World Class Faculty & Research / September 1, 2009

Smith Business Close-Up: Setting CEO Pay – Executive Compensation

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, 4:30 a.m. 

Setting CEO Pay – Executive Compensation

   

In 1980, the average CEO’s compensation was about 42 times what the average worker was paid, and by 2007, CEOs received about 344 times the average worker salary. There’s a debate over whether this ballooning of executive compensation is a failure of corporate governance, evidence of abuse of power, or just a reflection of market forces -- that top CEOs must be paid top dollar, or they’ll take their (presumably irreplaceable) talents to other organizations. But how do companies arrive at these astronomical sums?

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Michael Faulkender, assistant professor of finance, shares his findings from research into executive compensation practices and how firms decide what to pay their CEOs. Faulkender’s research focuses on empirical corporate finance, primarily in the areas of capital structure, risk management, corporate, liquidity, and executive compensation. His research has received recognition and awards from top academic journals and he has been awarded a research grant from the FDIC Center for Financial Research, which was accompanied by an appointment to serve as a fellow of the center during the term of the grant. He is a member of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association, and the Society of Financial Studies. 

Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management, and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of the school’s community of business leaders.

Where to watch
Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Your Business and Money. The program airs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is repeated the following Sunday at 7:30 a.m. and Monday at 4:30 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:

 WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore 
 WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), DC metro/Annapolis 
 WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury 
 WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick 
 WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown 
 WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland

Media Contact

Greg Muraski
Media Relations Manager
301-405-5283  
301-892-0973 Mobile
gmuraski@umd.edu 

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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