Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » Officer Compensation
Important note: The explanatory text provided through this database (including the summary, implementation actions, identification of related resolutions, and additional information) is an interpretation or an explanation that has no official authority and does not represent the purpose behind the Board actions, nor does any explanations or interpretations modify or override the Resolutions themselves. Resolutions can only be modified through further act of the ICANN Board.
Officer Compensation
Whereas, it is essential to ICANN's operations that ICANN offer competitive compensation packages for its personnel.
Whereas, independent market data provided by outside expert compensation consultants indicates that current and proposed increases to compensation amounts for the President, GDD, the General Counsel & Secretary, the SVP, Policy Development Support, the SVP & CFO, and the SVP, Engineering & CIO are within ICANN's target of the 50th to 75th percentile for total cash compensation based on comparable market data for the respective positions.
Whereas, the proposed maximum increase for the above Officers is less than the 2018 reported U.S. inflation rate and less than the reported Consumer Price Index cost-of-living increases for the geographic regions in which the Officers reside.
Whereas, independent market data provided by outside expert compensation consultants indicates that current compensation for the SVP & COO is slightly above ICANN's target of the 50th to 75th percentile for total cash compensation based on comparable market data for the respective job.
Whereas, given the additional responsibilities that the SVP & COO has assumed in the last fiscal year, falling slightly above ICANN's target of between 50% and 75% of comparable market positions is entirely reasonable in this circumstance.
Whereas, each Board member has confirmed that they are not conflicted with respect to compensation packages for any of ICANN's Officers.
Resolved (2018.07.18.14), the Board grants the President and CEO the discretion to adjust the compensation for FY19, effective 1 July 2018, of: (i) Akram Atallah, President, GDD; (ii) John Jeffrey, General Counsel & Secretary; (iii) David Olive, SVP, Policy Development Support; (iv) Susanna Bennett, the SVP & COO; and (v) Ashwin Rangan, the SVP Engineering & CIO, in accordance with the independent study on comparable compensation, subject to a limitation that their annual base salaries shall not increase by more than 1.8% per annum from their current rates.
Resolved (2018.07.18.15), the Board grants the President and CEO the discretion to adjust the compensation for FY19, effective 1 July 2018, of Xavier Calvez, the SVP & CFO, in accordance with the independent study on comparable compensation, subject to a limitation that his annual base salary shall not increase by more than 4.79% per annum from his current rate.
The goal of the organization's compensation program is to provide a competitive compensation package. The organization's general compensation philosophy is to pay base salaries within a range of the 50th – 75th percentile of the market for a particular position, including an annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) based on local inflation and market conditions.
Each of the Officers at issue in this resolution resides in the United States, with five residing in the greater Los Angeles area and one in the District of Columbia. As of May 2018, the U.S. inflation rate was reported as 2.8%, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the commonly accepted metric for cost-of-living increases, increased in the greater Los Angeles area by 4.1% and increased in the District of Columbia by 2.5%.
ICANN's President and CEO has requested that he be granted the discretion to increase the FY18 base salaries of: (i) the President, GDD, the General Counsel & Secretary, the SVP, Policy Development Support, the SVP & COO and the SVP, Engineering & CIO by up to 1.8% of their current base salaries; and (ii) the SVP & CFO, by up to 4.79% of his current base salary. The President and CEO has also informed the Board that he intends to also exercise the same discretion with respect to the other members of ICANN's Executive Team who are not Officers (which does not require Board approval).
The requested increases for each of the Officers listed in (i) in the immediately above paragraph, are less than both the standard U.S. inflation rate and the local CPI increases. The increase for the SVP & CFO listed in (ii) in the immediately above paragraph, includes an additional 2.99% increase. The additional increase is based on the independent market data provided by the organization's outside compensation experts. The market data indicates that the overall 4.79% increase will align the salary for the SVP & CFO to the 50th percentile of the market for that position – the low end of the compensation range.
The salary adjustments provided under this resolution will assist these officers and the organization in fulfilling its mission and in ensuring ICANN acts in the public interest.
There will be some fiscal impact to the organization, but that impact will be covered in the FY19 budget. This resolution will not have any direct impact on the security, stability and resiliency of the domain name system.
This is an Organizational Administrative function that does not require public comment.