Rosalind Brewer was the highest paid female CEO of 2021

Rosalind “Roz” Brewer, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, has been named as the highest-paid female chief executive, according to a study by Equilar. Roz was awarded US$28.3mn in compensation and US$20.2mn in stock awards.

The study also ranked Roz, who features in March8’s Top 100 Inspirational Women 2022, as the 14th highest-paid chief executive in 2021. 

Equilar studied 100 of the largest companies based on revenue that filed 2021 proxy statements by March 31, 2021. This data helped to determine how the private sector is improving for women entering companies at C-suite level.

The study saw improvement from previous years, as nine female CEOs were in the 2021 group, compared to six in 2020. However, zero women made it among the top 10 highest paid CEOs overall. Women were evaluated based on stock, salary and options award packages.

Although Roz sits in a highly influential position, she has openly expressed that some still question her rank. She says: “I’m not the person that will walk in a room and tell you my title, right? I’m just not that person.

“But when I’m in the room with like-minded people, I would just assume that you would think that I should be here at least at this point in my life. I refer often to a situation where I was at a meeting just for CEOs – private attendance, under 25 people, and I had one gentleman asked me constantly what did I do for a living, almost like ‘Why are you here?'” 

After Roz, Carol Tome, CEO of USP was ranked as the second highest-earning chief executive officer; Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics ranked third; Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture ranked fifth.