Cisco's Top 5 Most Highly Paid Executives In FY16

Who Is The Highest Paid Cisco Executive?

How much total compensation did Cisco dish out to CEO Chuck Robbins in fiscal year 2016? How many executives received more compensation than former CEO John Chambers?

CRN answers these questions and more using data from Cisco's latest filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to Robbins and Chambers, the other Cisco compensation leaders include Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations Chris Dedicoat; Pankaj Patel, Cisco's former Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer; and Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kramer.

Here’s a look at the top five highest paid Cisco executives in fiscal year 2016, which ended in July.

What's Included In Total Direct Compensation?

Cisco's executive pay plan – or, total direct compensation – includes three primary elements: base salary, variable cash incentive awards and long-term, equity-based incentive awards.

The cash incentive rewards are given to executives who achieve annual performance goals, while the long-term equity-based awards consist of a number of factors including increasing shareholder value, the CEO's recommendations and performance history.

No. 5: John Chambers

Position: Executive Chairman

Years At Cisco: 25

Base Salary: $1 Million

Cash Incentive Awards: No longer participates

Equity Awards: $6.44 Million

Total Direct Compensation FY16: $7.44 Million

Chambers served as Cisco CEO from January 1995 to July 2015 before handing over the role to Robbins. Over the course of his 20-year tenure as CEO, Chambers grew the company from $1.2 billion in revenues to $47 billion when he stepped down. He joined the networking giant in 1991 as senior vice president.

Following a recommendation by Cisco's compensation committee, Chambers no longer participates in the variable cash incentive awards.

No. 4: Pankaj Patel

Position: Former Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer

Years At Cisco: 20

Base Salary: $735,000

Cash Incentive Awards: $1.52 Million

Equity Awards: $5.52 Million

Total Direct Compensation FY16: $7.78 Million

Pankaj Patel, one of the networking giant's longtime leading technologists, revealed earlier this year his plans to step down after a 20-year stint with Cisco. Pankaj joined Cisco through the company's acquisition of StrataCom in 1996.

As executive vice president and chief development officer, he was responsible for driving innovation in Cisco's networking and data center architectures -- leading the company's $36 billion global technology portfolio and its 26,000 engineers.

No. 3: Chris Dedicoat

Position: Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations

Years At Cisco: 21

Base Salary: $670,000

Cash Incentive Awards: $1.47 Million

Equity Awards: $6.44 Million

Total Direct Compensation FY16: $8.59 Million

Dedicoat is responsible for sales, operations, growth initiatives and investments in strategic alliances for Cisco across the globe. After Robbins was selected to succeed Chambers, one of his first executive moves was appointing Dedicoat as the company's next leader of worldwide sales.

Prior to his current role, Dedicoat was president of Cisco's Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Russia (EMEAR) business for four years.

No. 2: Kelly Kramer

Position: CFO, Executive Vice President

Years At Cisco: 4

Base Salary: $735,000

Cash Incentive Awards: $1.82 Million

Equity Awards: $7.36 Million

*FY16 Bonus: $500,000

Total Direct Compensation FY16: $10.42 Million

Kramer was promoted to CFO on Jan. 1, 2015, replacing longtime Cisco CFO Frank Calderoni. She was named part of Robbins' new executive leadership team formed last year and has been a key figurehead at Cisco events in recent years.

When appointed to CFO, Cisco's compensation committee approved a $1 million bonus to be granted to Kramer in two separate $500,000 payments to be delivered at start of the calendar year 2015 and 2016.

No. 1: Chuck Robbins

Position: CEO

Years At Cisco: 20

Base Salary: $1.15 Million

Cash Incentive Awards: $4.49 Million

Equity Awards: $11.96 Million

Total Direct Compensation FY16: $17.6 Million

Channel partners are bullish about the future of Cisco under the leadership of Robbins. The CEO has guided Cisco to buy more cloud, IoT and software companies this year while shifting strategic investments into to high growth areas such as security, which hit $2 billion in revenues in FY16.

Robbins has been with Cisco since late 1997, assuming leadership of Cisco's U.S. channel sales organization in 2002. Over the years, Robbins has held various executive roles including senior vice president of U.S. enterprise, commercial and Canada; as well as senior vice president of worldwide field operations.