[ga] ICANN spending gone wild -- IRS Form 990 comparisons for years ending 6/30/2006 and 6/30/2007

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

GuideStar.org published the IRS Form 990, for the years ending June 30,
2006 and June 30, 2007. They are available for free download in PDF
form (registration required).

Comparing the two statements, it's clear that ICANN's spending has gone
wild.

For the year ending 6/30/2006, there were 20 employees paid over
$50,000. The top 5 were:

Name,     Compensation,      Contributions to benefit plan/deffered
compensation 

Andrew Savage              $132,914     $15,120
Theresa Swinehart         $122,556     $24,881
David Piscitello               $109,371     $19,531
David Conrad                  $106,250     $15,000
Tim Cole                          $95,201       $20,967

Totals for Top 5               $566,292     $95,499

For the year ending 6/30/2007, there were 37 employees paid over
$50,000. The top 5 were:

Name,     Compensation,      Contributions to benefit plan/deffered
compensation 

Andrew Savage              $188,385     $17,152
David R. Conrad              $184,150     $35,677
Theresa C. Swinehart      $231,695     $34,249
Denise M. Michel             $198,330     $49,160
Amy A. Stathos                $183,008     $36,139

Totals for Top 5               $985.568     $172,377

This is an outrageous 74% increase year-over-year for total
compensation for the top 5.

Furthermore, Denise Michel managed to have an expense account for the
year ending 6/30/2007 of $130,465 (none of the other top 5 had an
expense account for that year). For the prior year, though, the TOTAL
for expense accounts and other allowances was $26,727 for the top 5
employees. Thus, an almost 400% increase in one year!

For the year ending 6/30/2006, Paul Twomey received compensation of
$459,244.44, employee benefits of $19,200 and an expense account of
$146,928.93. For the year ending 6/30/2007, though, through Twomey's
company Argo Pacific, $722,079 was paid for total compensation, and
$219,345 for employee benefits.

Other key employees with year over year comparisons (where available):

Name      Compensation for year ending 6/30/2006,  Compensation for
year ending 6/30/2007, Percentage Increase

John Jeffrey               $205,699.92          $275,560          +34%
Melanie Keller            $115,250.07          $226,672          +97%
Paul Levins                  n/a                       $210,695        
  n/a
Kurt Pritz                     $189,335.16         $286,600          
+51%

Other financial details (including spending on contractors, etc.) can
be seen in the PDFs, available for free at GuideStar.org.

The IRS Form 990 was designed to promote transparency, which also part
of ICANN's mission. Frankly, the compensation committee has a lot of
explaining to do to explain this enormous increase in spending,
especially in a time of global economic weakness. ICANN is making
VeriSign's 7% annual increases for .com registrants look tiny by
comparison. If instead ICANN was more frugal, cost savings can be
passed on to domain registrants, who ultimately fund (directly or
indirectly) nearly all of ICANN's activities.

I would like ICANN to produce a report comparing these employee costs
to those of comparable employee grades at the NTIA or Department of
Commerce, over each period, or alternatively, other non-profit
corporation averages.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/