The Northwest Executive Compensation Survey provides information on compensation practices from over 250 Pacific Northwest companies for the top five executive positions:
- chief executive officer (CEO)
- chief operating officer (COO)
- chief financial officer (CFO)
- chief technology officer (CTO)
- top marketing/sales executive
The survey report includes data for the five highest paid positions within both privately held companies and publicly traded companies. For ease in comparison and analysis, data for each group are shown by size category, industry, and job title.
Data for all privately held companies and some publicly traded companies are collected by questionnaire. Data for some publicly traded companies are gathered from proxy statements and annual financial reports.
As in prior years, the Northwest Executive Compensation Survey includes the following data:
- base salary
- annual bonus
- total cash compensation
- pay adjustment trends
- long-term incentives
- retirement and capital accumulation
- benefits and perquisites
- equity ownership
About the statistical methods
- Both averages (means) and medians are used in this report as measures of central tendency. Medians can be a more accurate measure when a range of data contains extremes at the low or high end. A median is the point below which 50% of data observations fall.
- 25th percentile is the point below which 25% of data observations fall. 75th percentile is the point below which 75% of data observations fall. Thus, the range between the 25th and 75th percentile is the middle 50% of the data.
- Throughout this report, companies with or without bonus plans are included in the calculations for total cash. Therefore, the sum of averages/medians for base and bonus may not equal the total cash compensation shown.
- Nonprofit organizations have been included in the sample of privately held companies.
- Subsidiaries of domestic or international publicly traded organizations have been included in the sample of publicly traded companies.
