Tech — Hardware

F5 Executive Compensation (FY25)

Name: F5 (FFIV) executive compensation
Creator: Velarion
License: https://intel.velarion.ai/terms

FFIV · Seattle, WA · Executive and director compensation, fiscal 2022 to 2025

Chief executive, fiscal 2025

◇

François Locoh-Donou

Median of the other named officers

$5,295,456

5 officers, excluding the chief executive

Latest say-on-pay support

March 12, 2026

Chief executive pay ratio

◇

To the median employee

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Data as of November 1, 2026Latest filing (8-K): March 13, 2026

10 filings cited on this page

Method: intel.velarion.ai/methodology

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275 figures on this page: 268 cited to the filing that reported them, 7 calculated from figures it prints. See the citations

Frequently asked questions

Answers drawn from the data on this page.

Who is F5's chief executive and what were they paid?

Total compensation for François Locoh-Donou, President and Chief Executive Officer, came to $23,039,819 in fiscal 2025. Locoh-Donou's total was 27.7% higher than the $18,044,442 reported for fiscal 2024.

What was F5's say-on-pay result?

The say-on-pay proposal drew 92.8% of votes cast for or against in favor at the meeting held March 12, 2026 for fiscal 2025.

Which companies are in F5's peer group?

The disclosed peer group names Akamai Technologies, Inc., CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd., Ciena Corporation, Cloudflare, Inc. and Datadog, Inc., among others.

What is F5's chief executive pay ratio?

The disclosed chief executive pay ratio for fiscal 2025 is 142:1, against median employee compensation of $162,795.

Executive compensation

Every element reported for each named executive officer, by fiscal year.

Fiscal 2022

Officer	Salary	Bonus	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension and deferred earnings	All other compensation	Total
François Locoh-Donou President and Chief Executive Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Chad Whalen Chief Revenue Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Tom Fountain Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Transformation, and Chief Strategy Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Kara Sprague Executive VP and Chief Product Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Frank Pelzer Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇

Fiscal 2023

Officer	Salary	Bonus	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension and deferred earnings	All other compensation	Total
François Locoh-Donou President and Chief Executive Officer	◇	—	◇	—	—	—	◇	◇
Kara Sprague Executive VP and Chief Product Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Tom Fountain Executive VP of Global Services and Chief Strategy Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Chad Whalen Executive VP of Worldwide Sales	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Frank Pelzer Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇

Fiscal 2024

Officer	Salary	Bonus	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension and deferred earnings	All other compensation	Total
François Locoh-Donou President and Chief Executive Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Tom Fountain Chief Operating Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Kara Sprague Executive VP and Chief Product Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Chad Whalen Chief Revenue Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Frank Pelzer Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇

Fiscal 2025

Officer	Salary	Bonus	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension and deferred earnings	All other compensation	Total
François Locoh-Donou President and Chief Executive Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Tom Fountain Chief Operating Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Chad Whalen Chief Revenue Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
John Maddison Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Cooper Werner Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer	◇	—	◇	—	◇	—	◇	◇
Frank Pelzer Former Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer Departed during or after this year	◇	—	◇	—	—	—	◇	◇

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. A negative change in pension value is shown but, as the company reports it, not included in the total.

Equity awards granted

Individual awards as disclosed: type, date, unit counts at each level, and grant date value.

Fiscal 2025

Officer	Award	Grant date	Threshold units	Target units	Units granted	Maximum units	Exercise price	Grant date fair value
Chad Whalen	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
Chad Whalen	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
Chad Whalen	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
Cooper Werner	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
Cooper Werner	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
François Locoh-Donou	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
François Locoh-Donou	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
François Locoh-Donou	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
Frank Pelzer	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
Frank Pelzer	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
John Maddison	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
Tom Fountain	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇
Tom Fountain	RSU	◇	—	—	◇	—	—	◇
Tom Fountain	PSU	◇	◇	◇	—	◇	—	◇

Fiscal 2022, 2023, 2024 are included in the PDF.

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. Threshold, target and maximum apply only to performance awards and are never shown for time-based or option awards.

Outstanding awards

Awards still held at fiscal year end.

As disclosed at fiscal 2025 year end

Officer	Award	Unvested units	Market value of unvested units	Exercise price	Expires
François Locoh-Donou	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
Tom Fountain	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
Chad Whalen	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
John Maddison	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
Cooper Werner	PSU	◇	◇	—	—
	PSU	◇	◇	—	—

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Severance and change in control

The terms as written in the agreements.

Chad Whalen

Chief Revenue Officer · Terms as described in the company’s compensation discussion

Severance multiple	◇
Severance cash amount	◇
Change-in-control multiple	◇
Equity acceleration on change in control	◇

Cooper Werner

Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer · Terms as described in the company’s compensation discussion

Severance multiple	◇
Severance cash amount	◇
Change-in-control multiple	◇
Equity acceleration on change in control	◇

François Locoh-Donou

President and Chief Executive Officer · Employment agreement

Severance multiple	◇
Severance cash amount	◇
Change-in-control multiple	◇
Equity acceleration on change in control	◇
Non-compete period	◇

Frank Pelzer

Former Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer · Terms as described in the company’s compensation discussion

Severance cash amount

◇

John Maddison

Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer · Terms as described in the company’s compensation discussion

Severance multiple	◇
Severance cash amount	◇
Change-in-control multiple	◇
Equity acceleration on change in control	◇

Tom Fountain

Chief Operating Officer · Terms as described in the company’s compensation discussion

Severance multiple	◇
Severance cash amount	◇
Change-in-control multiple	◇
Equity acceleration on change in control	◇

Director compensation

What each non-employee director was paid.

Fiscal 2025

Director	Fees earned in cash	Stock awards	Option awards	Non-equity incentive	Pension and deferred earnings	All other compensation	Total
Julie M. Gonzalez	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Alan J. Higginson Board chair	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Maya McReynolds	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Michael L. Dreyer	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Elizabeth L. Buse	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Marianne N. Budnik	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Michael F. Montoya	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Tami Erwin	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Nikhil Mehta	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Michel Combes	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇
Peter S. Klein	◇	◇	—	—	—	—	◇

François Locoh-Donou served on the board in fiscal 2025 and received no compensation for board service. Executive directors are typically paid through their executive roles, shown above.

Earlier years are included in the PDF.

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director fee schedule

The standing retainers and premiums the board pays, as published.

Board cash retainer	◇
Board equity retainer	◇
Total board retainer	◇
Board chair premium	◇
Audit committee chair	◇
Audit committee member	◇
Compensation committee chair	◇
Compensation committee member	◇
Nominating and governance chair	◇
Nominating and governance member	◇

Stock ownership guideline: Directors are required to own shares of Common Stock equal in value to five times the directors’ annual cash retainer. Directors are required to achieve this ownership level within three years of joining the Board.

Disclosed peer group

The companies this board named as its compensation comparison group. The list is disclosure; the comparison is analysis.

Fiscal 2025

Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM
CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd. symbol not shown
Ciena Corporation CIEN
Cloudflare, Inc. NET
Datadog, Inc. DDOG
DocuSign, Inc. DOCU
Dropbox, Inc. DBX
Dynatrace, Inc. DT
Fortinet, Inc. FTNT
Gen Digital, Inc. GEN
Informatica INFA
NetApp, Inc. NTAP
Nutanix, Inc. NTNX
Okta, Inc. OKTA
Pure Storage, Inc. PSTG
Teradata Corporation TDC
Trimble, Inc. TRMB
Twilio, Inc. TWLO
Unity Software Inc. U
VeriSign, Inc. VRSN
Zscaler, Inc. ZS

Say-on-pay history

Shareholder support for the compensation program, by year.

Year	Meeting	Support	Votes for	Votes against	Abstentions
2025	March 12, 2026	=	◇	◇	◇
2024	March 13, 2025	=	◇	◇	◇
2023	March 14, 2024	=	◇	◇	◇
2022	March 9, 2023	=	◇	◇	◇
2021	March 10, 2022	=	◇	◇	◇
2020	March 11, 2021	=	◇	◇	◇
2019	March 12, 2020	=	◇	◇	◇

Chief executive pay ratio

As calculated and reported by the company.

Ratio

◇

Median employee compensation

◇

Chief executive total compensation

◇

Ask our research desk — $99, 24h, every figure cited to its filing.

Sample answer — “What is the CEO’s total compensation?”

- François Locoh-Donou (President and Chief Executive Officer), FY2025 total compensation $23,039,819 (base salary $962,000) [exec_comp, SEC accession 0001048695-26-000012, filed 2026-01-26]

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What this page does not include

Everything above is a fact F5 disclosed, and it is free. Everything below is our analysis of those facts, and it is not.

Peer benchmarking

Where F5 sits against its disclosed peers — percentile position by role and by pay element, and the ranking behind it. The disclosed peer group is free; comparisons across it are part of the Velarion platform.

Executive Compensation Report — $500

Written compensation analysis

A read of the pay program as designed and as paid: incentive structure, goal rigor, the alignment between the committee's stated philosophy and what the numbers show.

Executive Compensation Report — $500

Board and governance analysis

Committee composition, independence, director pay positioning, and the governance provisions read together rather than listed.

Board Governance Report — $500

Realizable pay

What the awards above are actually worth today against what they were valued at on grant, and what the gap says about the pay-for-performance link.

Velarion Intelligence

Adviser switching and vote outcomes

Two datasets covering compensation-adviser changes and what followed a contested vote. Both are part of the Velarion platform.

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Multiple companies at once

Cross-company views, cohort screens, and data export across the industries we cover. This page is one company; the platform is all of them.

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Citations

Every figure on this page is cited to the document that reported it. Select any figure to see its citation.

275 figures on this page: 268 cited to the filing that reported them, 7 calculated from figures it prints.

268 cited to the filing

7 calculated from the filing

Documents cited

8-K, filed March 13, 2026
0001048695-26-000036
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
DEF 14A, filed January 26, 2026
0001048695-26-000012
CEO Pay Ratio · Compensation Discussion and Analysis · Director Compensation · Director Compensation for Fiscal Year 202 · and 3 more sections
8-K, filed March 17, 2025
0001048695-25-000068
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
DEF 14A, filed January 27, 2025
0001140361-25-002078
Summary Compensation Table
8-K, filed March 15, 2024
0001048695-24-000022
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
DEF 14A, filed January 26, 2024
0001140361-24-004097
Summary Compensation Table
8-K, filed March 10, 2023
0001048695-23-000014
8-K, filed March 11, 2022
0001048695-22-000009
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
8-K, filed March 15, 2021
0001048695-21-000015
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
8-K, filed March 13, 2020
0001048695-20-000016
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

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Velarion, “F5 executive compensation, FY2022–FY2025.” https://intel.velarion.ai/comp/FFIV (accessed 2026).

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10 filings cited on this page

Method: intel.velarion.ai/methodology

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Published by Velarion Company Intelligence

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Tech — Hardware rankings

Chief executive pay — Tech — Hardware CEO pay ratio — Tech — Hardware Say-on-pay support — Tech — Hardware

Peers F5 discloses

The companies named in FFIV's own disclosed peer group.

Akamai Technologies, Inc.Ciena Corporation Cloudflare, Inc.Datadog, Inc.DocuSign, Inc.Dropbox, Inc.Dynatrace, Inc.Fortinet, Inc.Gen Digital, Inc.Informatica NetApp, Inc.Nutanix, Inc.Okta, Inc.Teradata Corporation Trimble, Inc.Twilio, Inc.Unity Software Inc.VeriSign, Inc.Zscaler, Inc.

Terms on this page

Say-on-Pay Vote CEO Pay Ratio Median Employee Compensation All companies

Free to read and cite. Redistribution or bulk use of the dataset requires a data license. Talk to us about the data license.

Cite this data

APA

Velarion Company Intelligence. (2026). Velarion database: executive and board compensation data (Version 2026Q3) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854

BibTeX

@misc{velarionData2026,
  author = {{Velarion Company Intelligence}},
  title = {Velarion database: executive and board compensation data},
  year = {2026},
  version = {2026Q3},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22283854},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854}
}

More on F5

Frequently asked questions

Executive compensation

Equity awards granted

Outstanding awards

Severance and change in control

Director compensation

Director fee schedule

Disclosed peer group

Say-on-pay history

Chief executive pay ratio

What this page does not include

Citations

Documents cited

The paid brief for F5

Tech — Hardware rankings

Peers F5 discloses

Terms on this page