The Advisors' Blog

CEO pay tends to get the most attention from investors, proxy advisors, and the media – but when it comes to company performance, it’s obviously also important to keep the rest of the C-suite happy and properly incentivized. Especially because many companies say they consider “internal pay equity” when determining compensation. The Conference Board recently compared CEO total compensation to other key positions in the S&P 500 and Russell 3000. Here are the key findings:

– Between 2020 and 2024, the gap between total CEO compensation and non-CEO executives narrowed in the S&P but widened in the Russell 3000.

– There are substantial role variations by industry in the pay ratios of other executives to the CEO; for instance, for all NEOs in the Russell 3000, the differences are widest in materials, industrials, and utilities.

– In the Russell 3000, median total compensation for all NEOs does not exceed 50% of CEO median total compensation in any industry—although a small number of individual C-Suite positions in certain sectors do surpass this threshold.

– Gender pay gaps were smaller in the Russell 3000 but more pronounced in the S&P 500, with woman CMOs, in particular, earning significantly more than their men counterparts.

The positions included as part of The Conference Board’s analysis included CFOs, CLOs, COOs, CHROs, CMOs and NEOs as a whole.

– Liz Dunshee