July 8, 2020
Trends in Mid-Cap Non-Employee Director Compensation
– Lynn Jokela
Back in May, I blogged about ClearBridge Compensation Group’s report analyzing trends in non-employee director compensation. ClearBridge recently issued a second report, this time addressing trends in mid-cap non-employee director compensation – the previous report addressed large-cap. The latest report looks at compensation for directors among 100 S&P MidCap 400 companies from 2009 – 2019. Some high-level findings relating to board service include:
– Standard board compensation levels have homogenized around the median as fewer companies have maintained programs that are significantly above or below market, resulting in a narrower spread of values
– Average mix of cash and equity compensation for board service was weighted more heavily toward equity (41% cash and 59% equity), an increase from 2009 (49% cash and 51% equity)
– Use of meeting fees has declined markedly, falling from 66% of companies in 2009 to only 23% in 2019