New NCEO Data on ESOP Trustee Practices

A new NCEO survey on ESOP governance practices shows that 13% of the responding companies have an independent institutional trustee, while another 4% have an independent individual trustee. That is down from 21% in 2005, although within the margin of sampling error. In addition, 11% of the companies have trustee committees with at least one outside independent member on them (we did not ask this question in 2005). The median compensation for independent trustees was $22,800. The board selected the trustee 71% of the time, senior management 18%, and an ESOP committee 11%.

The results are part of the new NCEO survey on corporate governance in ESOP companies (mentioned in the December 15 Employee Ownership Update), which looks at boards, trustee selection and practices, voting rights, and other issues. A summary of the results is available at no cost to NCEO members (companies who join can request the survey at no charge). In addition, we can do customized analysis of the data based on company demographic characteristics for $200. Contact Loren Rodgers at [email protected] for the free summary for members or for details on obtaining a customized analysis.