Kelly Battles
Arista NetworksAbout Kelly Battles
Kelly Battles, age 58, is an independent director of Arista Networks (ANET) serving since 2020; she sits on the Audit Committee and is designated an “Audit Committee financial expert” under SEC rules, reflecting deep finance and accounting expertise . Battles holds a B.S.E. in Operations Research/Systems Management from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard University, and brings 30+ years of finance, strategy, and operational leadership across technology companies, including multiple CFO roles .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Medical Group | Chief Financial Officer | Jul 2020 – Jan 2022 | Also serves on Alpha’s board since Jan 2022 |
| Quora | Chief Financial Officer | Nov 2016 – Mar 2020 | Finance leadership at consumer knowledge platform |
| Bracket Computing | Chief Financial Officer | Not disclosed | Cloud computing – enterprise infrastructure |
| Host Analytics, Inc. | Chief Financial Officer | Not disclosed | Cloud EPM solutions |
| IronPort Systems | Vice President of Finance | Not disclosed | Email/web security; acquired by Cisco |
| Hewlett-Packard Company | Director, Strategy & Corporate Development | Not disclosed | Corporate development in IT |
| McKinsey & Company | Associate | Not disclosed | Strategy consulting |
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | Associate | Not disclosed | Financial services experience |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Committees/Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataStax, Inc. (private) | Independent Board Member | Current | Audit Committee Chair |
| Genesys Cloud Services, Inc. (private) | Independent Board Member | Current | Audit Committee Chair |
| Clari, Inc. (private) | Independent Board Member | Current | Audit Committee Chair |
Board Governance
- Committee assignments: Audit Committee member; not a committee chair .
- Independence: Board determined Battles is independent; only independent directors sit on board committees .
- Financial expert: Qualifies as an “Audit Committee financial expert” and is financially literate per NYSE standards .
- Attendance: Each director attended at least 75% of 2024 board and relevant committee meetings; all directors except Kenneth Duda attended the 2024 annual meeting (i.e., Battles attended) .
- Audit Committee cadence: The Audit Committee met 4 times in 2024; oversees financial reporting, compliance, cybersecurity, and ESG-related policies .
Fixed Compensation
| Component (2024) | Detail | Amount/Units |
|---|---|---|
| Board cash retainer | Non-employee director | $75,000 |
| Audit Committee member fee | Non-chair service | $12,500 |
| Total cash fees | Sum of retainers | $87,500 |
| Annual equity grant | RSUs granted 6/7/2024 | 3,380 RSUs |
| Grant-date fair value | Equity award valuation | $250,788 |
| Total 2024 director comp | Cash + equity | $338,288 |
| Unvested RSUs at 12/31/2024 | Outstanding equity | 1,688 RSUs |
- Policy signal: In Feb 2025, ANET approved a revised policy granting $250,000 of RSUs to outside directors, vesting quarterly over one year, using the lowest closing price in the prior 90 trading days to set grant size (automatic grants post-annual meeting) .
Performance Compensation
| Performance Metric | Applies to Director Pay? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Financial/ESG/TSR metrics | No | Director equity is time-based RSUs; no disclosed performance metrics or options for directors |
| Vesting cadence | Yes (time-based) | Quarterly vesting over one year for director RSUs per 2025 policy; prior RSUs vest on standard schedules |
Other Directorships & Interlocks
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current public company boards | None disclosed for Battles |
| Private company boards | DataStax (audit chair), Genesys Cloud Services (audit chair), Clari (audit chair) |
| Potential interlocks or related-party exposure | Proxy describes related-person transaction policy and does not identify any transactions involving Battles |
Expertise & Qualifications
- CFO and finance leadership across multiple technology companies; strong public company governance exposure .
- Audit Committee financial expert with accounting/financial management expertise under NYSE and SEC standards .
- Strategy, operations, and risk oversight capabilities aligned to ANET’s audit oversight of financial reporting, compliance, and cybersecurity .
Equity Ownership
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (4/2/2025) | 9,816 shares |
| % of shares outstanding | ~0.0008% (9,816 ÷ 1,255,625,511) |
| RSUs vesting ≤60 days of 4/2/2025 | 844 shares |
| Unvested RSUs at 12/31/2024 | 1,688 shares |
| Director ownership guideline | 3× annual cash board retainer; five-year compliance window |
| Guideline compliance status | All directors on track per company disclosure |
| Hedging/derivatives policy | Prohibits directors, officers, employees, etc. from hedging/derivative transactions; short sales prohibited |
| Pledging policy | Pledging prohibited for certain executive officers; no specific ban on director pledging disclosed |
Governance Assessment
- Strengths: Independent director and Audit Committee financial expert; strong finance/CFO background enhances audit oversight; attended ≥75% of meetings; director pay mix emphasizes equity with formulaic, time-based grants—aligns interests without short-term performance gaming .
- Alignment: Stock ownership guidelines (3× retainer) with disclosure that directors are “on track”; hedging/short sales prohibited—supports long-term alignment and risk discipline .
- Risks/Watch items: Direct ownership is modest in percentage terms, typical for non-employee directors; no Battles-specific related-party transactions disclosed; no performance-linked metrics in director equity—appropriate for director independence but offers limited pay-for-performance signaling at the board level .
- Overall signal: Governance posture appears robust—independent committee membership, financial expert designation, solid attendance, and transparent director compensation framework; no evident conflicts or red flags disclosed for Battles .