How is this even justified given the stock performance?
Health Payer Specialist
Centene’s 2023 Pay Boost For C-Suite Averaged 30%
CEO Sarah London saw her compensation rise 40% last year.
By Ron Shinkman|April 1, 2024
All members of the Centene C-suite saw healthy pay raises in 2023, with the overall boosts averaging 30%, according to the company's newest proxy report.
The increases come as Centene reported robust financial performance in 2023, reporting net income of $2.7 billion on revenue of $154 billion. That compares to 2022 net income of $1.2 billion on revenue of $144.5 billion.
Centene CEO Sarah London
Chief Executive Officer Sarah London saw her overall compensation rise to $18.6 million in 2023, up from $13.2 million in 2022, an increase of 40%. Much of that came from London's bump in her stock award, which jumped 78% to $13.6 million, up from $7.6 million in 2022. Otherwise, London's compensation remained relatively flat. Her base salary rose a little over $40,000 to $1.4 million, while incentive plan compensation dropped more than $743,000 to $3.3 million. London's additional compensation rose nearly $65,000 to more than $285,000. Of that, nearly $148,000 was attributed to her personal use of Centene's corporate aircraft.
London's actual paid compensation – which excludes the estimated fair value of stock options and awards of restricted stock units – was just under $14 million last year, compared with $12.6 million in 2023. Her 2023 pay was 234 times that of the $79,507 median compensation of a Centene employee.
Centene President Kenneth Fasola was the company's second-highest paid executive last year, with compensation totaling $10.6 million, up from just under $10 million in 2022, an increase of 6.3%. A good part of that boost came from a $1 million bonus he received for being appointed president at the start of 2023. His incentive plan compensation rose to $2.5 million from $1.75 million in 2022, while his base salary rose from just under $998,000 to $1.1 million. His additional compensation was nearly $118,000, of which just over $48,000 was for personal use of a corporate jet. Otherwise, his stock award dropped to just under $6 million from $7.2 million in 2022.
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Asher was just behind Fasola in terms of compensation. He earned $9.9 million in 2023, up 1.8% from 2022. Asher's stock award rose to $6.54 million from $6 million, while his base salary increased slightly less than $18,000 to $1.025 million. His incentive plan payment dropped to $2.3 million from $2.7 million, while his additional compensation dropped to slightly more than $27,000 from about $44,000 in 2022, the second-smallest payout in that area for the entire C-suite. Asher received payments on his life and liability insurance premiums and a $9,900 matching payment to his 401(k).
Executive Vice President James Murray received total 2023 compensation of $6.29 million, up from $6.27 million in 2022, an increase of just 0.25%, the smallest bump in Centene's C-suite. Much of that was tied to his additional compensation, which rose to nearly $117,000 from less than $30,000 in 2022. The bulk of that – nearly $77,000 – was tied to his personal use of corporate aircraft. Murray's base salary also rose to $750,000 from about $724,000. His stock award remained flat at $4.2 million – a drop of $54,000. His incentive plan pay of $1.22 million also dipped by about $43,000.
David Thomas, who heads Centene's key Medicaid division, received compensation totaling just under $6.2 million last year, up from $4.63 million in 2022, up 33.8%. Much of that may be credited to his $3.3 million stock award, up from $1.5 million the prior year. Otherwise, his incentive plan compensation dropped to $1.87 million from $2.1 million, while his additional compensation dropped to less than $25,000 from more than $55,000. Thomas' base salary remained unchanged at $965,000.
General Counsel and Secretary Christopher Koster experienced the biggest percentage-wise pay jump. His total compensation reached $4.84 million, up from $2.4 million, an increase of 100%. Virtually all of that is attributable to a $2.6 million stock award. He did not receive any stock award in 2022. His additional compensation approached $79,000 last year, up from just under $48,000 the prior year. The large majority of that is tied to a deferred compensation match of nearly $55,000. Koster's base salary reached $750,000, up from about $747,000 in 2022. However, his incentive plan compensation dropped to $1.42 million in 2023 from $1.63 million the prior year.
12 replies (most recent on top)
Feeling warm and fuzzy here….oh, that’s the vodka.
Today I learned that my salary is below the median Centene employees salary. Cool.
My net paycheck increased by $4 for 80hrs. I no longer qualify for a bonus. Tax deductions increased as well. My work load has doubled and I'm exhausted trying to keep up. I'm looking for a new job at a different company.
Literally I no longer give a fu-k LOL. I am not shocked at all. Of course the big top dogs get over 20%, 30%, even 40% increase in raises and bonuses.. they took away most of our incentives, took away the wifi stipend for most states, told multiple employees that they reached their max in their salary. Told most of the employees that bonuses were low due to lack of revenue but yet…. CSUITE gets huge amounts of money lol.
I got a 3% raise….. specifically 66 cents. When asked why? I was told that the company had to cut costs in every possible way…..
I can see now why they had to cut costs lol. I officially put in my resignation snd closing this chapter of my “career.” This is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of working for. Remote or not, the morality of this company is fu--ing disgusting, the way they have been allowed to function in all forms should be investigated because there is a lot of shady things occurring that I KNOW with a thorough investigation would uncover major corruption and fraud.
On the bright side, Look at it as compensation for being the names that will be on the criminal incitements in court for this fraud they call Health insurance they are committing against American citizens.
This organization is absolutely repulsive. It's almost amusing to hear Sarah London pretend to care about the members; in reality, her only concern is filling her own pockets. What's intriguing about these opportunists is that they haven't contributed to Centene's growth from a $200 million company to a multibillion-dollar entity, nor do they boast extensive careers in healthcare. They're merely adept at changing their tune, with no regard for what's truly beneficial for stakeholders or, more importantly, shareholders. It's bewildering, the state of affairs in our world today
Ahhh, let the goods times roll C-suite, soon enough it will all crash and burn. Then you can sit back and remember the good ole days.
https://www.healthpayerspecialist.com/c/4466374/581964/
The place is a house of cards, huge money grab at the top supported by a bunch of lies of this modern time scammers, more outrage than the employees should be the investors, Centene is falling apart and the future is bleak, but the robbers get more money, unbelievable
Looks like they took a 40% cut of the savings in every person they fired, crazy things is that Centene has become the worse place to work, to invest and slowly but surely having the less promising business outlook, still the " leader s" which are below average get highly rewarded.
Meh. I really don’t care. What they earn is on par for their responsibility. Not sure why anyone would waste their time complaining about something they can’t change.
I left this company because of the horrible way they treat there “bottom tier” employees . So glad I left, best move I ever made! Centene is the worst company I had ever worked for. Period!