Wanji Walcott, PayPal general counsel and senior vice president. (Photo: Jason Doiy / The Recorder) Wanji Walcott, PayPal general counsel and senior vice president. (Photo: Jason Doiy / The Recorder)

As the new top lawyer for Discover Financial Services, Wanji Walcott took home more than $10.4 million in total compensation last year. 

Her earnings eclipse those of Discover CEO Roger Hochschild, who made a total of $9.25 million in 2019, according to Discover's 2020 proxy statement filed Monday.

The bulk of Walcott's pay came from $6.5 million in stock awards as part of an equity sign-on bonus and a $3.25 million bonus by way of a cash sign-on award. Walcott, who has a base salary of $222,115, was the highest-paid executive at Discover last year. 

But her boss, Hochschild, received a big pay bump from 2018, when he took home a total of $5.6 million. His paycheck grew by 63% in 2019.

Walcott, a former in-house leader for PayPal Holdings Inc. and American Express Co., went to work for Discover on July 22, 2019 as executive vice president, chief legal officer and general counsel. She succeeded Kelly McNamara Corley, who retired.

Discover stated in its proxy filing that Walcott "seamlessly transitioned" to the role of general counsel and stepped up as a leader and adviser to management and the board of directors on legal and governance issues, ongoing innovation, litigation strategy, business initiatives and risk management programs. 

"Discover's compensation packages are competitive in the marketplace so we can attract, retain and motivate a highly qualified and diverse group of employees, who are all paid on the basis of their specific role requirements, experience, skills and performance," a Discover spokesman stated in an email.

Walcott previously served as the general counsel and senior vice president of PayPal from 2017 until she arrived at Discover's headquarters near Chicago last summer. She joined PayPal in 2015 as vice president of legal product.

At PayPal, Walcott launched the company's pro bono program and was a leader in employee development, diversity and inclusion initiatives, including PayPal's networks for black and female employees. 

When she was named Corporate Counsel's 2018 General Counsel of the Year, Walcott explained in an interview that her motivation to push for diversity stems from experiences earlier in her career when she saw senior employees and realized "no one looked like me." 

In February, when she was named to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's board of directors, she told Corporate Counsel that the "mission of the association complements my work at Discover, which is committed to having a workplace that fosters respect and acceptance."

A Howard University School of Law alum, Walcott began her career in 1995 as an associate counsel for a state and local government contractor subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., according to her LinkedIn profile. 

She went on to head the legal department of public startup software firm DSET and had a stint in private practice as a senior associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, formerly Shaw Pittman, before she joined American Express. 

She spent 13 years in various in-house leadership positions at American Express, reaching the position of senior vice president and managing counsel, before she departed in 2015 and joined PayPal. 

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