MADISON, Wis. – Total compensation for credit union CEOs is still rising at a healthy rate though the increase has declined slightly from recent years. According to the CUES Executive Compensation Survey 2002, total CEO compensation is up 8.1% this year. That's down from 9.7% in 2001 and 11% in 2000. Salaries are up 8.3%, a minor increase from 8.1% in 2001, but below the lofty 9.4% increase in 2000. The overall average for CEO total compensation is $140,452. The average total compensation for CEOs ranged from $49,060 for credit unions with assets less than $10 million to $292,199 for credit unions with assets greater than $600 million. The growth of CUSOs has sparked an emerging trend of CEO salaries being higher when there is an active financial services CUSO. For example, CEO total compensation is 20% higher for those credit unions with assets exceeding $400 million that operate a financial services CUSO and have a salaried CUSO executive. Bonus awards are still on the rise as the average bonus reported for CEOs in all asset categories is $18,463, up from $17,526 in 2001. With attracting and retaining good leadership a board priority, this year a majority of CEOs (76.6%) and other executives (74.7%) reported being eligible to receive bonus awards. CEO respondents reported receiving bonuses averaging 12.3% of their base salary. Larger credit unions continue to place a greater emphasis on bonus pay than smaller credit unions both in terms of absolute amount and percentage of base salary. The average bonus amount figured as a percent of base salary for credit unions with less than $30 million is 7% and 18.7% for credit unions with assets greater than $600 million. The top three factors in determining a CEO's bonus/incentive are earnings (50%), board evaluation (48%) and loan growth (26%). What part of the country a CEO works in also affects their pay. Credit union CEOs in the Northeast region saw the largest compensation increase of 11.81% among all asset sizes; followed by the West at 8.23%; North Central at 7.68%; and the South at 6.61%. Today's CEO is educated and has more experience with nine out of 10 responding CEOs involved in the financial services industry for more than 10 years; more than 20% of CEOs in their current position for over 15 years; and 11% for more than 20 years. Only 65 or 7% of credit unions reported hiring a new CEO within the past 12 months compared to 73 in 2001. In addition, the percentage of CEOs reporting a four-year degree or higher has jumped from 40.6% in 1991 to 74% in 2002. In general, non-CEO executive compensation increases for total compensation ranged from 6.8% to 9.5%. In this category, marketing executives report the greatest total percentage change average of 9.45%. The median salary for marketing executives is $55,448 with a bonus of $3,876 representing 6.63% of their base salary. [email protected]