L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. paid the former chief executive officer of its Viisage unit $1.1 million as a separation payment, even as he cashed in stock options worth $5 million more on his way out the door.
Bernard Bailey”™s departure was expected from L-1, and the terms of his exit had been spelled out in earlier employment agreements. The Stamford-based company was formed last year by the merger of Massachusetts document security company Viisage Technology Inc. with Identix Corp., a Minnesota company that makes fingerprint identification systems.
Bailey also received a $100,000 bonus to remain through the integration of the companies.
The separation payment came despite Viisage never having produced an annual profit under Bailey, a U.S. Navy and IBM Corp. veteran who became CEO in 2002.
L-1 stated the separation agreement was appropriate, in that it rewards Bailey for services performed in the merger, and prohibits him from working for a competing company.
At the turn of the decade, Viisage achieved nationally renown with facial-recognition software that promised to help law-enforcement agencies spot fugitives in crowds, but the company since has generated most of its revenue with systems that produce tamper-proof driver”™s licenses and passports.
A recent test by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) showed that facial-recognition algorithms from L-1 identify the correct identity of a person 99 percent of the time, up from an 80 percent accuracy rate five years ago. Besides L-1, NIST noted the performance of Neven Vision, which was acquired by Google Inc., and Germany”™s Cognitec Systems.
Bailey is not the only Viisage personage headed for the exit even as the company”™s flagship technology achieves maturity ”“ this month L-1 revealed that James Ebzery, president of Viisage operations, is resigning as of April 30. And in mid-April, former Viisage chairman and current L-1 director, Denis Berube, sold $1 million in stock.
Thanks largely to the impact of acquisitions, L-1 reported a $31 million loss last year on $164 million in revenue. L-1 reported having 1,050 employees at year-end.
Earlier this month, L-1 disclosed it has received a contract worth as much as $71 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for hand-held devices that capture identifying information from facial features, fingerprints and irises.
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