A new report from The Conference Board: “How the C-Suite Is Evolving: NEO Titles and Compensation at US Public Companies” documents a significant increase from 2021 to 2025 in chief legal officers/general counsels (“CLOs”) among the Named Executive Officer (NEO) population in Russell 3000 companies—reflecting the largest absolute increase of any non-CFO NEO role over that period. The report attributes this rise to the growing integration of legal, regulatory, compliance, and enterprise risk considerations into core business strategy and executive leadership. CLO compensation also increased from 2024 to 2025, up 11.5% in the S&P 500 and 6.3% in the Russell 3000.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!