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The $5 Million Man: Carter is the Most Well Compensated CIO You’ve Never Heard Of

Robert B. Carter may just be the best compensated CIO you’ve never heard of.

Carter occupies dual roles as the company’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Fedex Information Services. In his role, he oversees the strategy and direction for all FedEx applications, networks and data centers. The multinational courier and delivery service is responsible for logistics and product offerings in over 220 countries and territories worldwide. It’s a round the clock business that is only getting more complicated and competitive with each passing year.

Carter receives a generous compensation package for his efforts. According to statements filed for the 2017 fiscal year, Carter cleared $5,112,873 in total compensation, including base salary, performance bonus, stock options and additional types of compensation. This includes a $2.3 million non-equity bonus and $1.4 million in equity including stocks and options.

The CIO has succeeded by achieving executive buy-in on attacking what he has dubbed the “Four Horsemen of Dominant Design”: servers, network, storage and software.

Carter’s leadership has seen FedEx morph into a cloud-centric business, with a great deal of streamlining and slashing of operational costs along the way. These accomplishments and more led one Forbes reporter to refer to him as “on the short list of the finest CIOs in history anywhere.” Carter has also won numerous accolades for his work in that time, including induction into CIO magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame and being named to Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and Fortune Magazine’s Executive Dream Team list.

His efforts have paid dividends for the organization as well. Since starting his position in 2000, the company has become a true global leader.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Carter also occupies a third position in the company, as co-President and co-CEO of FedEx Services. This division of FedEx provides sales, marketing and other services to U.S.-based customers of major FedEx business units. Aside from his work at Fedex, Carter also sits on the boards of New York Life Insurance Company and Pilot Travel Centers, LLC.

Robert B. Carter joined Fedex 25 years ago and has been working in systems development and implementation since 1983.