The Triangle's highest-paid CEOs in 2024
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Compensation for chief executive officers across the country set another record last year. Once again, Ari Bousbib, the head of the Durham-based clinical research firm IQVIA, was the region's highest-paid CEO.
Why it matters: Though some leaders saw their total pay decline from 2023, CEOs in the Triangle are generously compensated — and their pay is usually tied to the performance of their companies.
The big picture: Of the 26 publicly traded Triangle companies surveyed by Axios, 14 of their CEOs received pay increases from 2023 to 2024, and eight saw decreases, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
- Four of them were new to the job last year.
State of play: The average total compensation for CEOs in the Triangle came in at $8.2 million, up slightly from the year prior.
- Most of that compensation, however, comes in the form of stock grants, which are tied to the company's stock market performance.
- Those grants can push CEO pay well beyond the median wages at their own companies. Shane O'Kelly, head of the Raleigh-based car parts deal Advance Auto Parts, was paid 423 times the median wage of $24,377 at the company.
- It's also mostly paper earnings. Gregg Lowe, the CEO of the beleaguered chip maker Wolfspeed, had a total compensation package of $11.4 million in 2024. But the company's bankruptcy likely shrank much of that earning potential.
Zoom in: IQVIA's Bousbib had a total pay package of $26.7 million, down 8.3% from his compensation levels in 2023.
- Danny Rice, who took Durham-based energy tech company Net Power public in 2023, was the second-highest-paid CEO, with a compensation package worth $21 million.
Between the lines: The list does not capture the full spectrum of chief executive officer pay in the region, as it only tracks publicly traded firms that have to reveal such information.
- Many of the region's highest compensated CEOs lead private companies, like Jim Goodnight at SAS Institute and Tim Sweeney at Epic Games, who are the two richest men in the state.
Reality check: The Triangle is home to one of the largest shares of remote workers in the country, and many of the CEOs of the area's headquartered companies do not work from here.
- Of the 10 highest-paid CEOs, several are not based here, including Bousbib, who was part of Connecticut-based IMS Health when it combined with Quintiles to form IQVIA; Rice, who is based in Dallas; and Ed Meyercord, of Extreme Networks, who is based in San Jose.