FTSE 100 CEOs’ backgrounds, career paths and pay in numbers

Who’s in charge of the nation’s largest plcs? While this seems like a simple question, it can be surprisingly hard to find all the answers.

To create the CEO Index, Raconteur compiled dozens of data points on 97 FTSE 100 CEOs in April 2023 (excluding the leaders of three investment trusts with unusual corporate structures), drawing on publicly available sources such as corporate statements, government records and media reports.

Explore some of what we discovered below. The data is correct as of the start of this financial year, 6 April 2023.

Diversity

Following a string of government-led reviews into the diversity of FTSE leadership teams, the pressure on boards to find and nurture talent from a wider range of backgrounds has never been higher. But the data shows progress has been slow and uneven.

Out of the 97 FTSE 100 CEOs,

nine are women,

only 11 have come from a non-white European background,

not one has publicly come out as LGBT+,

or declared a disability.

How representative are these people of the UK today?

Each dot represents 1% of the population

women make up 51%,

18% are from an ethnic minority,

3.1% are LGB and 0.5% say their gender identity is different from their sex registered at birth.

Disabled people make up 21% of the population.

Is that an unfair comparison? We could look instead at another high-achieving group.

The nation’s 650 MPs have a similar age profile to top CEOs.

But 35% are women,

while just over 10% are people of colour.

Almost the same percentage have described themselves as LGBT+,

while 1% say they are disabled.

Career

It takes a special kind of person to lead an international corporation. FTSE 100 CEOs must have a laundry list of personal qualities – resilience, adaptability and decisiveness, to name but a few. Could that be why so many have similar career backgrounds?

Divisional director

CEO

COO

CFO

Board Member

Other C-Suite

Regional director

Other finance

Entrepreneur

The route to the top might have started at a young age: at least a quarter went to fee-paying schools, compared with 7% of British people

Later, 40% attended one of the world’s top universities,

including 12 who studied at Oxford or Cambridge universities.

Half of the FTSE 100 CEOs hold a postgraduate degree

and a quarter have an MBA

in total, 70% have a qualification in business, economics or finance.

Only two don’t have a bachelor’s degree: the CEOs of Burberry and Sainsbury’s.

Most FTSE 100 firms prefer loyal insiders as leaders: 70% were promoted from within the organisation

while 11 have worked at the same company all their careers.

The surest way to the top job? Managing a business line, division or subsidiary first,

while serving time as a CFO or COO is an equally valid apprenticeship.

Still, many don’t last long at the top:

20% of the current crop of CEOs were appointed during the last financial year.

Four more have already announced they will step down.

Money

The executive rewards reported by the UK’s biggest plcs generate hundreds of negative headlines each year. Energy companies and supermarket chains have been the latest firms to come under fire for paying their CEOs handsomely while their customers face huge price increases. Are such bumper compensation packages justified?

FTSE 100 CEOs by total remuneration

Financial year-end 2022 or most recent available

FTSE 100 CEOs by fixed and variable pay

Financial year-end 2022 or most recent available

Average FTSE 100 CEO pay by year

Source: High Pay Centre, 2022

Ratio of CEO to median worker’s pay

Financial year-end 2022 or most recent available

FTSE 100 CEO pay ratio versus Glassdoor rating

Financial year-end 2022 or most recent available, Glassdoor ratings correct as of 23 April 2023

Last year, FTSE 100 CEOs earned an average of £4.3m (excluding income besides their main job).

This was split between £1.2m in fixed pay, which includes salary, pension and other benefits,

and £3.1m of variable pay: bonuses and other incentives.

Healthcare bosses had the highest average pay: £7.6m.

That was boosted by Pascal Soirot of AstraZeneca. The pharma boss earned £15.3m, mostly because of a £13m bonus.

Finance companies were comparatively restrained, paying only £3.5m on average.

Companies based outside the UK – Mexican mining firm Fresnillo, for instance – tend to pay the least.

Average FTSE 100 CEO pay has fallen by about a fifth since its peak in 2017, but it is still far above what ordinary workers receive.

Listed firms must disclose the ratio between their CEO’s total pay and that of their median UK employee.

The average was 89:1 last year, but three CEOs were paid more than 200 times their median employee’s salary.

Bosses of consumer and retail companies had the highest pay ratio, at 113:1.

Real-estate companies had the lowest at 48.5:1.

But these gulfs don’t seem to have much impact on CEOs’ popularity with their staff.

There’s little correlation between how their staff rate them on Glassdoor and how much more they get paid.

While this is the state FTSE 100 leadership is in, things are changing at the top of UK plc. There are more female CEOs than ever before, while boards appear to be showing some restraint on executive pay. But are they moving fast enough? Read the analysis here: Is the face of FTSE 100 leadership changing?

CEO IndexDriven by Data

Meet the FTSE 100 CEOs

Diversity

Career

Money

Read more from this series

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter