'In US, Women Out-Earn Men in Finance.

10 Highest-Paid Female CFOs\n\nRuth Porat

, now at Google, topped the list of highest paid female CFOs with her $14.4 mill
ion pay package from Morgan Stanley\n\nWomen may be badly outnumbered in the top
ranks of corporate America, but at least they aren\'t underpaid.\n\n\n\nCompens
ation for female chief financial officers at S&P 500 companies last year outpace
d that of their male counterparts, according to an analysis by executive compens
ation firm Equilar and the Associated Press. It follows a similar trend seen wit
h female CEOs in recent years.\n\n\n\nThe median pay for female CFOs last year r
ose nearly 11 per cent to $3.32 million. Male CFO pay rose 7 per cent, to $3.3 m
illion. This follows several years of steady gains for both sexes.\n\n\n\nThe ga
ins, for both men and women, are in part a result of the expansion of the CFO ro
le to include far more responsibility and visibility.\n\n\n\n"The CFO is no long
er a bean counter," said Josh Crist, managing director at executive search firm
Crist Kolder Associates.\n\n\n\nCompanies and shareholders became more focused o
n financial security and regulation after the financial crisis, and corporate fi
nance began to play a bigger role in company strategy, according to Gregg Passin
, a compensation expert at consulting firm Mercer.\n\n\n\nRuth Porat, became one
of the most powerful women on Wall Street while helping steer Morgan Stanley, o
ne of the nation\'s biggest investment banks, through the aftermath of the finan
cial crisis. She topped the list of highest paid female CFOs with her $14.4 mill
ion pay package from Morgan Stanley for the 2014 fiscal year.\n\n\n\nGoogle has
since lured her away and will pay her more than $70 million for her first year a
s CFO there. Investors have warmly welcomed her arrival at Google, where she is
expected to bring some financial discipline to what some consider their free-spe
nding ways.\n\n\n\nThe increased responsibility and visibility has helped some w
omen CFOs rise even further, to CEO. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo and Lynn Good,
CEO of Duke Energy are both former CFOs.\n\n\n\n"It\'s a unique position that ha
s the ability to contribute to day-to-day operations but also on long-term strat
egic planning," Good said. She called the CFO position "a critical training grou
nd" for aspiring CEOs.\n\n\n\nThe other top-paid female CFOs, after Porat, inclu
de Marianne Lake of JPMorgan Chase, whose compensation package is valued at $9.1
million, Catherine Lesjak of Hewlett-Packard at $8 million, Sharon McCollam at
Best Buy at $7 million and Robin Washington of Gilead Sciences at $6.2 million.
This ranking reflects only the companies where the CFOs who have served two cons
ecutive years in their particular position.\n\n\n\nTo calculate pay, Equilar add
s salary, bonus, perks, stock awards, stock option awards and other pay componen
ts. To determine what stock and option awards are worth, Equilar uses the value
of an award on the day it is granted, as shown in a company\'s proxy statement.\
n\n\n\nThe high median pay for female CFOs is partly a result of sample size - t
here were only 60 female CFOs at the S&P 500 companies that qualified for inclus
ion in the study during the last fiscal year, compared with 437 men, according t
o Equilar.\n\n\n\nIt is also a factor in female CEO pay. Median CEO pay for wome
n was $15.9 million last year, according to an analysis done earlier this year b
y Equilar and the Associated Press, compared with $10.4 million for male CEOs. T
here were just 17 female CEOs, however.\n\n\n\nThe small group of women in these
important roles tended to be focused at the largest companies, where pay is hig
her. Crist said that he expects more women to take on CFO duties in years ahead
but the pay range will broaden as more women join smaller companies.\n\n\n\nHe n
otes that women have historically been underrepresented in finance overall. That
is changing, and helping fuel this shift at the top. Younger women are getting
better opportunities at entry levels and these lead to better opportunities down
the line.\n\n\n\nA Crist Kolder study found that the percentage of female CEOs
and CFOs has hit an all-time in 2015. Of the 672 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 compani
es evaluated, nearly 5 percent had female CEOs and 13 percent had female CFOs.\n
\n\n\n"It\'s a heck of a trend," he said. "It has been predominantly white male
centric forever."\n\n\n\nHere are the top 10 highest-paid female chief financial
officers at S&P 500 companies for the 2014 fiscal year, according to an analysi
s by Equilar and the Associated Press.\n\n\n\n1. Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley (now
at Google), $14.4 million\n\n\n\n2. Marianne Lake, JPMorgan Chase, $9.1 million
\n\n\n\n3. Catherine A. Lesjak, Hewlett-Packard, $8 million\n\n\n\n4. Sharon McC

ollam, Best Buy, $7 million\n\n\n\n5. Robin Washington, Gilead Sciences, $6.2 mi

llion\n\n\n\n6. Christa Davies, Aon, $6.1 million\n\n\n\n7. Carol Tome, Home Dep
ot, $6 million\n\n\n\n8. Patricia Yarrington, Chevron, $5.8 million\n\n\n\n9. Ka
thleen Quirk, Freeport-McMoRan, $5.2 million\n\n\n\n10. Robyn Denholm, Juniper N
etworks, $5 million'