How much do CIOs really make? To find out, we scoured the proxy statements of the 500 largest U.S. companies and found 25 that disclosed CIO pay.
Today’s CIOs can make millions as they ascend the corporate ladder. While climbing, many tech chiefs take on additional titles and broader administrative roles.
Lisa Bachmann, for instance, was named CIO of Big Lots in 2005 and then promoted to EVP and chief operating officer in 2011. As COO, she added responsibility for store operations to her workload, which includes overseeing IT, merchandise planning and allocation, and distribution and transportation services. Her 2014 compensation is valued at $3 million.
Similarly, David Thompson joined Western Union in April 2012 as CIO and took over IT. Seven months later, he added global operations to his responsibilities. In 2014, he earned a $2.4 million pay package.
Bachmann and Thompson are two of 25 IT leaders whose pay packages Network World examined. The data comes from proxy statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For these 25 CIOs and senior technology executives, their salaries are a fraction of their total compensation. Cash bonuses and equity awards can propel their pay packages into the millions.
Among these 25 tech leaders, the lowest paid is Brian Murphy, SVP and CIO of Dean Foods since September 2013. Murphy, who earned $788,246, is one of only three CIOs on the list with a pay package valued under $1 million.
The highest paid is newly appointed Adriana Karaboutis, who was named EVP of technology and business solutions at Biogen in September 2014. Prior to joining the biotechnology company, Karaboutis was CIO for Dell. Karaboutis netted a $7.7 million pay package last year, including stock awards valued at $5.3 million.
FedEx CIO Rob Carter received the highest salary ($762,960), while MetLife’s Martin Lippert received the largest cash bonus pay ($2.2 million). Lippert edged out Biogen’s Karaboutis, whose cash bonus was just shy of $2.2 million.
On the raise front, Deb Butler, EVP and CIO at Norfolk Southern, received the biggest percentage raise among the 25 pay packages. Her pay spiked 48% to $5.1 million last year, up from $3.4 million in 2013. Butler joined Norfolk Southern in 1978 in an accounting role, and today she heads the railway’s strategic planning and IT initiatives.
Jeff Balagna, EVP and CIO at Sears Holdings, took the biggest pay cut: His $1.2 million compensation is down 68% from 2013, when he earned $3.6 million. Balagna didn’t receive any new equity awards in 2014.
The median pay among the 25 CIOs is $2.4 million. Three tech chiefs received $2.4 million last year: Western Union’s Thompson, Sysco EVP and CTO Wayne Shurts, and SunTrust Banks CIO Anil Cheriyan.
Eight women are included in our analysis, and their pay packages range from the low end (Laurie Douglas, CIO at Publix, who earned $887,943) to the high end (Biogen’s Karaboutis, who earned $7.7 million) of the spectrum.
Browse the highlights of CIO pay in our sortable chart. For specific details on each CIO’s pay package, see our slideshow.
2014 CIO COMPENSATION
| CASH | EQUITY | EXTRAS | TOTAL PAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Murphy, SVP and CIO, Dean Foods | 330000 | 442639 | 15607 | 788246 |
| Michael Guggemos, CIO, Insight Enterprises | 487626 | 375007 | 9463 | 872096 |
| Laurie Douglas, SVP and CIO, Publix Super Markets | 826046 | 0 | 61897 | 887943 |
| Jeff Balagna, EVP and CIO, Sears Holdings | 1061459 | 0 | 90065 | 1151524 |
| Robert Mills, SVP and CIO, Tractor Supply Co. | 527574 | 500315 | 179451 | 1207340 |
| Elizabeth Hackenson, SVP and CIO, AES Corp. | 713000 | 563565 | 25246 | 1301811 |
| Randy Burdick, EVP and CIO, Supervalu | 943076 | 559957 | 7493 | 1510526 |
| Kyle Quinn, SVP and CIO, Paccar | 834766 | 335392 | 358409 | 1528567 |
| Jonathan Stevens, SVP and CIO, CDW | 1093971 | 377858 | 133891 | 1605720 |
| Chad Lindbloom, CIO, C.H. Robinson | 775642 | 840011 | 15600 | 1631253 |
| Dale Asplund, SVP and CIO, United Rentals | 1146548 | 963885 | 3000 | 2113433 |
| David Thompson, EVP and CIO, Western Union | 968000 | 1358000 | 50400 | 2376400 |
| Wayne Shurts, EVP and CTO, Sysco | 1073910 | 1240876 | 85713 | 2400499 |
| Anil Cheriyan, EVP and CIO, SunTrust Banks | 1140500 | 1226814 | 55450 | 2422764 |
| Lisa Bachmann, EVP and COO, Big Lots | 1075219 | 1892202 | 58125 | 3025546 |
| Ram Chandrashekar, EVP, ManpowerGroup | 1189124 | 1900069 | 97532 | 3186725 |
| Don Imholz, EVP and CIO, Centene | 1150000 | 1985000 | 71423 | 3206423 |
| Matt Carey, EVP and CIO, The Home Depot | 1396549 | 2194151 | 20741 | 3611441 |
| Meg McCarthy, EVP, operations and technology, Aetna | 1365840 | 2774536 | 124189 | 4264565 |
| Martha Poulter, EVP and CIO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts | 1565909 | 3000038 | 0 | 4565947 |
| Rob Carter, EVP and CIO, FedEx | 2533439 | 1364800 | 1036064 | 4934303 |
| Deb Butler, EVP and CIO, Norfolk Southern | 1252860 | 1400624 | 2433648 | 5087132 |
| Martin Lippert, EVP, global technology & operations, MetLife | 2825000 | 2251028 | 245080 | 5321108 |
| Julie Bushman, SVP, business transformation and IT, 3M | 1252205 | 3630025 | 1102874 | 5985104 |
| Adriana Karaboutis, EVP, Biogen | 2322011 | 5265820 | 159026 | 7746857 |
About the numbers
The “cash” column includes salary, bonus, and performance-based bonus pay. “Equity” includes stock awards and option awards (the estimated value of equity awards represents the grant date fair value for stock awards and stock options granted during the fiscal year). “Extras” includes perks and other items such as pension value gains and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings.
To find out how much CIOs at giant global companies really earn, we scoured the proxy statements of the 500 largest U.S. companies (according to Fortune‘s ranking) and found 25 that disclosed CIO pay. Each of these CIOs is among the top earners at his or her company. But that doesn’t mean they are the highest paid CIOs in the U.S.
Because of the rules of financial reporting, most companies don’t disclose how much their CIO is paid. A public company is only obligated to report the compensation of its principal executive officer (CEO), principal financial officer (CFO), and three most highly compensated officers. If a CIO or senior IT leader ranks among a company’s three most highly paid executives, his or her compensation is reported in the organization’s proxy statement. A CIO might have earned a multimillion-dollar pay package, but if more than three executives at the company topped that amount, that IT leader’s pay is not disclosed. There are undoubtedly higher paid IT chiefs whose compensation is not publicly reported.
