CEO Pay Watch: UnitedHealth's Stephen Hemsley made $20.1 million in 2015

April 23, 2016 at 1:25AM
Stephen Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, will leave the CEO post on Sept. 1 and become executive chairman of the board.
Stephen Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group (Evan Ramstad — Bloomberg/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
STEPHEN HEMSLEY | UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Chief Executive Officer

Total compensation: $20,093,213 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015

Salary: $1,350,000

Non-equity incentive pay: $3,672,000

Other compensation: $145,679

Exercised stock options: $0

Value realized on vesting shares: $14,925,534

New stock options: 103,678

Total 2015 shareholder return: 18.3 percent

Note: Long-term equity awards make up the biggest portion of Hemsley's compensation at Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth, and his total realized pay each year depends on how many stock options he exercises. Hemsley usually keeps options to near their 10-year expiration, and after he exercises the options generally holds the shares. But in 2015 he didn't exercise any options, and as a result his total realized pay for 2015 was down 70 percent, or $46 million, from the year before. It was the first time since 2007 that he didn't exercise any options. In 2014 he realized $60.8 million from his long-held stock options.

Hemsley gets an annual salary of $1.3 million, which hasn't changed since 2006.

Hemsley's annual cash bonus of $3.7 million was down 7 percent compared with 2014. UnitedHealth exceeded its annual incentive targets, which include financial and stewardship goals, but not by as much as in 2014. Hemsley earned $2.75 million for financial and stewardship goals tied to 2015 performance and an additional $922,000 for exceeding corporate earnings and capital targets for the 2013 to 2015 fiscal years.

The $15 million Hemsley earned from stock awards that vested during the year were from a mix of restricted stock units and performance-based share awards that covered the 2013-2015 period. But Hemsley realized slightly less from these long-term equity awards than he realized in 2014.

Patrick Kennedy

about the writer

about the writer

Patrick Kennedy

Reporter

Business reporter Patrick Kennedy covers executive compensation and public companies. He has reported on the Minnesota business community for more than 25 years.

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