Debra Cafaro, chairman and CEO of Ventas, and Karen Lynch, president and CEO of long-term care pharmacy Omnicare parent CVS Health, are among American’s top paid female executives, according to an Equilar / Associated Press study of CEO compensation at S&P 500 companies.
Cafaro’s total compensation package last year was approximately $13.5 million, putting her in the top half of real estate executives on the list. Lynch’s was approximately $21.6 million, according to the study.
Overall, 46 healthcare executives and 28 real estate executives were on the list, with median compensation of $17.3 million and $12.8 million, respectively. The list included other industries as well.
Year-over-year CEO pay increases for women outpaced the overall increases among the S&P 500, according to the study, although just 25 of the 341 chief executives studied were women. Overall, those women earned a median pay package of $17.6 million in 2023, 7.7% more than the index median.
The 2024 edition of the annual survey identifies trends in compensation awards for CEOs who served in that role at an S&P 500 company for at least two years as of fiscal year-end 2023.
In 2023, Virginia rose to the top as the state with the largest S&P 500 CEO compensation packages, surpassing Indiana. CEOs in Virginia received a median compensation package of $21.9 million. Michigan ranked second with $19.6 million and New York followed with $19.5 million.
