More and more women reach the top positions in listed companies, but their numbers are still minimal compared to their male counterparts.
Of the 341 CEOs included in AP’s annual compensation survey, 25 are women. That’s the most women who have made the list since the survey began in 2011. But the numbers haven’t changed much: The second-highest count was 21 women in 2017.
The survey, based on data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar, includes CEOs of companies included in the S&P 500 who have served at least two fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and on April 30, 2024.
Christy Glass, a sociology professor at Utah State University who studies equity, inclusion and leadership, said that while seeing more female CEOs this year is positive, overall the trends are discouraging.
“You see a year that’s kind of a stellar year for CEOs,” she said, “but then a year or two later, you’re going to see significant turnover.”
Lisa Su, CEO and chairman of the board of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, was the highest-paid female CEO in the AP survey for the fifth consecutive year in fiscal 2023, with total compensation valued at $30.3 million dollars, the same as his compensation package from the previous year. Her rank rose to 21st overall from 25th.
His received a base salary of $1.2 million and a performance bonus of more than $1.4 million. The bulk of his package consisted of $21.8 million in stock awards.
Su has been head of AMD, based in Santa Clara, California, since 2014. The company is part of a growing number of entities trying to take advantage of new interest in AI tools capable of analyzing data, helping make decisions and potentially replacing some tasks currently performed by humans. AMD stock price soars 127% in 2023.
The others in the top five for highest-paid female CEOs include Mary Barra of automaker General Motors with total compensation of $27.8 million; Jane Fraser from Citigroup with a package valued at $25.5 million; Kathy Warden of the aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman Corp. with $23.5 million; and Carol Tome of package delivery company UPS Inc., whose payout was valued at $23.4 million.
Some notable female CEOs are not included because they became CEO less than two years ago or their company files outside the January-April period, including Julie Sweet of consulting firm Accenture and Sue Nabi of Coty Inc.
The median pay package for female CEOs increased 21% to $17.6 million. That’s better than men fared: Their median pay package rose 12% to $16.3 million.
But the highest-paid men still earn much more than the highest-paid women. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan made $161.8 million, the vast majority of that in stock.
Part of the problem with the disproportionate number of men to women is the fact that women are more likely to be named CEO when the company is in crisis, Glass said.
“It’s like one step forward, two steps back,” he said. “One of the factors driving that is the fact that women tend to have opportunities to serve as CEOs when organizations are in crisis… That means they start their leadership journey at a disadvantage.”
Source: With information from AP
