Top CIOs bank millions in cash, equity, extras
A $10 million pay package. A $3.4 million signing bonus. Equity awards valued at $4.7 million. CIO compensation is on the rise.
To find out how much CIOs at giant global companies really earn, we scoured the proxy statements of the 500 largest U.S. companies and found 25 that disclosed CIO pay. For these 25 CIOs, salaries are just a fraction of their total compensation. It’s the cash bonuses and equity awards that propel pay packages into the millions.
Among these 25 tech leaders, the lowest paid is Jason Buechel of Whole Foods. Buechel, who earned $883,971 last year, is one of only two CIOs on the list with a pay package valued under $1 million.
The largest pay package went to Tim Theriault, who stepped down last June from his position as global CIO for Walgreens Boots Alliance. Theriault’s $13.6 million compensation package included a giant parting payment of $8.5 million.
Browse the highlights of CIO pay in our sortable chart.
| COMPANY CIO | CASH + EXTRAS | EQUITY | TOTAL PAY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walgreens Boots Alliance: Tim Theriault | 10438382 | 3139930 | 13578312 |
| Target: Mike McNamara | 1944198 | 8015929 | 9960127 |
| AIG: Philip Fasano | 6791598 | 1606091 | 8397689 |
| Hertz Global Holdings: Tyler Best | 3412494 | 3143627 | 6556121 |
| Kroger: Chris Hjelm | 2055380 | 2772636 | 4828016 |
| Norfolk Southern: Deborah Butler | 2619698 | 1399184 | 4018882 |
| FedEx: Rob Carter | 2411480 | 1568014 | 3979494 |
| The Home Depot: Matt Carey | 1562942 | 2190187 | 3753129 |
| Starwood Hotels & Resorts: Martha Poulter | 1414000 | 1912838 | 3326838 |
| Foot Locker: Pawan Verma | 1010762 | 1890267 | 2901029 |
| Sysco: Wayne Shurts | 1420338 | 1318029 | 2738367 |
| UPS: Dave Barnes | 768249 | 1930658 | 2698907 |
| Norfolk Southern: Cindy Earhart | 1162477 | 1149250 | 2311727 |
| US Foods Holding Corp.: Keith Rohland | 1617348 | 590445 | 2207793 |
| J.C. Penney: Scott Laverty | 1086542 | 1020004 | 2106546 |
| CDW: Jon Stevens | 1532004 | 376696 | 1908700 |
| C.H. Robinson: Chad Lindbloom | 883395 | 834617 | 1718012 |
| United Rentals: Dale Asplund | 748804 | 956418 | 1705222 |
| Paccar: Kyle Quinn | 1094357 | 370612 | 1464969 |
| Tech Data: John Tonnison | 1031601 | 420540 | 1452141 |
| J.C. Penney: Therace Risch | 734040 | 700001 | 1434041 |
| AES Corp.: Elizabeth Hackenson | 751104 | 518503 | 1269607 |
| Laboratory Corp. of America: Lance Berberian | 592949 | 519977 | 1112926 |
| Insight Enterprises: Michael Guggemos | 573928 | 375005 | 948933 |
| Whole Foods Market: Jason Buechel | 681772 | 202199 | 883971 |
About the numbers
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 publicly-traded company is only required to disclose information concerning the amount and type of compensation paid to its CEO, CFO, and three other most highly compensated executive officers in a given year. 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 CIOs whose compensation is not publicly reported.
