By many measures and on many lists CEO compensation for 2015 has generally been down. However the latest annual analysis of director pay shows compensation of corporate board members at Fortune 500 companies going up modestly in 2015.

Last Sunday the Star Tribune looked at the CEO compensation at 84 public companies in Minnesota. The collective compensation those CEOs decreased 19 percent in 2015.

Willis Towers Watson, a global management consulting agency, takes an annual look at compensation of board members at Fortune 500 companies. They examined compensation of outside directors at 250 of the Fortune 500 companies who filed their 2015 proxy statements prior to June 30 and then compared those results to those same companies in 2014.

Median total pay for outside directors, including cash and stock compensation, rose 3 percent in 2015. The typical nonemployee director at these companies now makes $263,500 annually in cash and stock payments, up from $254,750 in 2014.

Directors are generally paid in a mix of cash and stock compensation. Directors typically get paid a fixed amount in cash retainer, cash fees based-on meeting attendance and stock-based compensation.

The typical director pay mix is 57 percent in equity and 43 percent in cash. Find the full report here.

Outside directors at Minnesota's four largest public companies get these packages.

Directors at UnitedHealth, the state's largest company, receive at least $300,000, more if they chair various committees. They get a cash retainer of $125,000 and $175,000 in equity awards. Effective July 1, 2015 the annual deferred stock unit award was increased from $150,000 to $175,000.

Directors at Target Corp. get paid $260,000: $90,000 in cash and $170,000 in restricted stock units. Committee chairs get an additional $15,000 to $30,000. Target also covers the legal fees of officers and directors named as defendants in lawsuits related to the 2013 data breach. In fiscal 2015 Target paid approximately $2 million in legal defense costs.

Best Buy directors get an annual compensation of at least $260,000; an $80,000 cash retainer and equity awards of $180,000. Chairs of various committees get an additional $10,000 to $25,000. Next year they'll get a $5,000 increase in their cash retainer and a $5,000 increase in their equity award.

Directors at 3M Co. get a package worth $280,000: $120,000 in an annual cash retainer and $160,000 in stock awards. On January 1, 2015 directors there got a $10,000 increase in their annual stock awards. Committee chairs also get additional cash payments and outside directors at 3M Co. can participate in a program in which the 3M Foundation will match up to $5,000 in contributions board members might make in eligible institutions of higher education.