Unisys’ Most Highly Compensated Executives In Fiscal 2022

Unisys has released the full annual compensation of its seven named executive officers, including three who joined the top management team as well one who retired during the year.

Challenges All Around

Fiscal year 2022 was a bit of a challenge for Unisys. The Blue Bell, Pa.-based global service provider in February reported fiscal year 2022 revenue dropped year over year by 3.6 percent to $1.98 billion, due to decreases in the company’s digital workplace solution and enterprise computer solution revenue. The company did see a rise in cloud, application and infrastructure solution revenue.

The company also reported a GAAP net loss for the year, which ended Dec. 31, of $106 million, which nevertheless was better than the prior year’s loss of $448.5 million. During that time, Unisys’ non-GAAP income fell to $74.8 million from last year’s $117.5 million.

Fiscal 2023 isn’t looking much better. Unisys, ranked No. 31 on the CRN 2022 Solution Provider 500, expects that a light license and support renewal schedule for the year will lead to an overall decline in revenue and profit for the year.

It is therefore no surprise that four of Unisys’ named executive officers saw their total compensation, which includes salaries, bonuses, stock and options, and other compensation, fall between fiscal 2021 and 2022. Two of those executives made their first appearance on the company’s named executive officer list in fiscal 2022, while one retired last spring.

Indeed, of the seven, only two received a bonus for fiscal 2022, and one of those bonuses was a sign-on bonus to an executive who had just joined the company that year.

Here’s how Unisys’ named executive officers did in fiscal 2022.

7. Teresa Poggenpohl, SVP, CMO

Poggenpohl in May 2021 joined Unisys as CMO, making fiscal 2022 the first full year for her as a member of Unisys’ named executive officers. She previously spent many years at Accenture, leaving that company as chief marketing and communications officer for North America.

For the year, Poggenpohl received a salary of $463,270. She received no bonus or stock options, but did get nonequity incentive plan compensation of $293,674. In addition, she received other compensation of $16,736, which included her 401(k) matching contribution and support for financial planning.

Her total compensation for the year was $1,158,932.

6. Katherine Ebrahimi, SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer

Ebrahimi joined Unisys in April 2018 after having spent time with the human resources department at rival solution provider DXC Technology.

Ebrahimi’s fiscal 2022 salary was $413,300, up $13,300 over the previous year. She received no bonus or option awards, but did receive stock awards of $428,021, which was down from last year’s $742,080. Ebrahimi received equity incentive plan compensation of $319,501, down from $507,985. She also received other compensation to the tune of $14,150.

In total, Ebrahimi received total compensation for fiscal 2022 of $1,174,972, down about one-third from last year’s $1,663,765.

5. Gerald Kenney, Former SVP, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

Kenney, who spent nearly nine years at Unisys, retired on April 30. His responsibilities passed to Claudius Sokenu, who is profiled below.

For fiscal 2022, Kenney received a salary of $173,100, down considerably from last year’s $500,000. Kenny received no bonus, stock awards or option awards for the year. However, he did receive other compensation of $997,262 which included, in addition to the normal 401(k) match, financial planning support, COBRA reimbursement, and a cash severance of $975,000.

Kenny’s total compensation for fiscal 2022 was $1,224,711, down from last year’s $1,903,106.

4. Claudius Sokenu, SVP, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Chief Administrative Officer

As noted earlier, Sokenu is new to Unisys. He joined Unisys in early May 2022 after spending several years at fellow solution provider Cognizant where he served as senior vice president, global deputy general counsel and chief of staff to the general counsel.

Sokenu in fiscal 2022 received a salary of $327,000 and a bonus of $200,000, which included a sign-on bonus when he was hired. He also received stock awards of $1,028,157, equity incentive plan compensation of $228,251 and other compensation of $5,616.

All told, Sokenu’s total fiscal 2022 compensation was $1,789,025.

3. Debra McCann, EVP, CFO

McCann is another recent new employee. She joined the company in May 2022 as CFO after 13 years at Dun & Bradstreet, where she most recently served as treasurer and senior vice president of investor relations and corporate financial planning and analysis.

During fiscal 2022, McCann received a salary of $327,000, but no bonus or option awards. However, she did receive stock awards of $1,999,069, as well as nonequity incentive plan compensation of $264,826 and other compensation of $8,573.

McCann’s total compensation for fiscal 2022 came to $2,599,468.

2. Michael M. Thomson, President, COO; Former EVP, CFO

Thompson has been with Unisys since 2015 and served as the company’s CFO from April 2019 until May 2022, when he became its president and COO.

Thomson for fiscal 2022 received a salary of $623,500, up from last year’s $535,000, but received no bonus either year. He did receive stock awards of $1,412,482, down from $2,682,393 in fiscal 2021. Thomson also received equity incentive plan compensation worth $639,435, down from the prior year’s $742,064, as well a other compensation of $8,992.

For the year, Thomson’s total compensation was $2,684,415, down nearly one-third from the $3,967,972 he received the prior year.

1. Peter Altabef, Chairman, CEO

Altabef has been a mainstay at Unisys since January 2015 when he joined the company as president and CEO and joined the board of directors. He kept the president role from 2015 to 2020, and again from late 2021 to mid-2022. He also became Unisys’ chairman in the spring of 2018.

Altabef for fiscal 2022 received a salary of $991,000, which was the same as fiscal 2021. He also received a slight bump in stock awards from $4,234,347 to $4,384,201. However, his nonequity incentive plan compensation dropped in fiscal 2022 to $1,700,836 from the prior year’s $2,814,432. His other compensation also fell slightly to $16,700.

For fiscal 2022, Altabef was compensated a total of $7,092,737, down from 2021’s compensation of $8,059,535.