Mid-Cap Board Directors Make More in Tech than in Other Industries

There's an interesting survey out from BDO Seidman looking at board director compensation in mid-market public companies. According to these figures, which cover publicly-traded firms with under $1 billion in annual revenues, directors in high tech firms make more than their counterparts in energy, manufacturing, real estate, retail, and even financial services. Of course, you have to look at the fine print to see whether bigger "compensation" means bigger take-home checks.

The data came from public disclosures, so it's pretty complete. Here's a summary table, built from the information:

Director Compensation
Industry	Compensation	% Cash	% Full-Value Stock	% Stock Options
Technology	$142,370	30	33	37
Energy	$104,411	41	43	17
Real Estate	$94,455	44	48	8
Manufacturing	$75,980	49	39	12
Retail	$67,733	52	32	16
Financial Services	$40,575	68	25	7

As BDO Seidman points out, technology is unusual in how it provides director compensation. The total is the largest, but the cash portion is smallest, and the industry also makes by far the heaviest use of stock options. But even with the smallest cash portion, tech is near the top in terms of take-home:

Base Cash Compensation
Industry	Cash Payment
Technology	$42,711
Energy	$42,809
Real Estate	$41,506
Manufacturing	$37,230
Retail	$35,221
Financial Services	$27,591

So in the mid-cap tech companies, directors are close to the top of the heap just on a cash basis, and, if you look at potential upside, definitely number one in compensation. Given that much of the tech compensation is in stock options, it could be that the actual value of a director's position is even higher than it seems, given that the large block of stock options would be valued at strike price. If the company does well, then the director would eventually get the benefit of capital gains.

Erik Sherman

Erik Sherman is a widely published writer and editor who also does select ghosting and corporate work. The views expressed in this column belong to Sherman and do not represent the views of CBS Interactive. Follow him on Twitter at @ErikSherman or on Facebook.

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