Insights
Research Report
2020 Director Compensation Report
Research Report | By Stephan Bosshard
FW Cook’s 2020 Director Compensation Report studies non-employee director compensation at 300 companies of various sizes and industries to analyze market practices in pay levels and program structure.
Year-over-year increases to total compensation, at the median, were modest among large-cap and mid-cap companies compared to small cap companies, which had a relatively significant increase: the large-cap median increased 1.6% to $290,000, the mid-cap median increased 1.7% to $216,950, and the small-cap median increased 5.1% to $163,500. Changes were relatively stable across industries; we observe that Financial Services, Industrials, and Technology companies had no increases in median total compensation, while Energy and Retail companies had increases of 3% and2%, respectively.
The 2020 study includes 275 companies that were also included in the 2019 study (“legacy companies”). Approximately 30% of legacy companies increased compensation by more than 1% and compensation increased 9% at the median among these companies; increases were generally weighted more towards equity than cash, with a median cash valueincrease of 8% and a median equity value increase of 9%.
Stephan Bosshard
Principal
Stephan Bosshard has 13 years of consulting experience. He works with clients across a wide range of industries, with special focus on financial services. Stephan plans and manages a broad range of executive compensation and board advisory projects and his clients range from large publicly traded organizations to privately held companies including private equity portfolio companies. He has authored and co-authored publications on topics such as emerging trends and best practices in the banking industry, long-term incentive grant practices, and change-in-control benefits.