Canadian CROs earn less than American counterparts

Average base salaries of American chief risk officers (CROs) outpace those of their Canadian counterparts by roughly $30,000, reports the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s Risk Management Compensation Survey.
The 2008 survey presents compensation data for 11 different positions; for the first time, it includes information on CROs.
The results reflect data submitted by individual risk management professionals working in more than 1,490 organizations in the United States and more than 171 organizations in Canada between May and June of 2008.
For Canadian respondents, approximately 45% reported working in organizations with more than US$1 billion in annual revenue. Twenty-seven per cent of Canadian respondents work for governmental employers, as opposed to 6.3% in the United States, the survey’s executive summary says.
In Canada, the highest-paid risk management position surveyed was that of a CRO/vice president of risk management, which paid an average base salary of Cdn$140,200 and total compensation of Cdn$179,025. In the United States, the highest paid position was also that of CRO/VP risk management, with an average base salary of US$170,683 and total compensation of US$220,233.
A director of insurance and risk management earned US$109,400 in Canada, compared to US$118,200 south of the border.
Managers of insurance earn an average base salary of US$86,200 in Canada and US$93,200 in the US.
The lowest paid position for which data was available was that of risk management analyst in Canada (average base salary of CDn$65,476) and claims analyst in the US (average base salary of US$51,852).