Verizon’s Most Highly Compensated Executives In 2022

With the exception of the CEO, Verizon’s top compensated executives have been shaken up with four of the top five undergoing a job role change in 2022 and early 2023.

Four of the five most highly compensated Verizon executives have undergone a job role or title change in the last few months. That’s because the carrier giant has recently unveiled a slew of senior leadership changes as Verizon continues to work to transform its business.

Under the leadership of CEO Hans Vestberg, Verizon over the last five years has been working hard to double down on its telecom roots and grow the business in new areas of connectivity. Namely, it’s betting big on 5G. The carrier in October also created a new global services organization aimed at streamlining shared services teams to free up more capital for the carrier to invest in its core networking and telecom services. It’s called the Verizon Global Services (VGS) organization and it’s responsible for most shared services teams within the company, including Real Estate, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Fleet, Finance Operations, Global Technology Solutions, Reporting and Insights, Learning and Development, Public Policy and Information Security.

Among the changes, Tami Erwin, a 35-year Verizon executive and Verizon Business CEO, stepped down at the end of 2022. Verizon’s then-CRO, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, stepped into the role of the leader of the carrier’s Business organization. After serving as Verizon Business CEO for 9 months, Sampath became the leader of Verizon Consumer and Kyle Malady took over at the helm of the Business organization in March.

Here’s a breakdown of the 2022 total compensation of New York City-based Verizon’s top six executives as reported in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing and ranked from lowest to highest compensation.

5. Craig Silliman, Executive Vice President and President, Verizon Global Services

Silliman served as executive vice president and chief administrative, legal and public policy officer until October 10, 2022, after which he began to transition into his current role heading up Verizon’s Global Services segment.

Silliman’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $850,000. He also received stock awards totaling $6.50 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.11 million and $175,149 in “other compensation,” which brought his total compensation for the year to $8.63 million.

4. Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Executive Vice President and Group CEO, Verizon Consumer

Sampath served as executive vice president and group CEO of Verizon Business until March 2, 2023. He succeeded Tami Erwin in that role on July 1, 2022. Prior to that appointment, Sampath served as Verizon’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer of Verizon Business. He now serves as executive vice president and CEO of Verizon’s Consumer segment.

Sampath’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $779,808. He also received stock awards totaling $7.00 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $838,663 and $135,805 in “other compensation,” which brought his total compensation for the year to $8.75 million.

3. Kyle Malady, Executive Vice President and Group CEO, Verizon Business

Malady served as Executive Vice President and President – Global Networks and Technology until March 2, 2023 until rising into the CEO position Of Verizon Business, taking over for Sampath.

Malady’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $900,000. He also received stock awards totaling $6.50 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.17 million and $196,565 in “other compensation,“ which brought his total compensation for the year to $8.77 million, up from $7.67 million the year earlier.

2. Matthew Ellis, Executive Vice President and CFO

Ellis took on the role of CFO in 2016. The executive will step down from his role as executive vice president and CFO and separate from Verizon on or around May 1, 2023, according to the company. Verizon Senior Vice President Tony Skiadas will replace Ellis.

Ellis’ salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $950,000. He also received stock awards totaling $7.0 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.24 million and $189,481 in “other compensation,” which brought his total compensation for the year to $9.38 million, up from $9.11 million the year earlier.

1. Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO

Vestberg, Verizon’s CEO of five years, has been working to transform Verizon’s business by leaning heavily on its telecom roots and leading the company’s nationwide launch of 5G Ultra Wideband and Fixed Wireless Access.

Vestberg’s salary for the 2022 fiscal year was $1.5 million. He also received stock awards totaling $14.5 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $3.26 million and $570,193 in “other compensation,” which brought his total compensation for the year to $19.83 million, down from $20.34 million the year earlier.