These Are Dell’s Five Highest Compensated Executives In Fiscal 2023

Dell Technologies shareholders voted to approve the pay package that was included in the company’s proxy filing, which also revealed that Dell signed a three-year deal to sponsor the Austin Gamblers, a professional bull riding team that is majority owned by Silver Lake CEO Egon Durban. Durban is a Dell board member and part of the committee that sets executive salaries.

Dell Technologies shareholders overwhelmingly approved the compensations package for its top five executives this week with 99-percent of owners giving their combined total compensation of $49 million for fiscal year 2023 a thumbs up.

Shareholders also approved a measure to take a non-binding vote on executive pay once per year. That measure also passed by 99-percent, according to an audio replay of Tuesday’s annual meeting.

The company’s most recent fiscal year ended on Feb. 3.

The company’s founder, CEO, and namesake Michael Dell and his family trust own all of the company’s 378 million Class A shares which hold 10 to 1 voting power over the 256 million class C shares that are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dell Technologies, which generated $102.3 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year, also used the proxy filing to announce that it had entered into a three-year sponsorship with the Austin Gamblers, a bull-riding league that is majority-owned by Dell board member Egon Durban.

The company paid $500,000 last year to sponsor the Gamblers. Durban, the CEO of investment firm Silver Lake, is also on VMware’s board. In fact, upon hearing Broadcom CEO Hock Tan’s $61 billion offer for VMware on April 26, 2022, Michael Dell suggested that Tan call Durban next.

“We have committed to pay sponsorship fees over a three-year period in return for certain marketing and other rights. Payments in Fiscal 2023 under the sponsorship arrangement, which was entered into on an arms-length basis, totaled approximately $0.5 million,” Dell Technologies wrote in its proxy filing.

Durban is among a small group that sets the salary and other compensation for Dell’s named executives. He also was among the board members voting unanimously for shareholders to approve this year’s compensation for Dell executives.

“The board is asking you to vote, on a non-binding, advisory basis, ‘FOR’ the approval of the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in this proxy statemen,” Dell Technologies wrote in its letter to shareholders. “The Nominating and Governance Committee and the Board value the views of the Company’s stockholders and will take the outcome of the advisory vote into account when considering future executive compensation matters.”

Here’s the total compensation breakdown for Dell Technologies’ top five named executives.

Michael Dell

Title: CEO, founder, chairman of the board

Total fiscal year 2023 compensation: $2.8 million

Dell’s total compensation last fiscal year of $2.8 million is the least of his named executive staff. That includes a salary of $986,538, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.8 million and all other compensation of $15,270.

While Dell Technologies did also pay about $1.9 million last year for his airfare, Michael Dell reimburses the company for the annual cost of his security, which last year was approximately $2 million.

Of course, the pending merger between Broadcom and VMware could see his compensation improve. As the largest shareholder of VMware, Dell stands to make $21.6 billion in cash and stock, should the deal clear regulators.

Thomas Sweet

Title: Chief financial officer

Fiscal 2023 total compensation: $6.1 million

Dell veteran Thomas Sweet announced he is retiring on August 30 after spending the last 26 years at the company. Sweet became CFO in 2014, navigating the company through a return to the public markets, the purchase of EMC and VMware. Then ame the spin-out of VMware last year.

Sweet is being replaced by 25-year Dell Technologies veteran Yvonne McGill. Currently McGill oversees accounting, tax, treasury and investor relations, as well as the vision, strategy and overall performance of the Infrastructure Solutions Group’s finance organization, according to LinkedIn.

Sweet’s total compensation includes $873,077 in salary, $4.3 million in stock awards as well as $953,400 in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

William F. Scannell

Title: President of Global Sales & Customer Operations at Dell Technologies

Total fiscal 2023 compensation: $10.5 million

Scannell’s $10.5 million total compensation includes $873,077 in salary, $8.6 million in stock awards and $993,125 in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

His career in Dell sales spans 37 years, beginning in 1986. He now leads the company’s sales organization which generated $102 billion in revenue last year. At Dell Technologies World, he advocated for partners to explore opportunities among their customers in generative AI.

“Every one of our enterprise customers is looking to do something with AI,” Scannell said. “These are all $25 million to $50 million opportunities. We have to get ahead of this. My ask of everyone here is let’s figure out where the opportunity is and let’s go out there arm in arm together, and win these because the opportunity is immense. I don’t care what’s going on with the economy, we can win big in the market.”

Anthony “Chuck” Whitten

Title: Co-chief operating officer

Total fiscal 2023 compensation: $12.6 million

Whitten’s total compensation of $12.6 million includes $968,885 in salary, $9.9 million in stock awards and nearly $1.6 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

Among his duties, Whitten is leading the charge for Dell APEX calling it “the world’s most comprehensive cloud solution” in comments at Dell Technologies World.

Apex, Whitten said, is “industrializing” its managed services to be deployed with “enormous rapidity and efficiency with customers of all types.”

“Would you like to buy your infrastructure? Would you like to subscribe to your infrastructure? Would you like to subscribe to your infrastructure with layers of managed services either through us or through a partner? And would you like all of that in a modern cloud experience?” Whitten said.

Jeffrey Clarke

Title: Co-chief operating officer

Total fiscal 2023 compensation: $17.1 million

Clarke was center stage this year at Dell Technologies World explaining the benefits and uses that Dell sees for generative AI among its customers, and debuting Project Helix – an on-premise AI solution -- with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Clarke’s compensation includes $1 million in salary, $14.3 million in stock awards and $1.8 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation.