive financial payout equaled 17% of target (Revenue below threshold, Gross Profit at threshold, Adjusted EBITDA below threshold) using the 75% financial/25% individual structure .
- PSU program emphasizes three-year cumulative revenue and relative TSR; RSUs vest over three years .
Investment Implications
- Compensation-performance alignment: Hanson’s package tilts to equity with half in PSUs tied to revenue and relative TSR, reinforcing long-term value creation; sign-on RSUs add near-term retention but may create scheduled tax-withholding-related sales around vest dates (monitor Form 4s as awards settle) .
- CIC and severance economics are market-aligned (2x base+bonus in CIC; double-trigger equity) which protects management without promoting windfalls from a change-of-control alone—modest governance risk .
- Ownership discipline lowers alignment risk (3x salary guideline; anti-hedging/pledging), though as a newly appointed officer he will have up to five years to meet guidelines—watch progress to assess “skin-in-the-game” buildup .
- Execution lens: His PepsiCo energy and partnerships pedigree maps directly to CELH’s distribution- and category-led growth strategy; pairing this with the company’s multi-year PSU metrics (revenue and rTSR) should incentivize sustained topline and shareholder return focus .