The Advisors' Blog

This blog features wisdom from respected compensation consultants and lawyers

March 22, 2017

How Director Pay Has Evolved Over 2 Decades

Broc Romanek

Here’s a teaser for this Pay Governance memo about director pay:

Twenty years ago, the Director pay model at a large corporation often had the following features:

– Directors were commonly eligible for certain benefits programs and pensions;
– Vesting schedules for equity awards were 3 or 4 years long, similar to those for executives;
– Equity awards were in the form of stock option grants (also used for executives), and Director awards were expressed as a number of shares rather than a grant value;
– Many companies did not differentiate pay for Committee service; and
– Lead Director roles and Director stock ownership guidelines were absent.