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Summary: Mike Fuller, former COO of
Embarq, is leaving the company with a $24 million package.
Trivia: Fuller was a graduate of the West Point Class of 1966, which
suffered more casualties (during Vietnam) than any class in West Point history.
He was mentioned in Rick Atkinson's 1990 book "The Long Gray Line."
Atkinson
had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for national reporting on
the West Point class while working at the
Kansas City Times.
Embarq ex-official in line for millions
By JASON GERTZEN
The Kansas City Star, 310/07
Mike Fuller, the recently retired chief operating officer of Embarq Corp., will
receive a package worth $24 million after leaving the Overland Park company.
Fuller received $2.7 million in severance and bonuses and will get $21.4 million
in stock and other benefits over the next couple of years, according to
documents filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Embarq, the former local telephone unit of Sprint Nextel Corp. that spun off as
an independent company last year, eliminated its COO position after Fuller’s
retirement.
Fuller, who left in January, had been involved with the local telephone
operation that became Embarq for more than 32 years. His severance package was
part of an agreement that includes promises to offer ongoing assistance when
needed and not work for a competitor or share confidential information.
Much of the $24 million is made up of stock or rights to stock that Fuller
earned during his lengthy Sprint career, said E.J. “Ned” Holland Jr., Embarq’s
senior vice president of human resources.
In addition to the $24 million package, Fuller received $2 million in salary and
bonuses plus other stock awards in 2006.
Also on Friday, Embarq disclosed 2006 pay for other executives and stated that
its annual shareholder meeting will be April 26 in Overland Park.
The company reported that Dan Hesse, chairman and chief executive, received a
compensation package worth $5.9 million in 2006. He received $960,482 in
salary, a $1.2 million bonus, various stock awards and other benefits.
Hesse negotiated his pay package with the former Sprint Corp. when it recruited
him to lead the local phone unit it intended to spin off, Holland said.
“They wanted to hire an experienced industry executive,” Holland said.
Thomas Gerke, Embarq’s general counsel, received $460,558 in salary and other
benefits totaling $2.9 million last year. Embarq serves about 6.9 million
phone lines in portions of 18 states. It had about 20,000 employees at the end
of last year.
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