In his welcome message, the always articulate and passionate Andrew Anagnost, delivers an invitation to meeting each and every one of the 8,000 Autodesk employees in his new role as CEO. He means it.
So, after 4 months with no one single leader, Autodesk announced that it will be Andrew Anagnost who will be installed as CEO and president of the company. In the same breath, we heard Amar Hanspal, who was in the running for the top spot, will be leaving. Amar’s termination date is July 10, according to his separation agreement, though I expect he will not be in his office until the end.
Amar and Andrew were co-CEOs while competing for the CEO position, a position vacant since Carl Bass left in February. Autodesk was also conducting an an “international search” for additional candidates. It is not known who else, external to Autodesk, had thrown their hat in the ring.
Goodbye, Amar
I’ll assume Amar Hanspal, who started at Autodesk 23 years ago and worked his way up from an AutoCAD (R14) product manager in the Carol Bartz era, was a bit miffed at being passed over.
But being almost #1 at Autodesk, the 18th biggest software company in the world, may be like losing at the Super Bowl. At least you got a lot of attention. Popping up as CEO at another company would not be unexpected for Amar. And as California voids non-compete clauses, a head of an engineering or design software company is not out of the question.
Hello, CEO Andrew
Andrew is no slouch as a technologist. He holds a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University. For most of his 20 years at Autodesk, he has functioned as its lead evangelist, always offering spirited explanation, Autodesk answers to industry questions and problems, most often with cloud-based applications. Odd for a technologist, Andrew had been promoted to lead marketing, a position from which he managed to do no harm and probably punched a ticket on his ascension. He showed business and political skills in architecting and internally promoting Autodesk’s complete and utter shift to subscription -- a first such shift among major design and engineering software companies -- away from its longstanding perpetual license model.
Looking back on it, a technology evangelist would have been the front runner to lead the company. Carl Bass, himself was a champion of technology, and Andrew, a natural successor.
Good luck to Andrew. He now has to handle customers, the Autodesk board of directors (who can be prickly should they be joined by an activist) and the stock holders and the switch to subscription, which still needs to show a turnaround, after 8 straight quarters of losses1 now.
It’s Not About the Money, But…
We can expect Andrew, 52, to reap immediate and significant financial gain. His base salary will more than double (from $423,231 to $800,000). His beyond-salary compensations (bonus, equity, non-equity and stock award could swell the total compensation to more that 10 times the salary. Predecessor Carl Bass is estimated to have a $1.1 million base pay and over $10 million in total compensation in FY2017. Autodesk CEO windfalls can be in the hundreds of millions. A 2006 report summing up Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz stock option for $230 million in 12 months was never disputed.
Amar Hanspal will receive a little over $1.5 million in severance pay and “special payments” according to the separation agreement made public as part to the company’s SEC filings.
Notes:
1. Autodesk maintains this period of decline was expected during the transition to subscription, the business is still healthy, deferred income continues to rise and any one who really understands business, like investors, continue to support the company. Indeed, the stock price continues to go despite quarterly losses.
2. Correction: Amar's severance pay was $1.51 million.
Autodesk responds:
Autodesk’s executive compensation program is designed to attract, motivate, and retain talented executives and provide a rigorous framework tied to corporate and individual performance and Autodesk's long-term strategic goals. The general compensation objectives are to:
● Recruit and retain the highest caliber of executives through competitive rewards
● Motivate executive officers to achieve business and financial goals
● Balance rewards for short- and long-term performance; and
● Align rewards with stockholder value creation.
At our June 14, 2017 shareholder meeting, 97.8% of our shareholders voted their support for the compensation of our named executive officers.
Posted by: Roopinder Tara | June 23, 2017 at 11:23 AM