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Private Company Compensation Grows 8% in 2015, New Data Shows


Lodestone Global published the results of their 2015 survey today. Please contact us at info@lodestoneglobal.com if you would like access the full report.

Executive Summary

Lodestone Global surveyed 272 companies across 31 different industries and 51 countries (35 in 2014) to analyze current board practices and compensation around the world. 35% of respondents were from companies based outside the United States, with every continent but Antarctica represented.

Median total compensation was $34,000, with Transportation and Logistics leading all industries, with Real Estate having the highest retainer in this year’s survey. Total compensation was 8% higher than the $31,500 reported last year. This 8% increase (5% in 2014) is the result of increases both domestically (+3%) and internationally (+20%). International companies showed significant growth in 2015, and for the first time in our survey’s history, pay 7.5% more than their domestic counterparts.

55% of the YPO companies in the survey had women as board members, up from 48% last year. The impact of Boards on company performance was extremely high this year with 87% of companies reporting increased revenues and 81% reporting increased EBITDA. Over 90% of boards with at least one woman director reported that their companies increased revenues by an average of ~35% since the participant joined the board. Nearly 50% of the participants categorized their boards as “Indispensable” or “Very Effective” at driving corporate strategy. These results support the notion that a board, particularly with the right directors, can be essential to achieving corporate goals and improving profitability.

53% of the survey respondents were family owned companies. The median number of board members was 6, with 3 independent directors. Note that a statistically insignificant number of companies in our survey used equity tocompensate their boardmembers. Thiscontinues tovalidate the thesis thatmature private companies donotuseequity asakeyelement oftheirboardcompensation programs.

The mean revenue of the sample was $279m. The mean number of employees was 1,401.

Please see our summary report here

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