Front GC Compensation Survey Best-Paid Sectors: Media, Money & Tech Media edged out financials as the highest-paid sector for GCs when it comes to cash compensation in 2019. But when it comes to serious money – stock and options – technology and tech-heavy businesses are where the action is. Alan Braverman, GC of The Walt Disney Co., took the top slot with just over $8 million ($1.7M in salary and 6.3M in non-equity incentive comp). Eric Grossman, CLO of Morgan Stanley, fell to #2 after a few years in the top slot. But don’t weep too hard. Grossman still pulled down almost $7 million in cash comp ($1M salary plus a $6 million bonus). Flip to a different metric used by ALM Intelligence to compile the 2020 General Counsel Compensation Report, with stock and stock options woven in, and a different picture emerges. When cash isn’t king, tech muscles everyone else aside. The crown goes to Google’s CLO David Drummond with $133.5 million. (Drummond left Google in December.) The gender pay gap narrowed last year, which is good news, and when it comes to all-in comp, including stock awards, women did especially well: 5 of the top 10 slots, including 3 of the top 4, went to women: Susan Helfrick of Chewy ($30.3 million), Kate Adams of Apple ($25.2 million) and Jennifer Newstead of Facebook ($19.1 million).
Top-Paid by Industry
Top-Paid Women Alan Braverman, Disney, $8,000,061 Top 5 Average: $5.2M
Laureen Seeger, American Express
$4.5M
Eric Grossman, Morgan Stanley, $6,938,750 Top 5 Average: $4.9M
Karen Seymour, Goldman Sachs
$4.5M
TECHNOLOGY
Bradford Smith, Microsoft, $4,216,148 Top 5 Average: $3.8M
Wanjiku Walcott, Discover
$3.8M
HEALTHCARE
Thomas Moriarty, CVS, $5,671,833 Top 5 Average: $3.3M
Laura Schumacher, AbbVie
$3.6M
BUSINESS SERVICES
Michael O’Brien, Omnicom Group, $4,100,000 Top 5 Average: $2.7M
Kate Adams, Apple
$3.6M
ENERGY
Paula Johnson, Phillips 66, $2,224,100 Top 5 Average: $1.9M
Leigh Harlan, Tiffany
$3.4M
FOOD, BEVERAGES & TOBACCO
Marc Firestone, Phillip Morris, $2,985,188 Top 5 Average: $1.9M
Anne Madden, Honeywell
$2.7M
RETAIL
Leigh Harlan, Tiffany, $3,382,005 Top 5 Average: $1.7M
Jennifer Newstead, Facebook
$2.6M
ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION
Maxine Mauricio, EMCOR, 2,032,500 Top 5 Average: $1.7M
Sandra Leung, Bristol-Myers
$2.6M
CHEMICALS
L. Benjamin Ederington, $1,766,574 Top 5 Average: $1.6M
Kathleen Waters, DaVita
$2.4M
MEDIA FINANCIALS
$
CORPORATE COUNSEL BUSINESS JOURNAL
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