Compensation Advisory Partners reported that just five of the largest 100 US public companies still provide board meeting fees (the majority of which are subject to stated meeting thresholds), reflecting an ongoing steady decline of a historically common practice.
Also noteworthy for this company group:
- At $335K, median director pay increased 3% year over year. The average pay mix was generally on par with recent years at 64% equity and 36% cash. As has been the case historically, equity limits are most commonly expressed in terms of dollar values rather than shares.
- The vast majority of companies compensate directors for board leadership roles. Median additional compensation for non-executive chairs was 1.61x standard director compensation and for lead directors was 1.15x standard director compensation.
- 95% of companies compensate for committee chair roles, with median additional compensation as follows: Audit Committee Chair: $30K (on par with 2024); Compensation Committee Chair: $25K (on par with 2024); and Nom/Gov Committee Chair: $25K (up from $20K last year).
- Committee member fees are less common, paid by 36% of companies for Audit Committee membership and about 25% for service on each of the Compensation Committee and Nom/Gov Committee. Median committee member compensation was $15K for the Audit and Compensation Committees and $12K for the Nom/Gov Committee.
- 91% of companies have stock ownership guidelines and nearly 40% disclosed holding requirements.
- More than three-quarters of companies disclosed shareholder-approved director compensation limits in their 2025 proxy statements, a majority of which apply to total director pay (both cash and equity-based compensation).
Most of the data is presented with reference to prior year data and/or historical trends.