The 15 finance CEOs whose CEO pay ratio is the lowest

The masters of the universe at banking and finance companies are famous (or infamous) for their bulging compensation packages. But not every company in the sector boasts an exorbitantly remunerated executives: Some make only a small multiple more than their average employee.

As part of Fast Company’s CEO Fair Pay report, we’ve broken out the 15 CEOs of finance companies (as determined by SIC code) who make the closest in salary to their median employee. This list has a few of the CEOs who were featured on the 15 most fairly paid CEOs on the Russell 3000, though most make enough more than their median employee that they did not feature there.

Most notable is Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet, whose small salary at an incredibly valuable company is a frequent talking point in discussions about CEO pay. But while Buffet is on this list for his small annual salary, his place also illustrates the complication of assessing CEOs by just their last-year’s salary: Buffet is one of the world’s richest men due to his stock holdings.

Whether a CEO’s compensation is equitable or not is really a matter of perspective. Here, though, is a look at the most equitable, based on raw 2022 salary data for them and their median employee.

1: American Coastal Insurance (UIHC)
CEO: Daniel Peed
2022 Compensation: $161,900
Median employee salary: $95,972
Pay ratio: 2:1

Peed’s compensation at the insurance company that specializes in condominium and homeowner association coverage in Florida was less than twice that of the average employee. But that might have been tied to corporate events more than anything else: American Coastal United Insurance Holdings rebranded itself as American Coastal in August after it was deemed insolvent.

2: Apollo Global (APO)
CEO: Marc Rowan
2022 Compensation: $310,011
Median employee salary: $170,035
Pay ratio: 2:1

Rowan took home less than twice the median employee compensation at Apollo Global, but the private equity billionaire is hardly struggling. He owns 6.1% of the company’s common shares and has invested in a number of restaurants in the Hamptons and Montauk. He made headlines in October, 2022, when he demanded the president and chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania step down for failing to condemn some of the speakers at a Palestinian literature event following the Hamas attacks in Israel.

3: BrightSphere Investment Group (BSIG)
CEO: Suren Rana
2022 Compensation: $700,000
Median employee salary: $243,450
Pay ratio: 3:1

Rana oversees over $100 billion in assets at Brightsphere, but his 2022 compensation was well under $1 million, coming in at about three times that of the median salary of Brightsphere employees. Prior to taking over the company in 2020, Rara served as chief financial officer. The stock price has nearly quadrupled since he assumed the CEO role.

4: Federal National Mortgage Association Fannie Mae (FNMA)
CEO: Priscilla Almodovar
2022 Compensation: $600,000
Median employee salary: $156,405
Pay ratio: 4:1

Almodovar was named CEO of this leading source of mortgage financing late in 2022. She’s the first woman and first Latina to hold the company’s top post. She kicked off the role earning about four times as much as the median employee. It’s noteworthy that because she joined so late in the year, the company’s 2022 executive compensation program did not apply to Almodovar.

5: Federal HomeE Loan Mortgage Corp (FNMA)
CEO: Michael DeVito
2022 Compensation: $631,385
Median employee salary: $161,130
Pay ratio: 4:1

This could be DeVito’s last appearance on this list. He announced plans to retire as CEO of Freddie Mac in September (with his last day set for some time in the first quarter of 2024). DeVito, wo makes roughly four times that of the average worker, has been running the company, which buys mortgage loans from lenders to keep mortgage capital flowing, since 2021. His departure comes at a critical juncture for the housing market.

6: Robinhood (HOOD)
CEO: Vladimir Tenev
2022 Compensation: $1,297,529
Median employee salary: $270,817
Pay ratio: 5:1

Tenev was a driving force behind the retail investor movement that led to the meme stock madness of the past few years. He draws an incredibly small base salary (of just $34,248) from the Silicon Valley company, but was also given $1.2 million worth of protection services, including a personal security detail.

7: Hamilton Lane (HLNE)
CEO: Mario Giannini
2022 Compensation: $658,386
Median employee salary: $125,460
Pay ratio: 5:1

Giannini makes five times the median average salary of Hamilton Lane employees, but earlier this year he transitioned to an executive co-chairman role, with two new leaders splitting the CEO duties at the Pennsylvania-based investment firm. Giannini has been with the company, which oversees more than $35.5 billion in assets, since 1993.

8: Texas Republic Capital Corp (NA)
CEO: Timothy Miller
2022 Compensation: $372,000
Median employee salary: $66,500
Pay ratio: 6:1

This insurance holding company flies under the radar, and CEO Miller takes home a small salary. He earns about six times as much as the median employee, despite being CEO and president since 2012. He also owns 12.7% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

9: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)
CEO: Warren Buffett
2022 Compensation: $401,589
Median employee salary: $62,691
Pay ratio: 6:1

The world’s ninth richest man doesn’t need an exorbitant salary and Buffett earns a relatively modest $401,000 per year for running Berkshire Hathaway, more than enough for him to buy his See’s Candy and McDonald’s breakfasts. Of course, he also owns a huge portion of the company’s stock, which trades for more than $500,000 per share.  

10: Live Oak Bancshares (LOB)
CEO: James Mahan III
2022 Compensation: $781,195
Median employee salary: $115,561
Pay ratio: 7:1

Better known as “Chip,’ Mahan was the founder of Security First Network Bank, one of the world’s first internet banks, before taking over at Live Oak. Beyond his work there, where he earned compensation approximately seven times that of the median employee, he’s a member of several boards in the fintech and financial services industries.

11: Oscar Health (OSCR)
CEO: Mario Schlosser
2022 Compensation: $652,405
Median employee salary: $87,270
Pay ratio: 7:1

Schlosser stepped down as CEO of this New York-based insurance company in April, forfeiting over 4.2 million shares of performance-based restricted stock, which had been offered as an incentive to stay with the company and improve its floudering performance stock. Schlosser hasn’t left Oscar completely: The co-founder now serves as president of technology.

12: QNB Corp (QNBC)
CEO: David Freeman
2022 Compensation: $662,791
Median employee salary: $51,565
Pay ratio: 8:1

Freeman’s compensation at the Quakerstown, Pennsylvania bank was eight times that of the average worker at the bank, almost all of which was in his salary, rather than stock awards. The longtime CEO has been with QNB since 2010.

13: CSB Bancorp (CSBB)
CEO: Eddie Steiner
2022 Compensation: $402,866
Median employee salary: $48,063
Pay ratio: 8:1

Steiner has been CEO of this Ohio-based bank since 2006. He also serves as president and is the chairman of The Commercial & Savings Bank, CSB’s wholly-owned subsidiary. He previously served on the Banking Commission of the State of Ohio from 2013 to 2018. His compensation last year was eight times that of the median employee.

14: Community Bank Sytem (CBU)
CEO: Mark Tryniski
2022 Compensation: $349,619
Median employee salary: $38,350
Pay ratio: 9:1

The long-time leader of New York-based Community Bank System plans to call it quits at the end of the year. Tryniski announced his retirement in July, after joining the bank in 2003 as chief financial officer. His 2022 compensation was nine times higher than the median employee, but under his watch, the company’s assets have grown from $4.2 billion to $15.2 billion.

15: Lendingtree (TREE)
CEO: Douglas Lebda
2022 Compensation: $986,490
Median employee salary: $108,034
Pay ratio: 9:1

Lebda’s not just CEO, but is also the founder and chairman of this online loan marketplace. His compensation last year was nine times that of the average worker. That’s down considerably from 2017, though, when he made 549 times the median compensation, a 3,157% increase from the previous year, due to option awards. Earlier this year, Lebda sold off some of that stock, pocketing about $7.3 million.