Axon Announces Jeff Kunins as Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Software

Former Amazon executive and veteran of cloud-based voice assistant and speech technology brings more than two decades of global software leadership to Axon

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Axon

Sep 24, 2019, 07:30 ET

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Axon (Nasdaq: AAXN), the global leader in connected public safety technologies, today announced the addition of Jeff Kunins as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Executive Vice President (EVP) of Software, effective September 23, 2019.

Axon Announces Jeff Kunins as Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Software

Mr. Kunins is an expert in cloud-based voice assistants and speech technology. He is joining Axon's leadership team from Amazon, where he most recently served as Vice President (VP) of Alexa Entertainment and led Alexa's global experience, developer platform, and strategic partnerships for music, video, and podcasts across over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices. Mr. Kunins also spent 8 years at voice services pioneer Tellme Networks (acquired by Microsoft in 2007), where he served as VP of Product. Tellme was one of the most direct ancestors of today's generation of voice assistants, and its enterprise SaaS platform powered billions of phone calls for Fortune 100 customers including AT&T, Verizon, American Express, UPS and Merrill Lynch.

For over 25 years, Mr. Kunins has helped invent and deliver services used by hundreds of millions of customers around the world, serving in diverse roles including VP of Kindle's global reading experience at Amazon, General Manager (GM) of Product and Design at Skype and GM of Windows Live Messenger at Microsoft. Jeff is an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University and lives in Seattle with his wife and three children. Jeff will lead the continued growth of Axon's global software hub in Seattle.

"Public safety officials and the communities they serve deserve products designed by top tech talent. Jeff's appointment as CPO puts us in a great position to keep inventing on behalf of the public safety market and delivering disruptive, world-changing technology that supports our mission to protect life," says Axon CEO and founder, Rick Smith. "We're excited to welcome Jeff as we continue to make SaaS the backbone of the Axon Network and further accelerate the next phase of our growth."

"At this moment in history, Axon's unrelenting mission to obsolete the bullet and uplift social justice in the world couldn't be more relevant or more vitally important," says Mr. Kunins. "I believe in the power of technology to radically improve transparency, accountability, and safety for both law enforcement and the citizens they protect. It's an honor to be joining the Axon team to be a part of making it happen."

An equity inducement award of 470,400 restricted stock units (RSUs) was granted to Mr. Kunins in connection with the commencement of his employment. Of the RSUs comprising Mr. Kunins' inducement award, 14,400 RSUs will vest two-thirds on the first anniversary and one-third on the second anniversary of the grant date. An additional 9,000 RSUs will vest on February 14, 2020. This portion of the award will accelerate in the event of a termination without cause or a resignation for good reason following a change in control. 9,600 RSUs will vest in equal annual amounts on the first, second, and third anniversaries of the grant date, subject to continued service through each vesting date. 5,400 RSUs will vest on February 14, 2020, subject to continued service through the vesting date. Additionally, Mr. Kunins received 432,000 eXponential Stock Units (XSUs), which are grants of RSUs, each with a term of approximately eight and a half years, that vest in 12 equal tranches. Each of the 12 tranches will vest upon the achievement of both a market capitalization goal and an internal operational goal based on revenue or adjusted EBITDA. For more information about Axon's eXponential Stock Unit plan visit https://www.axon.com/xspp-faq.

About Axon

Axon is a global network of devices, apps, training and people that helps public safety personnel become smarter and safer. With a mission of protecting life, our technologies give customers the confidence, focus and time they need to protect their communities. Our products impact every aspect of a public safety officer's day-to-day experience.

We work hard for those who put themselves in harm's way for all of us. To date, there are more than 397,800 software seats booked on the Axon network around the world and more than 221,000 lives have been saved with the Axon network of devices, apps, training and people. Learn more at www.axon.com or by calling (800) 978-2737.

Amazon, Alexa and Kindle are trademarks of Amazon, American Express is a trademark of American Express Marketing & Development Corp., AT&T is a trademark of AT&T Intellectual Property, Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc., Merrill Lynch is a trademark of Bank of America Corporation, Microsoft, Skype and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, Twitter is a trademark of Twitter, Inc. and Verizon is a trademark of Verizon Trademark Services, LLC. Axon and the Delta Logo are trademarks of Axon Enterprise, Inc., some of which are registered in the US and other countries. For more information, visit www.axon.com/legal. All rights reserved.

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