MADISON, Wis. – In terms of salary growth, 2001 proved to be a very good year for credit union executives. This year is slightly off from 2000, but not by much. According to the 2001 CUES Executive Compensation Survey, the base salary of credit union CEOs increased by about 8.05% in 2000; down from the 9.38% increase in the 2000 survey. Total CEO compensation increased by 9.66%, down from 11.03% in 2000. The median base salary across all asset sizes was $108,150 compared to $100,000 last year. For CUs with $600 million-plus in assets the median base salary was $240,000, up from $216,200 in 2000. (See charts on this page for compensation in other asset ranges). Despite salary and total compensation dropping, the stats on bonuses are up. Approximately 76.7% of credit union CEOs said they were eligible for bonuses this year, up from 73.9% last year. The bonuses average 12.1% of their base salary, up from 11.1% in 2000. One key finding of this year's CUES study was that larger CUs are focusing more on bonuses than smaller CUs. The average bonus across all asset categories was $17,526, up from $15,031. That drops dramatically to $4,247, or 6.2% of salary, for CUs with less than $30 million in assets and balloons to $49,896, or 19.9% of salary, for CUs with over $600 million in assets. So how are bonuses determined? The top three factors were earnings (48%), board evaluation (46%) and loan growth (25%). CUSOs are showing their effects on executive compensation. One clear trend identified is that CEOs of CUs with a CUSO are paid better than those CEOs whose CU does not have a CUSO. This does not mean the CEO has to do double duty between the CU and the CUSO, in fact most do not. Just the presence of a CUSO at a CU means higher compensation for the CU CEO. For CUs with over $400 million in assets with CUSOs, CEO salaries were 25% higher than similar-sized CUs without a CUSO. The oft-talked about flood of CEO retirements is backed up by the number of seasoned CEOs responding to the survey. Of the 911 respondents (up from 811 last year), 489 of them have been in the credit union industry for more than 20 years, and 119 have been in the CEO position for more than 20 years. Looking at other executive positions, Information Systems Executives are seeing the fastest salary growth, continuing a trend. IS executives saw their bases rise by 9.47% in 2001, outpacing any other executive. Interestingly, right behind IS executives were HR executives with salary increases of 8.91%. [email protected]