Office Depot Parent ODP’s Top Compensated Executives In 2022

ODP, the parent company of Office Depot, has released the full annual compensation of its six named executive officers, including five executives whose base salaries remained flat with fiscal 2021, as well as a new executive on the list who enjoyed a tiny raise after her appointment to her new role.

For ODP, 2022 was a time of relative stability.

Nearly a year after Staples and ODP cancelled Staples’ planned acquisition of ODP, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based parent company of Office Depot and Office Max in June squelched concerns about its future when it called off a plan to split the company into separate B2B and consumer businesses.

ODP instead reorganized into four separate business units, including its B2B-focused ODP Business Solutions Division, its retail-focused Office Depot Division, its supply chain and procurement-focused Veyer Division, and its B2B marketplace-focused Varis Division.

ODP in January 2022 also finalized the sale of IT solution provider CompuCom for $305 million, a considerable discount compared to the $1 billion that Office Depot paid in 2017 when it acquired CompuCom.

ODP also had a very stable fiscal year 2022, which ended December 31. The company reported sales for the year basically flat over last year at $8.49 billion thanks to a 10-percent jump in its B2B sales, with net income down just slightly from the previous year.

For ODP, executive salary also remained stable. The company, in its March 16, 2023 proxy statement, unveiled the total compensation packages received by the company’s six named executive officers. Four of those named executive officers saw small gains in their total compensation, while CEO Gerry Smith saw a moderate drop in compensation. The sixth executive joined the top exec team only recently, and so no direct comparison was available.

Check out how much ODP compensated its executive officers in fiscal year 2022 by clicking through this slideshow.

6. Sarah E Hlavinka

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary

Hlavinka is the only person appearing in ODP’s named executive officer for the first time, taking her current role starting in July of 2022. She actually joined ODP’s Office Depot business three months earlier as general counsel for that organization. She came to ODP via Itron and before that Xerox where she served as senior vide president, general counsel, and corporate secretary.

Because Hlavinka only joined the top list of executives in the past fiscal year, she has no fiscal 2021 compares. For fiscal 2022, she had an annual base salary of $550,000, which was actually up $25,000 from her previous salary during her three months at Office Depot. Given her time in her role, she actually earned $383,173.

Hlavinka also earned a bonus of $350,000 for fiscal 2022, which includes a sign-on bonus to offset equity awards forfeited from her prior employer when she joined Office Depot. Hlavinka also receive stock awards of $1.1 million, non0equity incentive plan compensation of $388,290, and other compensation of $11,100, giving her a grand total for the year of $2.2 million.

5. John W. Gannfors

ODP Executive Vice President and President of Veyer

Gannfors in September was named president of Veyer, which is ODP’s supply chain, sourcing, and purchasing services business for B2B and B2C service. In that role, he is responsible for domestic and international supply chains, transportation, and logistics including global sourcing and purchasing.

For fiscal 2022, Gannfors had a base salary of $600,000 which was unchanged from 2021. He did not get a bonus for the year, as was the case last year, but his stock awards rose by $200,000 to reach $1.2 billion. Gannfors also received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $618,412, down from last year’s $768,420, as well as other compensation of $36,542, nearly flat with last year’s $36,965.

For the year, Gannfors’ total compensation was $2.45 million, nearly flat with last year’s $2.41 million.

4. Terry Leeper

Executive Vice President and CTO

Leeper held his executive vice president and CTO role at ODP for all of fiscal 2022, but starting January 1, 2023, he transitioned into his new role as the CTO of Varis, which is ODP’s tech-enabled B2B indirect procurement marketplace aimed at improving how buyers and suppliers transact via the platform’s consumer-like buying experience, spend management tools, network of suppliers, and technology.

For fiscal 2022, Leeper had a base salary of $600,000, up from last year’s $523,077, but he received no bonus. He did receive stock awards of $1.2 million, up significantly from $750,000. Leeper also received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $618,412, down from the prior year’s $768,420, as well as other compensation of $37,750, down slightly from last year’s $38,350.

For the year, Leeper’s total compensation reached $2.5 million, up from last year’s $2.1 million.

3. N. David Bleisch

Former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer

Bleisch left ODP on July 8, about nine-and-a-half months after informing the company he planned to leave, giving ODP a chance for a smooth transition of his responsibilities. Given all the complex negotiations that ODP was going through at the time related to potential merger and acquisition discussions, he actually kept his current role until April 30, after which he extended his departure date to help with the transition of his responsibilities.

For fiscal 2022, Bleisch earned a salary of $390,385, which was down from the $700,000 he earned the year before, and did not receive a bonus. He received stock awards of $1.4 million, which was flat with fiscal 2021; non-equity incentive plan compensation of $379,215, down from $896,490; and other compensation of $1.1 million, up from $24,000.

In total, Bleisch received compensation of $3.3 million, up from $3.0 million, making him ODP’s third-highest-paid named executive officer despite leaving before the fiscal year ended.

2. D. Anthony Scaglione

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Scaglione joined ODP as CFO in July of 2020 after serving as CFO at ABM Industries. Prior to that, he held executive finance positions at storage vendor CA Technologies.

Unlike Smith, Scaglione saw his base salary rise in 2022 over 2023, from $665,865 to $725,000. Like Smith, he received no bonus in 2022 or 2021. Scaglione, however, saw his stock awards in 2022 rise to $1.9 million, up from $1.6 million in the prior year. Scaglione also received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $830,276, down from last year’s $878,429. He also received other compensation of $37,750, down from the prior year’s $77,555.

All told, Scaglione received total compensation in fiscal 2022 of $3.5 million, up from fiscal 2021’s compensation of $3.2 million.

1. Gerry P. Smith

CEO

It’s no surprise that Smith was ODP’s highest paid named executive officer. It may be surprising that his compensation dropped a bit in fiscal 2022 over fiscal 2021. But that may be no surprise given the relative lackluster ODP financials for the year.

Smith joined ODP as CEO and a member of the company’s board of directors in early 2017 after spending about 11 years at Lenovo where he left as that company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

For fiscal 2022, Smith had a base salary of $1.1 million, which was flat with fiscal 2021. Smith did not receive a bonus for the year, but he did receive stock awards of $7.5 million, both of which were unchanged over the prior year. He also received non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.89 million, down from last year’s $2.35 million, and other compensation of $34,150, up slightly from last year’s $33,700.

Smith’s total compensation for fiscal 2022 was $10.5 million down slightly from the prior year’s $11.0 million.