Linea Aspesi
About Linea Aspesi
Linea Aspesi was appointed Chief People Officer of KalVista Pharmaceuticals on October 6, 2025, bringing 25+ years of human resources leadership across biopharma, healthcare, and technology; she most recently served as Chief Administration Officer and prior Chief People Officer at Editas Medicine, with earlier CHRO roles at Forma Therapeutics and Saniona, VP/Head of HR at Sobi, and a decade of senior HR roles at Sanofi Genzyme; she holds a B.A. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst . During the most recent three fiscal years, KalVista’s TSR improved from $67.01 to $108.17 on a $100 initial investment while net income remained negative as the company advanced EKTERLY (sebetralstat) through approval and initial commercialization .
| Metric | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value of initial $100 investment based on TSR ($) | $67.01 | $89.16 | $108.17 |
| Net Income ($USD Millions) | $(92.9) | $(126.6) | $(183.4) |
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editas Medicine | Chief Administration Officer; previously Chief People Officer | Not disclosed | Led people function at a clinical-stage gene editing company supporting organizational scale-up |
| Forma Therapeutics | Chief Human Resources Officer | Not disclosed | Built HR capabilities in rare disease biopharma |
| Saniona | Chief Human Resources Officer | Not disclosed | Led HR in CNS/rare disease biotech |
| Sobi (North America) | Vice President, Head of HR & Office Management | Not disclosed | Oversaw HR and operations integration in specialty pharma |
| Sanofi Genzyme | Senior HR leadership (industrial ops/manufacturing); decade tenure | ~10 years | Supported industrial operations and manufacturing HR across North America |
| UMass Memorial Medical Center | HR roles | Not disclosed | Early-career HR in healthcare provider setting |
| Brigham and Women’s Hospital | HR roles | Not disclosed | Early-career HR in academic medical center |
| Benchmarking Partners, Inc. | HR roles | Not disclosed | Early-career HR in technology sector |
External Roles
No public company board or external governance roles disclosed for Ms. Aspesi in company filings .
Performance Compensation
| Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inducement Stock Option (100,000 shares) | N/A (time-based) | N/A | N/A | N/A | 25% vests on Oct 6, 2026; remaining 75% vests in equal monthly installments (1/48 of total) thereafter through Oct 6, 2029; 10-year term; exercise price equals Nasdaq closing price on Oct 8, 2025; granted under the 2021 Amended and Restated Inducement Plan |
Key dates and amounts:
- Oct 6, 2026: 25,000 options vest (1/4 of grant)
- Nov 2026–Oct 2029: ~2,083 options vest monthly (1/48 of total), subject to continuous service
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Inducement option grant: 100,000 options with 10-year term and time-based vesting; exercise price at the Oct 8, 2025 Nasdaq close; vesting as above .
- Anti-hedging and anti-pledging: Company Insider Trading Policy prohibits hedging and pledging of company securities unless expressly approved by the General Counsel .
- Clawback: Compensation Recovery Policy compliant with SEC/Nasdaq requires recovery of incentive-based compensation following a financial restatement, up to a three-year look-back, without regard to fault .
- Beneficial ownership: Ms. Aspesi is not listed among beneficial owners as of the Aug 6, 2025 record date (pre-appointment) .
Employment Terms
| Term | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Role | Chief People Officer, effective Oct 6, 2025 |
| Equity | Inducement option to purchase 100,000 shares; 25%/monthly vesting; 10-year term; exercise price equals Oct 8, 2025 close; 2021 A&R Inducement Plan |
| Base salary, bonus, severance, change-of-control | Not disclosed for Ms. Aspesi in Item 5.02; the same 8‑K detailed COO Bilal Arif’s compensation and severance terms but did not disclose Ms. Aspesi’s cash compensation or severance provisions |
| Indemnification | Standard form of indemnification agreement used by KalVista for officers/directors (terms include mandatory advancement of expenses and post‑change‑in‑control protections) |
Investment Implications
- Near-term supply dynamics: The 1-year cliff on 100,000 inducement options (25,000 vest Oct 6, 2026) followed by monthly vesting through Oct 2029 creates a potential cadence for option-based selling; actual sales depend on personal decisions, trading windows, and any Rule 10b5‑1 plan adoption (company notes certain directors/officers use 10b5‑1 plans) .
- Alignment and risk controls: Anti-hedging/anti-pledging and a broad clawback policy mitigate misalignment and restatement risk, supporting governance quality as the company transitions to commercial operations .
- Disclosure gap: Cash compensation, bonus targets, and severance/change-of-control terms for Ms. Aspesi were not disclosed at appointment, limiting pay-for-performance assessment until the next proxy; watch for upcoming filings to quantify fixed/variable pay levers .
- Company execution backdrop: EKTERLY approvals (U.S./UK) and CHMP positive opinion, plus Japan/Canada partnerships, indicate rapid scaling needs where a seasoned CPO can affect talent acquisition/retention—an indirect lever for commercial execution quality and long-run TSR .
Governance context: Say‑on‑pay passed at the 2024 annual meeting; Compensation Committee uses Aon as independent consultant and references a peer group annually in setting executive pay programs .