Exhibit 10.1
AMENDED AND RESTATED
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
Southland Holdings, Inc.
AND
Keith Bassano
AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
This AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT (this "Agreement") is made and entered into by and between Southland Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Employer"), and Keith Bassano (the "Employee"), effective as of August 11, 2026.
WHEREAS, on May 9, 2025, the Employer and Employee entered that certain Employment Agreement, establishing the terms and conditions of Employee's employment with the Employer;
WHEREAS, the Employer desires to continue employing the Employee, and the Employee desires to continue being employed by the Employer, on the terms and subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth;
WHEREAS, this Agreement amends and restates the Employment Agreement, and the Employment Agreement as well as any of Employee's rights or entitlements under the same are of no further force or effect;
WHEREAS, the Employer will provide to Employee, in the course and scope of Employee's employment with the Employer and in the performance of Employee's duties for the Employer, highly confidential, sensitive, and proprietary information, as well as intellectual property and trade secrets, belonging to the Employer, regarding, among other things, the Employer and its employees and contractors, methods and strategies of production and service, finances and other financial information, clients, customers, suppliers, vendors, business partners, and business plans and strategies and that such access will be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement;
WHEREAS, the Employee understands that execution of this Agreement is a condition precedent to commencing employment with the Employer, to being paid compensation by the Employer under this Agreement, and to receiving any Confidential Information (as defined herein) belonging to the Employer, as well as to receiving other valuable and specialized training; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the covenants contained herein and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto agree as follows.
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If to the Employer:
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Southland Holdings, Inc. 1100 Kubota Dr.
Grapevine, TX 76051
Attention: Corporate Secretary and General Counsel
If to Employee:
Address last shown on the Employer's Records
Each Party may designate by notice in writing a new address to which any notice, demand, request or communication may thereafter be so given, served or sent. Each notice, demand, request, or communication that shall be given or made in the manner described above shall be deemed sufficiently given or made for all purposes at such time as it is delivered to the addressee (with the return receipt, the delivery receipt, confirmation of facsimile transmission or the affidavit of messenger being deemed conclusive but not exclusive evidence of such delivery) or at such time as delivery is refused by the addressee upon presentation.
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"Accrued Benefits" means (i) any compensation deferred by Employee prior to the Date of Termination and not paid by the Employer or otherwise specifically addressed by this Agreement; (ii) any amounts or benefits owing to Employee or to Employee's beneficiaries under the then applicable benefit plans of the Employer; (iii) any amounts owing to Employee for reimbursement of expenses properly incurred by Employee prior to the Date of Termination and which are reimbursable in accordance with Section 7; and (iv) any other benefits or amounts due and owing to Employee under the terms of any plan, program or arrangement of the Employer.
"Affiliate" means any entity controlled by, in control of, or under common control with the Employer, including Employer's parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions and departments, and any joint venture partners (if any).
"Cause" means: (i) Employee's breach of any of Employee's material obligations under any agreement with the Employer, including this Agreement and any other nondisclosure/confidentiality agreement; (ii) Employee's failure or refusal to perform Employee's duties or responsibilities for the Employer, consistent with this Agreement (other than as a result of Employee's death / Disability); (iii) Employee's willful violation of other Employer policies or procedures (including, without limitation, any anti- harassment, workplace violence, and EEO policies), and provided that a mere unsubstantiated accusation of harassment will not rise to the level of willful violation absent an investigation and substantiated of accusation; (iv) Employee's conviction of, or plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, (x) a felony or (y) any crime which is, or could reasonably be expected to be, injurious or harmful to the Employer (except any traffic offenses); (v) Employee's fraud, embezzlement, forgery, bribery, theft, dishonesty or other misconduct that is, or could reasonably be expected to be, injurious or harmful to the Employer; (vi) Employee's unauthorized use, misappropriation, destruction or diversion of any tangible or intangible asset or property of the Employer's (including, without limitation, your unauthorized use or disclosure of the Employer's Confidential Information, trade secrets, or intellectual property); or (vii) Employee's use of illegal drugs, or abuse of alcohol or prescription drugs, that substantially impairs Employee's ability to perform Employee's duties or responsibilities for the Employer; provided that, solely with respect clause (ii) above, Employee's failure or refusal to perform Employee's duties or responsibilities for the Employer, which is susceptible to cure, shall not be deemed "Cause" for termination for purposes of the amounts in Sections 10(d) and 10(e), unless the Employer first gives Employee written notice of its intention to terminate for "Cause" pursuant to clause (ii) and the grounds for such termination, and Employee fails or refuses to cure such Cause within thirty (30) business days following receipt of such notice. For purposes of this definition of "Cause," no act or failure to act, on the part of Employee, shall be considered "willful" unless it is done, or omitted to be done, by Employee in bad faith or without reasonable belief that Employee's action or omission was in the best interests of the Employer.
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"Change in Control" means (i) a merger of the Employer with another entity, a consolidation involving the Employer, or the sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Employer to another entity if, in any such case, the holders of equity securities or interests of the Employer (and their respective affiliates) immediately prior to such transaction or event do not beneficially own immediately after such transaction or event equity securities or interests of the resulting entity entitled to greater than 50% of the votes then eligible to be cast in the election of directors generally (or comparable governing body) of the resulting entity, (ii) the dissolution or liquidation of the Employer, (iii) when any person or entity, including a group as contemplated by Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, acquires or gains ownership or control (including, without limitation, power to vote) of more than 50% of the combined voting power of the Employer's outstanding equity securities or interests, or (iv) as a result of or in connection with a contested election of the Employer's board of directors, the persons who were members of the Employer's board of directors immediately before such election shall cease to constitute a majority of the Employer's board of directors after such election. For purposes of the preceding sentence, "resulting entity" in the context of a transaction or event that is a merger or consolidation shall mean the surviving entity unless the surviving entity is a subsidiary of another entity and the holders of common stock of the Employer receive capital stock of such other entity in such transaction or event, in which event the resulting entity shall be such other entity.
"Confidential Information" means information constituting trade secrets or proprietary information belonging to or regarding the Employer or any of its Affiliates or other confidential financial information, operating budgets, strategic plans or research or estimating methods, personnel data, customer and client contacts, projects or plans, or nonpublic information regarding the Employer or any of its Affiliates. Without limiting the foregoing, "Confidential Information" shall include, but shall not be limited to, any of the following information relating to the Employer: (i) information regarding the Employer's business proposals; (ii) manner of the Employer's operations, and methods of selling or pricing any products or services; (iii) the identity, contact information, preferences, requirements, and quality of persons or entities actually conducting or considering conducting business with the Employer, and any information in any form relating to such persons or entities and their relationship or dealings with the Employer, including the identities and contact information of any individuals associated with such persons or entities with decision making authority over such persons or entities; (iv) any intellectual property or trade secret of or concerning any business operation or any business relationship of the Employer; (v) computer databases, source code, software programs and information relating to the nature of the hardware or software and how said hardware or software are used in combination or alone; (vi) information concerning personnel, confidential financial information, customer or customer prospect information, information concerning customers, customer lists and data, methods and formulas for estimating costs and setting prices, engineering design standards, testing procedures, research results (such as marketing surveys, programming trials or product trials), cost data (such as billing, equipment and programming cost projection models), compensation information and models, business or marketing plans or strategies, deal or business terms, budgets, supplier and vendor names and contact information (as well as preferences, requirements, and quality), programming operations, product names, information on proposed acquisitions or dispositions, actual performance compared to budgeted performance, long-range plans, internal financial information (including but not limited to financial and operating results for certain offices, divisions, departments, and key market areas that are not disclosed to the public in such form), results of internal analyses, computer programs and programming information, techniques and
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designs, and trade secrets; (vii) information concerning the Employer's employees, officers, directors and shareholders (including contact information, salaries, wages, incentives, bonuses, incentives, and benefits, and quality); and (viii) any other information that is designated or marked "confidential," "private," "sensitive," or similar labels. For purposes of the preceding sentence, "Employer" shall include the Employer and any and all of its Affiliates.
"Date of Termination" means: (i) if Employee's employment is terminated by Employee's death, the date of Employee's death; (ii) if Employee's employment is terminated because of Employee's Disability pursuant to Section 9(a)(2)(A), 30 days after Notice of Termination, provided that Employee shall not have returned to the performance of Employee's duties on a full-time basis during such 30-day period; (iii) if Employee's employment is terminated by the Employer pursuant to Section 9(a)(2)(B) or by Employee pursuant to Section 9(a)(2)(B), the date specified in the Notice of Termination; or (iv) if Employee's employment is terminated during the Employment Period other than pursuant to Section 9(a), the date on which Notice of Termination is given.
"Good Reason" means the occurrence of any of the following without Employee's prior written consent: (i) a reduction in Employee's Base Salary of ten percent (10%) or more (other than an across-the-board reduction, in whatever amount or percentage, approved by the Employer that applies on similar terms to other Employees of similar management level); or (ii) a materially adverse change in Employee's authority, duties, or responsibilities (other than an across-the-board change, in whatever form, approved by the Employer that applies on similar terms to other Employees of similar management-level); or (iii) Employee is required by Employer to conduct themselves in violation of applicable law, Company policies or procedures, or any ethical or professional standards applicable to Employee's performance of their duties. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in order to resign for Good Reason, Employee must (1) provide written notice to the Employer within thirty (30) days after the first occurrence of the event giving rise to Good Reason setting forth the basis for Employee's resignation, (2) allow the Employer at least thirty (30) days, or in the case of item (iii) no later than the next applicable SEC deadline for disclosure or filing, from receipt of such written notice to cure such event or, if applicable, provide Employee with written evidence or documentation that the acts or events claimed to constitute Good Reason did not occur or otherwise do not constitute Good Reason as described in this Agreement, and (3) if such event is not reasonably cured within such period, resign not later than seven (7) days after the expiration of the cure period by a written notice which shall state that Employee is exercising the right to terminate for Good Reason.
"Pro Rata Bonus" means an amount equal to the product of (i) the Annual Bonus that would have been earned by Employee for the calendar year that includes the Date of Termination if his employment had not terminated and (ii) a fraction the numerator of which is the number of days that have elapsed as of the Date of Termination during the calendar year that includes the Date of Termination and the denominator of which is 365.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have duly executed and delivered this Agreement, or have caused this Agreement to be duly executed and delivered on their behalf, with all Parties knowingly, voluntarily entering this Agreement with the specific intent to be bound by the same.
SOUTHLAND HOLDINGS, INC.
By:
Name:Frank Renda
Title: Chief Executive Officer
EMPLOYEE
By:
Name:Keith Bassano
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT – Signature Page