What is the average salary for board of directors? Being on a board of directors can be a nice part time job or a fruitful full time one. Whatever you do, I hope this article helps you with your future endeavors.
The board of directors is responsible for making decisions about the company’s strategic direction and financial performance. The more experience and knowledge a director has in these areas, the more valuable they are to the company. For example, if you have an idea for a new product line, but need someone on your team to help you figure out how much it will cost, then you’ll want to hire an experienced director who can tell you how much money to budget for research and development.
A good way to think about a director’s salary is that they should be paid what they’re worth: $400,000 per year seems like a fair amount of money if your company is valued at $100 million dollars or more; $100,000 per year seems like too little if your company is valued at $500 million dollars or more.
Salary for board of directors
At one time, being a member of the board of directors of an S&P 500 company might have meant attending a few meetings a year, having some meals at the company’s expense, and scoring a nice stipend.
Those days are probably over for most publicly traded U.S. companies as demands for board oversight have been increasing lately.
In its most recent annual survey of corporate board members, PricewaterhouseCoopers pointed to several issues board members are dealing with today: culture problems, cybersecurity issues, and calls for increased diversity on boards themselves, among others.
Being a member of a corporate board may have its downsides, but it also has, in many cases, some excellent benefits. For example, board members are usually compensated in a combination of cash and stock awards, including a retainer, fees for meeting attendance, and additional retainers for committee chairs and members.
Research firm MyLogIQ LLC has compiled a ranking of director compensation at all S&P 500 companies. Here is MyLogIQ’s list of the 25 S&P 500 companies with the highest total board compensation. The data was calculated from the company’s proxy filings for 2017.
25. CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX)
• Total board compensation: $4.86 million
• Average compensation per board member: $324,195
24. Chubb Ltd. (NYSE: CB)
• Total board compensation: $4.86 million
• Average compensation per board member: $324,218
23. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN)
• Total board compensation: $4.93 million
• Average compensation per board member: $328,916
22. Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL)
• Total board compensation: $4.98 million
• Average compensation per board member: $552,899
21. Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA)
• Total board compensation: $5.00 million
• Average compensation per board member: $416,281
20. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM)
• Total board compensation: $5.01 million
• Average compensation per board member: $334,068
19. Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM)
• Total board compensation: $5.31 million
• Average compensation per board member: $530,719
18. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C)
• Total board compensation: $5.35 million
• Average compensation per board member: $297,407
17. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F)
• Total board compensation: $5.36 million
• Average compensation per board member: $357,385
16. Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN)
• Total board compensation: $5.42 million
• Average compensation per board member: $492,524
15. Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN)
• Total board compensation: $5.57 million
• Average compensation per board member: $464,450
14. Mylan NV (NASDAQ: MYL)
• Total board compensation: $5.59 million
• Average compensation per board member: $465,432
13. Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR)
• Total board compensation: $5.62 million
• Average compensation per board member: $468,571
12. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC)
• Total board compensation: $5.74 million
• Average compensation per board member: $337,668
11. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX)
• Total board compensation: $5.93 million
• Average compensation per board member: $658,361
10. Everest Re Group Ltd. (NYSE: RE)
• Total board compensation: $5.98 million
• Average compensation per board member: $747,278
9. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM)
• Total board compensation: $6.08 million
• Average compensation per board member: $506,626
8. General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)
• Total board compensation: $6.26 million
• Average compensation per board member: $347,825
7. Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY)
• Total board compensation: $6.29 million
• Average compensation per board member: $786,444
6. The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS)
• Total board compensation: $7.34 million
• Average compensation per board member: $560,131
5. Roper Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ROP)
• Total board compensation: $7.79 million
• Average compensation per board member: $973,923
4. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS)
• Total board compensation: $7.90 million
• Average compensation per board member: $790,388
3. Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY)
• Total board compensation: $7.92 million
• Average compensation per board member: $1.13 million
2. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN)
• Total board compensation: $23.88 million
• Average compensation per board member: $2.17 million
1. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ: FOXA)
• Total board compensation: $25.57 million
• Average compensation per board member: $2.58 million
