While the POET news release didn't detail who received how many options, the SEDI filings shed at least a little light on the situation.

In https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_6VSZGqigLbjQyh_LJxMfpa4fc7pTbaj_8wtvRVDEW0/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=2028980574, I made entries for the individual insiders and deducted their options from the "directors as a group" and "management as a group" sums. Scroll down to "Options issued in 2016" to see the results.

Overall I think the issuance of options – remember: options are part of their compensation – was quite reasonable. Suresh and Subhash each got 300,000 options – adequate, considering their roles in the team, Ajit received 200,000, and the other directors got 150,000 each. And since the directors are actively involved in the business to a certain degree, contrary to just meeting a few times a year to supervise the company, I really won't complain.

So 1,250,000 are left for other management personell – probably Vikas Gupta, Liew-Chuang Chi, Kevin Barnes, the DenseLight and the BB Photonics guys – and 400,000 for other staff. Seems quite fair.

The "CEO and Chairman's Discretionary Pool" I understand as an option pool that is available to CEO and/or Chairman, so that they can take options from that pool and grant options to individuals as they see fit, without having to go to the board asking for permission each time. That's also a reasonable approach, IMHO.

Everything's fine.