US Executive Pay Rises at Fastest Rate in 15 Years—Financial Times

June 17, 2024

With US executive pay increasing overall in conjunction with Elon Musk prevailing in getting his historically large compensation package, many are questioning why pay is skyrocketing, according to this Financial Times article by Patrick Temple-West. But according to Farient founder and CEO Robin Ferracone, companies are motivated to pay more by the fierce competition for talent: “companies [want] to keep their CEOs from taking phone calls from [rivals’] search committees.” Robin also notes that Musk’s compensation is uniquely high due to its having been tied to ambitious goals on which few other executives would want to stake their future pay.

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About Robin Ferracone

Founder and CEO, Farient Advisors/GECN Group

New York: (646) 626-6931
Los Angeles: (626) 799-2700
robin.ferracone@farient.com

Robin A. Ferracone is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Farient Advisors. Farient helps clients make performance-enhancing and defensible executive compensation decisions that are in the best interests of their shareholders. Her firm is a founding partner of the Global Governance and Executive Compensation (GECN) Group, which collectively serves clients in more than 35 countries across five continents.

Before starting Farient, Robin was president of the human capital business of Mercer. She previously was chair of the U.S. West Region for Marsh & McLennan (Mercer’s parent company), a market leader and worldwide partner at Mercer, and president and chair of SCA Consulting, a firm she co-founded and sold to Mercer.

With over 30 years of consulting experience, Robin provides high-impact decision-making support and organizational solutions based on strategic and market insights. She advises clients on business and talent strategies, executive compensation, organization, value management, and performance measurement.

Robin is the author of the book Fair Pay Fair Play: Aligning Executive Performance and Pay. She has published numerous articles and is often quoted in national publications on topics ranging from executive compensation to corporate governance. She frequently presents for prominent organizations such as the Council of Institutional Investors, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), and the Society for Corporate Governance Professionals. Additionally, she testified before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on the salary of the president of the United States.

Robin serves on the boards of directors of The Woodlands Financial Group, WildAid (where she was recently chair), and 50/50 Women on Boards. Robin formerly served on the board of Trupanion, Inc., where she chaired the compensation committee. She is a trustee emeritus of Duke University.

For 13 consecutive years, the NACD has named Robin to the Directorship 100, an annual listing of the most influential people in corporate governance and the boardroom. In 2014, Robin was selected as one of EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women, an annual competition that recognizes female entrepreneurs throughout North America.

Robin received an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar, and a B.A. summa cum laude in management science and economics from Duke University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

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