Cushman & Wakefield CEO John Forrester's pay rose about 4.8% to just under $8.6 million in his initial year leading the third-largest commercial real estate brokerage, a period marked by economic turmoil that reduced industrywide transactions and revenue.
Forrester’s total compensation last year got a boost from a 49% salary increase from 2021 to just under $939,000, according to the proxy statement the firm filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cushman has its headquarters in Chicago and lists London as the site of its principal executive offices.
The stock awards for Forrester, a 36-year Cushman veteran, increased to $5.6 million from $5 million in 2021, based partly on what the company called Forrester’s “outstanding leadership resulting in exceptional company performance in 2021," according to the proxy statement.
Even so, executive Chairman Brett White, who stepped down as Cushman’s CEO at the end of 2021, remained Cushman’s highest-paid executive last year. White received $10.6 million in stock awards and other compensation, the firm said.
White, who held dual roles as Cushman’s CEO and executive chairman from 2015 to 2021, did not receive a base salary, annual bonus and certain other payments last year after leaving the CEO role. That caused his total compensation to fall sharply from just under $20 million in 2021, his last year in the chief executive’s office.
Cushman and other large brokerages in February reported steep drops in capital markets income and deal activity in the final three months of 2022. Rising interest rates contributed to a lending crunch that has caused real estate sales and loan originations to fall sharply over the past six months.
Also this week, CBRE, the world's largest commercial real estate brokerage, disclosed in a proxy statement that CEO Bob Sulentic earned more than $25.9 million in total compensation last year as part of a pay package recognizing what the company called its "solid financial performance."
Other Cushman Executive Pay
The Cushman & Wakefield filing also showed that Chief Financial Officer Neil Johnston's total compensation declined to about $3.5 million last year from about $4.2 million the prior year, though Johnston received a salary increase to $600,000 from $496,154 in 2021.
Cushman Chief Operating Officer Michelle MacKay’s total compensation declined slightly to $4.92 million from $5.15 million, but she also received a base pay boost to $750,000 from $600,000 the prior year, according to the filing.
Cushman President Andrew McDonald received $4.6 million in total compensation, including a base salary of $700,000 and stock awards totaling just under $3 million in his first year in Cushman’s C-suite.
Forrester, who previously served as Cushman's global president, replaced White as CEO last year. He has maneuvered the firm through more turbulence as interest rates rose.
Cushman & Wakefield outlined its CEO succession plans in 2021, announcing that MacKay, who had served as chief operating officer since 2020, would add global president to her title. McDonald, who served as chief executive of the Americas, was elevated to the position of global president in January 2022.