NEWS21 June 2011

Former Harris chief in line for $900k payout

Financials North America

US— Harris Interactive is to pay former CEO Kimberly Till $900,000 in connection with the termination of her contract, while former finance chief Pavan Bhalla is in line for a $127,000 payout.

Till (pictured), who was replaced by turnaround specialist Al Angrisani earlier this month, will get a lump sum of $120,000 in December followed by 19 monthly installments of $40,000 and a final payment of $20,000 in August 2013.

Bhalla, who was only CFO for eight months, will receive a one-off payment in December.

Angrisani has come back to Harris as interim CEO after serving as president between 2002 and 2004. He is charged with the task of turning the business around, following disappointing performances under Till and her predecessor Greg Novak.

The agency’s most recent quarterly results showed revenues down 7.5% to $38.1m, a decline of 9% excluding exchange rate effects, and operating losses up to $1.9m from $0.9m a year ago.

Brian Tarran

Financials North America

@RESEARCH LIVE

8 Comments

Anon

13 years ago

You've got to be kidding! Royally mess up and receive a payout 20x the average salary of your employees? How obscene.

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Anon

13 years ago

Absolutely disgusting. Time for the peasants to revolt.

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Anon

13 years ago

This is obscene. The larger issue is executive compensation. A recent study shows that the U.S. lags BEHIND countries like Jamaica and Cameroon when it comes to the gap between the rich and the poor. We are quickly becoming a third world country. The part about this that's especially shameful is that she did nothing to turn the company around. For this she gets nearly $1 million? Obscene and shameful.

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Anon

13 years ago

Ooh just short of a million dollars. How epicly do you have to fail to hit seven figures these days?

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Anon

13 years ago

The amazing thing is that she probably thinks that she deserves it. I'd love to see one of these CEO's put her ovaries on the table and say "The company did not do well under my watch and since I would have profited nicely on the upside, I'm willing to take nothing on the downside." The funny thing is that Ms. Till would NEVER give one of her employees this kind of deal ...

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Anon

13 years ago

C'est écoeurant.

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Dan Foreman

13 years ago

Not a bad job if you can get it!

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Chris Robinson

13 years ago

More importantly how did anyone not see she was not the right person for the job. Her track record was dismal. How do these people stay consistently ahead of being fired? This time it caught uo with her.

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