Executive Compensation: The 10 Highest-Paid Tech Chiefs of 2008

A look at the IT executives who are cashing the biggest paychecks and the reasons why these men (and one woman) earn what they do.

By Meridith Levinson

To identify the top 10 highest-paid executives in charge of IT, CIO.com combed through the proxy statements filed by Fortune 55 companies with the SEC. Proxy statements, which are distributed yearly to shareholders when their votes are needed to elect new board members or to authorize raises for top executives, list the pay packages for the company's three to five highest-paid executives. Since most chief information officers aren't listed on their company's proxy statements because they aren't among the top brass, we had to list in several cases executives who aren't CIO by title but who oversee corporate IT as part of their broader responsibilities.


With the exception of Dell and Dow Chemical, the proxy statements these companies submitted in 2009 reflect executives' compensation levels during 2008. Dell's 2009 proxy statement shows compensation for its fiscal year 2009. Since Dow CIO David Kepler wasn't listed on his company's 2009 proxy statement, we took his earnings from the 2008 proxy statement.


Without further ado, here is CIO.com's list of the 10 highest-paid Fortune 55 executives in charge of IT.

Randy Mott

Title: EVP and CIO
Company: Hewlett-Packard (Fortune 9)
Total Compensation (2008): $28,290,329
Base Salary: $690,000
Bonus: $7,070,958
Stock Awards: $2,727,079
Option Awards: $1,547,907
Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation: $16,068,000
Change in Pension Value and Deferred Compensation: $967
All Other Compensation: $185,418


Mott's $28 million pay package in 2008 was nearly four times the $7.3 million he earned the prior year. The only HP executive who earned more money than Randy Mott in 2008 was Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, who banked $42.4 million.