Compensation for chief info officers is rising by double digits as corporations search out leaders who can exploit tech’s rising enterprise prospects, a pattern that solely accelerated through the pandemic.
For this yr, common CIO salaries leapt 21% to $287,500 from final yr, in line with knowledge from staffing agency Mondo. Skilled CIOs at massive corporations, nevertheless, can count on to earn $350,000 in base wage, up from $300,000 final yr, the information reveals.
Mondo pulls and analyzes knowledge from 2,500 U.S. placements it makes yearly, after which pairs that knowledge with insights from expertise specialists within the area.
Mondo estimates that salaries for chief info safety officers rose on the similar price as these for CIOs—21%—between this yr and final. In contrast, it estimates that salaries for chief advertising and marketing officer roles elevated 15% in the identical interval.
Specialists attribute the wage hike to the more and more crucial position of the CIO inside enterprise. Because the onset of Covid-19, company tech leaders have needed to speed up initiatives across the cloud, automation and the provision chain, whereas smoothing the shift to distant and hybrid work.
“Extra corporations are realizing the worth of bringing expertise and deeper expertise into their corporations,” stated
Scott Spradley,
government vp and chief expertise and automation officer at
Tyson Meals Inc.
“And they also’re keen to pay extra as a result of they notice it impacts the underside line.”
Marianna Tessel,
government vp and chief expertise officer of
Intuit Inc.
since 2019, stated the pandemic accelerated the pattern. “Know-how was pushed extra into the highlight,” she stated.
Developments round cloud computing have additionally taken the CIO position out of the again workplace and “nearer to the character of the enterprise itself,” stated
Edward Stadolnik,
a companion and chief of the North America expertise and digital officer apply at Spencer Stuart.
Milind Wagle,
CIO of digital infrastructure firm
Equinix Inc.,
stated that CIOs at present are anticipated to be each tech and enterprise leaders. “There’s a convergence of enterprise and IT technique greater than ever earlier than,” he stated.
“Positively [these] roles have gotten extra strategic,” stated Ms. Tessel. That’s as a result of “expertise is turning into a part of all the pieces we do.”
Though Ms. Tessel’s base wage dropped to $700,000 in fiscal 2021 from $726,923 in fiscal 2020, her complete compensation elevated to $12,692,385 from $11,016,322, principally because of a rise in inventory awards, public filings with the Securities and Trade Fee present.
Public corporations are required to report the compensation of their highest-paid executives to the SEC. CIOs and different tech chiefs more and more are showing in these filings, stated
Dennis Baden,
world managing companion of the expertise officers apply at
Heidrick & Struggles.
Proxy filings from
Visa Inc.
present complete compensation for
Rajat Taneja,
president of expertise, was $17,131,764 in fiscal 2021, up from $14,322,301 the earlier yr and $11,810,570 in fiscal 2019. His base wage over the 2 years rose to $1,100,019 from $900,047.
“As one of many core pillars of our firm technique, the expertise group is a crucial blueprint for Visa’s long-term success,” Mr. Taneja stated.
Rajesh Kalathur,
president of John
Deere
Monetary and CIO of Deere & Co., acquired $6,307,975 in complete compensation in fiscal 2021, in line with SEC filings, barely beneath the $6,512,641 he earned in fiscal 2020, however up from the $5,437,459 he earned in fiscal 2019. His base wage rose to $818,855 in 2021 from $721,732 in 2019.
The corporate stated Mr. Kalathur was not out there for remark.
Disparities between provide and demand are additionally driving up CIO salaries, recruiters stated.
“Candidly, I’ve by no means seen a market just like the one we’re in proper now,” stated
Craig Stephenson,
Korn Ferry
senior consumer companion and managing director, North America CIO/CTO Apply, including that CIOs are being provided wage will increase of over 30% to leap from one firm to a different.
Tyson’s Mr. Spradley says the variety of recruiter calls has “gone up considerably.”
Prasad Ramakrishnan,
CIO at software program firm
Freshworks,
stated he will get two to 3 recruiter calls a month. “A few of them are so persistent,” he stated.
When
Tom Peck
left his publish as chief info and digital officer at Ingram Micro Inc. to take up the identical job at
Sysco Corp.
in January 2021, he clinched a base wage of $325,000, in line with SEC filings. His complete compensation final yr was $3,526,544 and included $39,306 in bills for relocation to Houston.
The corporate stated Mr. Peck was not out there for remark.
Mr. Stephenson stated the upper valuation corporations are placing on CIOs is trickling right down to tech expertise all through the group. Salaries for cybersecurity roles and chief info safety officers are rising at charges much like these for CIOs, he stated.
Based on
Emmeline Kuhn,
who co-leads the operations and IT apply at government search agency Leathwaite, “These roles are undoubtedly turning into extra valued.”
Write to Isabelle Bousquette at Isabelle.Bousquette@wsj.com
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