Of the 25 tech executives whose pay packages are detailed, five are women CIOs
A handful of women CIOs cropped up when I started digging through proxy statements to find out how much senior IT executives at Fortune 500 companies are being paid.
It’s a limited study — more like a glimpse of what pay is like for senior IT leaders who’ve ascended the ranks of public companies and neared the top tiers.
ALL THE DETAILS: What do top CIOs make?
The data is limited because not every Fortune 500 company reports the compensation of its most senior IT leader. In fact, the vast majority don’t. A public company is only obligated to report the compensation of its principal executive officer (usually the CEO), principal financial officer (CFO) and its three most highly compensated officers. In only about 5% of the Fortune 500’s proxy statements is a techie listed among a company’s five so-called named executive officers.
So all my digging unearthed details on pay packages for 25 senior IT executives at Fortune 500 companies. Of those 25 people, five are women. Here’s how much they made in 2010:
Laurie Douglas, senior vice president and CIO at Publix Super Markets, received a $682,037 pay package in 2010. Her compensation included a $528,155 salary; $132,912 bonus; and $20,970 in perks and other compensation. Before joining Publix — a $25.3 billion supermarket chain — Douglas was CIO of FedEx Kinko’s.
Lisa Bachmann, CIO and executive vice president for supply chain management at Big Lots, netted $2.6 million last year. Her pay package included a $490,769 salary; $494,610 bonus; stock awards and option awards valued at $898,000 and $683,500, respectively; and $40,959 in perks and other compensation. In her role at Big Lots, Bachmann oversees the $5 billion company’s tech initiatives as well as distribution and transportation services.
Deb Butler heads strategic planning and IT initiatives at Norfolk Southern, a $9.5 billion transportation company. In 2010 she earned a $3.2 million pay package, which included a $500,000 salary; $388,750 bonus; stock awards and option awards valued at $916,252 and $491,310, respectively; $809,441 attributed to change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings; and $57,384 in perks and other compensation. Now CIO and an executive vice president, Butler has steadily ascended the corporate ranks since she joined Norfolk Southern in 1978 as a customer account auditor.
Lori Beer has held a number of tech-related positions — including CIO, senior vice president of enterprise solutions, and CTO — during her 12 years with WellPoint, a $58.8 billion health benefits company. As executive vice president of enterprise business services, Beer leads five business support functions: service operations, operational excellence, IT, information management, and sourcing and supplier management. Her 2010 pay package, valued at $4.5 million, included a $519,231 salary; $671,429 bonus; stock awards and option awards valued at $2.5 million and $665,294, respectively; and $110,901 in perks and other compensation.
Meg McCarthy is responsible for clinical innovation, technology and service operations at Aetna, a $34.2 billion healthcare benefits company. She netted a $5.1 million pay package in 2010, which included a $588,506 salary; $837,312 bonus; stock awards valued at $3.6 million; and $65,905 in perks and other compensation. McCarthy was named Aetna CIO in 2005 and later served as head of business solutions delivery, which brought together all of Aetna’s IT project management, development, quality engineering and business-process reengineering functions. Her title today is executive vice president of innovation, technology and service operations.
