Though COOs experienced a decline in base salary in 2023, while CEOs and CFOs saw an increase, they made up for it with higher total compensation packages, according to the latest S&P Global Market Intelligence Report on insurance industry executive compensation.

The report focuses on U.S.-based insurance companies, including multiline, property & casualty, life & health, and more and includes compensation rankings by company size, region/sector and position.

Data was collected from proxy statements, offering circulars, registration, statements and 10-Ks.

Since industry performance is an important marker for changes to executive compensation, the S&P analysis noted the industry gained a profitable total return for 2022, averaging 8.35 percent.

As expected, microcap insurers reported negative results, while large cap insurers reported the most growth.

Percentage change in median base salary:

CEOs and CFOs at all insurance companies saw an increase of 6.80 percent and 9.29 percent, respectively, in their median base salary from 2021 to 2022.

COOs, on the other hand, saw a decline of nearly 4.5 percent.

Drilling down to those in the C-Suite of P&C companies, the figures reflected the changes seen for the overall industry but by a smaller percentage.

Percentage change in median total compensation:

As far as median total compensation, CEOs at all insurers experienced the smallest increase at just 1.58 percent, while COOs experienced the greatest increase with a nearly 7 percent increase. CFOs gained a nearly 4 percent increase in median total compensation.

When examining the change in just the P&C category, C-suite execs experienced slight positive to small negative changes to their median total compensation packages.

Some of the components that make up executive compensation packages include base salary, cash bonus and equity awards.

There were slight declines in most components that made up P&C executive compensation packages, with the exception of equity awards, which increased 5.63 percent.

Not surprisingly, executive base salaries were lower at smaller insurers.

Median executive salaries ranged between $300,000 and $1.141 million in the P&C sector.

Top 5 Most Highly Compensated Executives (according to base salary and total compensation):

1. Gregory Edward Abel, Vice Chairman-Non Insurance Operations, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., $16,000,000
2. Ajit Jain, Vice Chairman-Insurance Operations, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., $16,000,000
3. Marc David Hamburg, Senior Vice President & CFO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., $3,567,300
4. Scott Robert Lundquist, EVP & CFO, CNA Financial Corp., $2,737,180
5. Dominic F. Silvester, CEO, Director & Co-Founder, Enstar Group Ltd., $2,500,000

Top 5 Most Highly Compensated CEOs (according to base salary and total compensation):

1. Dominic F. Silvester, CEO, Director & Co-Founder, Enstar Group Ltd., $2,500,000
2. Mark E. Jones, CEO and Chairman, Goosehead Insurance Inc., $1,900,000
3. Gail Kozlara Bourdreaux, President, CEO and Director, Elevance Health, $1,600,000
4. Peter Salvatore Zaffino, Chairman and CEO, AIG, $1,571,923
5. Daniel S. Glaser, President, CEO and Director, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., $1,500,000

Top 5 Most Highly Compensated CFOs (according to base salary and total compensation):

1. Marc David Hamburg, Senior Vice President & CFO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., $3,567,300
2. Scott Robert Lindquist, EVP & Chief Financial Officer, CNA Financial Corp., $2,737,180
3. Christa Davies, Executive Vice President and CFO, Aon plc, $1,250,000
4. John F. Rex, Executive Vice President and CFO, United Health Group Inc., $1,200,000
5. Orla M. Gregory, CFO & Director, Enstar Group Ltd., $1,200,000

Top 5 Most Highly Compensated COOs (according to base salary and total compensation):

1. Dirk C. McMahon, President & COO, UnitedHealth Group Inc., $1,200,000
2. John Quinlan Doyle, Group President, COO & Vice Chair, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., $1,200,000
3. Jeffrey Joy Hurd, COO, Equitable Holdings Inc., $898,765
4. James Allan Williamson, EVP, COO & Head of Reinsurance, Everest Group Ltd., $801,923
5. James Elmer Murray, EVP, COO, Centene Corp., $723,887