These superstar execs made more than $5 million selling business software last year

Compensation: $5,370,756

Company: Riverbed

Title: President of Worldwide Field Operations

What he sells: Riverbed Technology develops products to support the network and improve application performance management.

Who he is: Before joining Riverbed in 2006, Peranich was the CEO of Centrata, an IT service management solution company. Prior to that, he was at Siebel Systems and Worldwide Alliance. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

Compensation: $5,616,239

Company: Ultimate Software

Title: Senior VP, Chief Enterprise Sales Officer

What he sells: Ultimate Software specializes in HR and payroll solutions.

Who he is: Swick joined Ultimate Software in 1994 and has served as its chief sales officer since 2000. Before that, he held various positions at ADP.

Compensation: $5,659,040

Company: Box

Title: Executive VP, Worldwide Field Operations

What he sells: Box is an online storage platform that allows file sharing and work collaboration.

Who he is: Younger has held various sales positions at Oracle, TIBCO, and IBM. Prior to joining Box, he was the head of sales at SuccessFactors, the software maker acquired by SAP for $3.4 billion. (Younger left Box in June 2015, so the vast majority of his equity awards never vested).

Compensation: $6,107,709

Company: Adobe

Title: Executive VP, Worldwide Field Operations

What he sells: Adobe makes software across a lot of different areas including marketing, graphic design, and video editing.

Who he is: Thompson was named Adobe's executive VP in 2013, after leading its field sales team for six years. Before that, he held executive sales positions at Borland, Marimba, and Cadence Design Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Northern Illinois University.

Compensation: $6,245,132

Company: ServiceNow

Title: Chief Revenue Officer

What he sells: ServiceNow makes software for a different departments, including IT, HR, and marketing.

Who he is: Schneider joined ServiceNow in 2011. Prior to that, he spent 2 years at EMC, and held senior positions at Data Domain, Borland Software, and TogetherSoft Corporation. He holds a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Irvine.

Compensation: $6,640,359

Company: Qlik

Title: Executive VP, Worldwide Sales and Services

What he sells: Qlik's software makes it easy to visualize and analyze different sets of business data.

Who he is: Thurmond cut his chops at RSA, the security division of EMC. After joining Qlik in 2015, Thurmond has been in charge of all aspects of sales at the company, including consulting services, training and education, and technical support.

Compensation: $6,693,341

Company: FireEye

Title: Senior VP, Worldwide Sales

What he sells: FireEye specializes in cyber security and malware protection.

Who he is: McGee became FireEye's Senior VP of worldwide sales in 2014. He's in charge of the company's global sales team. Before FireEye, McGee was at Informatica, Adobe, and EMC. He earned an MBA in finance at Columbia University’s Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science at Penn State University.

Compensation: $7,041,465

Company: Splunk

Title: Senior VP, Field Operations (now promoted to CEO)

What he sells: Splunk is a platform for searching, monitoring, and visualizing machine data.

Who he is: McGee was promoted to CEO and president of Splunk in November 2015. Before, he spent about two years as SVP of field operations. He's spent time at Cisco, Baynote, and PeopleSoft. Douglas holds a B.S. from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Compensation: $7,387,459

Company: LinkedIn

Title: Senior VP, Global Solutions

What he sells: LinkedIn is the world's leading professional social network used by recruiters, marketers, and salespeople to reach customers and partners.

Who he is: Gamson joined LinkedIn in 2007. He's in charge of the company's global sales unit, overseeing 26 offices worldwide. He started his career running a restaurant and boutique hotel in Costa Rica, but later joined Bank of America. He holds a degree from Amherst College.

Compensation: $7,694,140

Company: Citrix

Title: Senior VP, Worldwide Sales & Services

What he sells: Citrix is a company involved in apps, servers, network, and cloud computing technologies.

Who he is: Sartorius started at Citrix in 2011 as managing director and VP of the EMEA business. He's previously held positions at HP, Avaya, and Motorola. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (BSEE) with a focus on communications systems from the Universidad Iberoamericana (The Ibero-American University) in Mexico.

Compensation: $9,506,318

Company: Palo Alto Networks

Title: Senior VP, Worldwide Sales & Services

What he sells: Palo Alto Networks sells enterprise software for companies to prevent cyber attacks.

Who he is: Anderson has been with Palo Alto Networks since 2012. Before, he was at F5 Networks, overseeing all sales units at the company. He's also spent time at Lucent Technologies and Cisco. Anderson holds a B.A. in Business and Economics from York University in Toronto.