Compensation for Corporate Directors Rises Modestly in 2008 - Press - Towers Perrin

Compensation for Corporate Directors Rises Modestly in 2008 - Press - Towers Perrin

Compensation for Corporate Directors Rises Modestly in 2008

Annual Towers Perrin Research Shows Director Pay Continues to Rise, but at Slower Pace Than Previous Years

September 16, 2009

Excerpts:

Total remuneration for nonexecutive directors at the companies studied rose to $199,949 in 2008, up from a median value of $193,965 in 2007. While cash compensation rose by a median of 5% (to $83,875, up from $80,000 in 2007), falling stock prices brought down the value of equity awards by a median of 1% overall from 2007 rates. For 2008, median equity values in director pay packages fell to $103,963 from $105,000 the year prior. This decrease in equity pay reverses a trend of rising annual equity award values for directors over the past four years, when values increased at rates between 5% and 13% annually.

The 3% median increase in total 2008 director remuneration reflects a general salary stability — and in some cases, stagnancy — seen across employees and executives at many companies during the current recession. In fact, more than half of all companies included in the study made no change to their directors' compensation package at all in 2008. Further, 17 companies in the 2008 study decreased the value of some element of their director pay programs, from cash compensation to equity grants.

The Towers Perrin analysis also focused on the compensation premium placed on the role of nonexecutive chairmen and lead directors. At the median, a lead director receives $20,000 in additional annual compensation compared to a typical director. Nonexecutive chairmen receive a median of $150,000 in additional total compensation compared to a typical director.

Methodology
Towers Perrin analyzed the compensation for outside directors at 461 publicly owned Fortune 500 companies that filed their fiscal-year 2008 proxy by June 30, 2009. Data for these companies were then compared against the results obtained by the analysis of 462 Fortune 500 companies, as reported by Towers Perrin in 2008.

Read Full Post: http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/showdctmdoc.jsp?url=Master_Brand_2/USA/Press_Releases/2009/20090916/2009_09_16.htm&country=usa

***********************************************************************
http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.