Running head: CEO COMPENSATION
An Educational View on CEO Compensation
Drake Dixon
California State University, Monterey Bay
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Abstract
This report was written to discuss the current economic issue, CEO compensation. The main
purpose of this paper is to educate the American citizens on what is currently happening with
executive salaries for companies listed on the Fortune 500’s list. The Aspen Institute was
founded on principals that educate leaders to better the communities they represent. After a brief
introduction on The Aspen Institute and it’s intention with this report, the current issue of CEO
compensation is discussed. This section explains what current CEO’s are currently making in
relation to their average worker. Following the current issue, the compensation structure of a
CEO is discussed. This section includes all aspects of the compensation package including base
pay, bonuses and stock/option payments. How compensation packages are constructed and who
votes to approve them is also discussed. Next the key information is discussed. This
information was taken from a poll done by Stanford Graduate Business Professors and proves
that more education is needed by citizens of America. Although the consensus is that Executive
Compensation is too high, citizens were dramatically mistaken on how much CEO’s made.
Finally, the Aspen Institute provides their reasoning behind why executive compensation should
stay as-is. Additionally, Aspen agrees with the SEC’s new policy and believes that education is
needed so the general public can better understand why executives are earning what they do.
CEO COMPENSATION
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Introduction
Since founded in 1950, the Aspen Institute is an organization which is driven by it’s values. Our
mission is “[to] foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue
for dealing with critical issues.” (https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-mission/ n.d.) Having a
complete understanding of the issues we face allows individuals to provide a more educated
solution on how to solve these issues. One such issue that has been around for decades is
whether or not the government should intervene in regards to Executive Compensation. Due to
our values, the Aspen Institute believes it is imperative that we discuss both sides of this issue to
give the public a better understanding. Throughout this report, our experts have researched this
