Executive compensation and experience: A strong correlation

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30431
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017

4 Board & Administrator Special Report

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company All rights reserved

Executive compensation and experience:

A strong correlation

The chart below shows a fundamental reality

of CEO compensation: The more experienced the

nonprofit executive, the higher his or her pay.

Those at the lowest end of the experience

scale—with fewer than 10 years’ experience or

11–15 years’ experience—earn $106,675 and

$109,075, respectively.

Administrators at the higher end of the experience

scale earn salaries that generally top $110,000, with

CEOs who have 16–20 years’ experience command-

ing salaries of $126,711 on average.

One interesting data point in this chart is how

the more experienced CEOs work with larger

boards. For example, CEOs with more than 20

years’ experience have boards that average 17

members in size. CEOs with fewer than 15 years’

experience work with boards that average 10

members in size.

In 2016, the average board size reported in the

Board & Administrator network was 13 members. ■

Experience and pay

Experience

Percentage

Responded

Average

Salary

Median

Salary

Years of

Experience

Years in

Current

Position

Raise

Past 12

Months

Raise

Next 12

Months Bonus

Fringe

Benefits

Board

Size

Full-Time

Staff

Part-Time

Staff

1–10 5% $106,675 $106,675 3 2 5% 3% $1,500 $6,900 10 92 20

11–15 11% $109,075 $110,500 13 6 4% 2% $4,000 $9,388 10 52 13

16–20 11% $126,711 $120,423 20 6 3% 2% $5,125 $13,710 13 93 33

21–25 5% $111,750 $111,750 24 26 3% 3% - $15,000 17 104 13

26–30 16% $112,300 $106,000 29 13 2% 2% $6,625 $18,085 17 260 57

31–35 22% $125,166 $115,000 32 20 3% 3% $4,000 $24,213 15 119 53

36+ 27% $120,439 $135,985 42 29 3% 3% $6,000 $24,983 13 91 35

No

Response 3% $157,000 $157,000 - - 7% 2% - $17,000 10 75 -