Companies That Pay Their Directors $1 Million a Year
from January/February 2008
by Laura J. Finn
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If they’re lucky, most directors of big companies might get close to $200,000 in total compensation, barely a rounding error compared with the sums companies lavish on their CEOs. (The highest-paid CEO, according to 2007 proxies: Occidental Petroleum’s Ray Irani, 73, who collected a total package valued at $322 million. Oxy paid its 11 outside directors a total of $4.4 million over the same period.)
Some board members do better than others, of course—notably insiders who founded the company or are descended from somebody who did. But a handful of outfits treat outside directors like, well, family and pay them $1 million or more in total comp. Most such companies single out just one director for this level of compensation, though there are exceptions. In the sampling of million-dollar directors at right, for example, footwear designer Crocs Inc. is not only the second-biggest spender but lavishes the moola on no fewer than four of its nine board members.
| Company Business |
Director Day job |
Total annual compensation |
| Apple Inc. Computers |
Eric E. Schmidt, 52 Chairman and CEO, Google Inc. |
$1.0 million |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Drug manufacturing |
James D. Robinson III, *72 Co-founder and General Partner, RRE Ventures |
$1.0 million |
| Citigroup Inc. Banking |
Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, 65 Chairman, Banco National de Mexico |
$2.9 million |
| Conseco Inc. Supplemental health insurance and life insurance |
R. Glenn Hilliard, *64 Chairman and CEO, Hilliard Group |
$5.3 million |
| Crocs Inc. Footwear designer, manufacturer, and retailer |
Raymond D. Croghan, 58 Retired CEO, Croghan & Associates Inc. |
$3.7 million |
| Michael E. Marks, 56 Member, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. |
$3.7 million | |
| Richard L. Sharp, 60 Retired Chairman and CEO, Circuit City Stores Inc. |
$5.9 million | |
| Thomas J. Smach, 47 CFO, Flextronics International Ltd. |
$5.5 million | |
| First Community Bancorp Banking |
John M. Eggemeyer III, 61 Founder and CEO, Castle Creek Capital LLC, Castle Creek Financial LLC, and Belle Plaine Partners Inc. |
$6.6 million |
| Gilead Sciences Inc. Biopharmaceuticals |
Gayle E. Wilson, 65 Director, College Access Foundation of California |
$1.0 million |
| John F. Cogan, 60 Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University |
$1.0 million | |
| Google Inc. Internet information provider |
Ann Mather, 47 Former Executive Vice President and CFO, Pixar Animation Studios |
$1.7 million |
| Shirley M. Tilghman, 61 President, Princeton University |
$1.3 million | |
| Hologic Inc. Medical equipment |
Laurie L. Fajardo, 52 Chairperson and Professor, Department of Radiology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine |
$1.0 million |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Scientific and technical equipment |
Jim P. Manzi, *55 Chairman, Stonegate Capital |
$1.1 million |
| Western Union Co. Money-transfer and bill-payment services |
Jack M. Greenberg, *65 Former Chairman and CEO, McDonald's Corp. |
$1.2 million |
*Also independent chairman of the board
Source: Corporate Library's Board Analyst database
