Companies Designer Brands Inc.
Designer Brands (DSW): executive pay, fiscal 2025
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CEO pay, last three years
- $7,919,728FY2025
CEO total pay was $7,919,728 in fiscal 2025; the brief holds no earlier figure for this CEO.
FY2025: salary $1,213,154 · bonus $0 · stock awards $6,116,655 · option awards $0
Frequently asked questions
Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.
Full detail
Every table from the filing. Open any section.
Summary compensation table
| Named executive officer | Salary | Bonus | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Pension / NQDC | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas Howe | $1,213,154 | $0 | $6,116,655 | $0 | $575,363 | $0 | $14,556 | $7,919,728 |
| Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||
| Jay Schottenstein | 1,010,962 | 0 | 4,533,321 | 0 | 479,469 | 0 | 386,471 | 6,410,223 |
| Executive Chairman | ||||||||
| Deborah Ferrée | 1,030,000 | 0 | 2,583,334 | 0 | 406,850 | 0 | 14,390 | 4,034,574 |
| Vice Chair and Chief Product Officer | ||||||||
| Andrea O'Donnell | 834,134 | 0 | 1,083,329 | 0 | 271,667 | 0 | 14,505 | 2,203,635 |
| Executive Vice President President, Brands | ||||||||
| Jared Poff | 527,423 | 0 | 1,166,667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11,062 | 1,705,152 |
| Former Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer | ||||||||
| Mark Haley | 432,827 | 100,000 | 375,008 | 0 | 68,529 | 0 | 14,680 | 991,044 |
| Senior Vice President, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer, Interim Principal Financial Officer | ||||||||
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.
Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive
| Named executive officer | FY2025 total | FY2024 total | FY2023 total | Δ FY2024→2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas Howe | $7,919,728 | — | — | — |
| Jay Schottenstein | 6,410,223 | — | — | — |
| Deborah Ferrée | 4,034,574 | — | — | — |
| Andrea O'Donnell | 2,203,635 | — | — | — |
| Jared Poff | 1,705,152 | — | — | — |
| Mark Haley | 991,044 | — | — | — |
Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.
Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis
Our compensation philosophy is to attract and retain highly qualified leaders, drive performance by incentivizing our NEOs to attain short-term and long-term goals, align the interests of our NEOs with those of our shareholders, and create long-term shareholder value.
| CEO STI target (% of salary) | — |
|---|---|
| CEO LTI target (% of salary) | — |
| Independent consultant | Korn Ferry |
| Clawback policy | true |
| Anti-hedging | true |
| Anti-pledging | true |
Equity grants and outstanding awards
No plan-based awards are on file for this fiscal year.
Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025
| Executive | Award | Shares unvested | Exercise price | Market value unvested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrea O'Donnell | PSU | 106,050 | — | $672,357 |
| Mark Haley | RSU | 154,086 | — | 976,905 |
| Deborah Ferrée | PSU | 296,942 | — | 1,882,612 |
| Andrea O'Donnell | RSU | 380,724 | — | 2,413,790 |
| Jay Schottenstein | PSU | 585,055 | — | 3,709,249 |
| Douglas Howe | PSU | 788,811 | — | 5,001,062 |
| Deborah Ferrée | RSU | 877,782 | — | 5,565,138 |
| Jay Schottenstein | RSU | 1,383,846 | — | 8,773,584 |
| Douglas Howe | RSU | 1,897,365 | — | 12,029,294 |
Director compensation
No director compensation table is on file for fiscal year 2025.
Board fee structure and ownership guideline
| Annual cash retainer | $90,000 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | $165,000 |
| Per board meeting fee | — |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | 40,000 / 35,000 / 30,000 |
| Stock ownership guideline | $5 |
Peer group, and who names Designer Brands as a peer
Companies that benchmark against DSW
No companies currently name DSW as a compensation peer in their most recent disclosure.
This is the complete answer, not a partial one — the list is never padded.
Chief executive pay against the peer group
Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.
| Rank | Company | FY | Chief executive | Salary | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Designer Brands Inc. | 2025 | Douglas Howe | $1,213,154 | $6,116,655 | $0 | $575,363 | $7,919,728 |
Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.
Say-on-pay history and pay ratio
| Meeting year | Meeting date | For | Against | Abstain | Support | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-17 | 87,243,495 | 2,346,086 | 169,746 | 97.38% | Passed |
| 2025 | 2025-06-18 | 79,030,560 | 1,938,053 | 5,555,777 | 97.61% | Passed |
| 2024 | 2024-06-20 | 98,268,052 | 4,184,138 | 80,654 | 95.92% | Passed |
| 2023 | 2023-06-15 | 97,064,756 | 8,822,033 | 131,589 | 91.67% | Passed |
| 2022 | 2022-05-19 | 112,203,174 | 2,930,262 | 194,058 | 97.29% | Passed |
| 2021 | 2021-05-27 | 80,130,107 | 30,357,638 | 175,104 | 72.52% | Passed |
Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.
Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation
| Meeting year | Meeting date | Approval — company’s computation |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-17 | 97.38%a |
| 2025 | 2025-06-18 | 97.61%b |
| 2024 | 2024-06-20 | 95.92%c |
a. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
b. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
c. Voting standard not stated in the filing.
Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.
CEO pay ratio
| Ratio (CEO : median employee) | 493 : 1 |
|---|---|
| CEO total compensation | $7,919,728 |
| Median employee compensation | $16,050 |
Insider trades since the proxy
No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.
Sources (11 citations)
Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.
- Section 01, Douglas Howe. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 7,919,728. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Jay Schottenstein. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 6,410,223. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Deborah Ferrée. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 4,034,574. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Andrea O'Donnell. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 2,203,635. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Jared Poff. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 1,705,152. View filing ↗
- Section 01, Mark Haley. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “COMPENSATION TABLES” · page 64. As printed: 991,044. View filing ↗
- Section 07, pay ratio. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 493 : 1. View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2026 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2026-06-18. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 97.38% (votes for as printed: 87,243,495). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2025 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2025-06-20. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 97.61% (votes for as printed: 79,030,560). View filing ↗
- Section 06, 2024 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2024-06-21. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 95.92% (votes for as printed: 98,268,052). View filing ↗
- Designer Brands Inc. (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-07. CEO total compensation as printed in Designer Brands Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 7,919,728. View filing ↗