UnitedHealth’s Returning CEO to Get $61 Million Pay Package—Wall Street Journal

In a recent article for The Wall Street Journal, Farient Advisors’ Chief Data Officer Eric Hoffmann provided expert commentary on the striking $61 million compensation package awarded to Stephen Hemsley, who is returning as CEO of UnitedHealth. With Hemsley’s return being the latest example of a ”boomerang” CEO appointment, the package—comprising entirely of stock options that vest after three years—deviates from typical large-cap executive pay practices by excluding an annual bonus and performance-based equity.

“That means no matter what happens, he’s getting that $60 million of options, if he’s not fired for cause,” said Hoffmann. He noted the deal’s simplicity and scale make it stand out even among Fortune 100 companies, adding that while the valuation aligns with UnitedHealth’s historical pay practices, the structure is rare at this level.

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About Eric Hoffmann

Chief Data Officer

Louisville, Kentucky
(626) 800-3120
eric.hoffmann@farient.com

Eric leads Farient’s data strategy, operational capabilities, partnerships, research, and client insights. With more than 20 years of human resource technology and data analytics experience, Eric’s work at Farient focuses on creating and delivering information and decision support to boards of directors, human resource professionals, and investors. Combining data analytics and visualization, Eric and his team create compelling narratives that lead to business insight and defensible decisions for his clients.

Eric has extensive experience in executive compensation and performance. From March 2005 to January 2011, he was the Technology Solutions Delivery Leader and a partner at Mercer. In support of Mercer’s compensation and benefits data and analytics business, Eric and his global, cross-disciplinary team delivered leading-edge SaaS-based client-facing and operationally driven data analytics solutions. Before that, Eric was a principal at Mercer, where he led a software development team. Eric holds a BS in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University and an MS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

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