Here Are Cisco’s Most Highly Compensated Executives In 2022

Cisco’s chief partner officer, who was promoted in June, and the company’s new chief legal officer joined the ranks of the tech giant’s top-compensated executives in fiscal year 2022.

Hard Work Paying Off

Cisco Systems in its 2022 proxy filing last week made it clear that it linked pay to performance related to furthering the transformation of the company’s business model, a journey the company has been on for the past several years.

The tech giant went full steam ahead during its 2022 fiscal year when it launched two of its first Cisco Plus Everything-as-a-Service offerings, Hybrid Cloud and Secure Connect Now. The company has been steadily increasing the amount of subscription-based services it offers. In fiscal 2022, total subscription revenue, including services sold as subscriptions, accounted for $22.4 billion and represented 43 percent of Cisco’s total revenue. Subscription revenue is driving annual recurring revenue, or ARR, which Cisco said is one of the best indicators of its progress in its business transformation.

And it’s not just a few business segments that are responsible for this shift the historically hardware provider is making. All hands are on deck and it’s starting right at the top. In fact, at least three—arguably more, if you count chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins who is leading the charge—of Cisco’s top six highest-paid executives are focused on software, life cycle and customer experience.

Cisco’s CEO and CFO were two of the most highly compensated executive officers in the company during the 2022 fiscal year, followed by Chief Sales and Marketing officer Gerri Elliott, who officially retired in May, and Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer Maria Martinez, according to the company’s annual proxy statement.

Also joining the list this year is Dev Stahlkopf, executive vice president and chief legal officer, who came aboard in 2021, and Cisco veteran Jeff Sharritts, who was promoted to executive vice president and chief customer and partner officer in June.

Here’s a breakdown of the 2022 compensation of San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco’s top six executives as reported in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week and ranked from lowest to highest compensation.

Jeff Sharritts, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer and Partner Officer

A Cisco veteran of more than 20 years, Sharritts was promoted in June to his current post. He started at Cisco as a partner account manager and has held a variety of roles throughout the company’s sales organization.

Sharritts’ salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $625,481. He also received stock awards totaling $5.93 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $657,653 and $26,639 in “other compensation” that was linked to a retirement fund and personal benefits, bringing his total compensation for the year to $7.24 million.

Maria Martinez, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Experience Officer

Robbins brought on Martinez as executive vice president and chief customer experience officer in April 2018 in an effort to place more emphasis on customer experience and life-cycle services. And she‘s no stranger to boosting customer outcomes. Prior to her appointment with Cisco, she served as president of customer success at CRM powerhouse Salesforce and had also previously managed Microsoft’s global services business.

Martinez’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $838,461, up from $761,539 the prior year. She also received stock awards totaling $10.60 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.09 million and $17,163 in other compensation that included a retirement fund and personal benefits. All told, her total compensation for the year was $12.55 million compared with $11.82 million the prior year.

Gerri Elliott, Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

Elliott made news in January when she announced her plans to retire after serving in her current role since 2018. Senior Vice President of Americas Jeff Sharritts was named as her successor and took over for her as of May 1. A tech veteran, Elliott came to Cisco having served most recently as executive vice president at Juniper Networks and before that, she spent seven years at Microsoft where she was corporate vice president of worldwide corporate sector sales.

Despite announcing her retirement plans during the fiscal year, Elliott’s salary for 2022 was $743,750, down from fiscal 2021’s $840,865. Elliott received $11.21 million in stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $924,125 and $55,675 in “other compensation. Her total compensation for the year was $12.94 million compared with $12.41 million one year ago.

Dev Stahlkopf, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer

Stahlkopf became a “named officer” in August 2021 after joining Cisco that summer and took on her current post leading the tech firm‘s legal operations. Prior to her time with Cisco, Stahlkopf served as corporate vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Microsoft.

Stahlkopf‘s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $675,000 for her first year on the job. She also received stock awards totaling $9.51 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $876,698 and $19,685 in “other compensation” linked to a retirement fund and personal benefits. She also received a $2.20 million bonus that was part of her new hire compensation package and as consideration for the compensation she forfeited when she left her prior employer. As such, the proxy said the Compensation Committee approved the payment to Stahlkopf. Her total compensation for the year was $13.27 million.

Scott Herren, Executive Vice President, CFO

Herren came aboard Cisco in 2020 after spending more than six years as CFO of Autodesk. Since then, he‘s focused on accelerating Cisco’s shift toward a recurring revenue business model.

Herren’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $838,461, up from $495,385 in fiscal 2021. Herren also received stock awards totaling $12.46 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.09 million and $220.98 in “other compensation” that was linked to a retirement fund and personal benefits. It brought his total compensation for the year to $14.61 million compared with $19.87 million the prior year, which was bolstered by an $8 million bonus.

Chuck Robbins, Chair, CEO

Robbins, the tech giant‘s leader since 2015, was made chairman of the board in late 2017. Since then, he has led the company as it transitioned away from being a networking hardware provider to a software and services behemoth with a growing Everything-as-a-Service practice. The Cisco veteran served as channel chief before joining the C-suite.

Robbins’ salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $1.39 million, down from $1.42 million the prior year. Robbins also received stock awards totaling $24.86 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $2.94 million and $85.59 in “other compensation” linked to a retirement fund and personal benefits, including expenses for security practices the company follows for its CEO and related licenses for use in Robbins’ residences, the proxy said, bringing his total compensation for the year to $29.28 million compared with $25.45 million the prior year.