Preston tops 2021 P&C executive pay rankings in Metromile's final full year

Former Metromile Inc. chief Dan Preston benefited from a massive stocks package to finish as the highest-paid CEO among U.S.-listed property and casualty or multiline insurers in 2021, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

Preston, who is now Lemonade Inc.'s senior vice president for strategic initiatives after it completed its acquisition of Metromile, received $40.7 million in shares in 2021, which made up the majority of his $43.6 million in total adjusted compensation for the year. The rest of the total consisted of cash compensation of $500,000 and $2.5 million in options.

Chubb's Greenberg sees comp rise, tops pay ratio list

Chubb Ltd. CEO Evan Greenberg was second in total compensation at $23.2 million, a 14% increase from 2020. His compensation, which consisted of $10.1 million in cash, $10.1 million in stocks and $3.0 million in options, is equal to approximately 322x the median Chubb employee salary, the highest ratio among the top 10 insurers in this analysis.

Despite his overall compensation falling 9.0% year over year, American International Group Inc.'s Peter Zaffino was third on the total pay list with $21.9 million in compensation. His pay consisted of $1.7 million of cash, $9.4 million of stocks, $2.9 million of options and $8.0 million from a nonequity incentive plan. Zaffino's pay is approximately 305x the median employee salary at AIG.

Refreshing stocks packages for Lemonade co-CEOs

Lemonade co-CEOs Shai Wininger and Daniel Schreiber were in fourth and fifth place with $21.5 million each in compensation, $21 million of which consisted of options granted and $500,000 came from cash compensation. Schreiber and Wininger were Lemonade's CEO and COO, respectively, from June 2015 until July 21, 2021, when they became co-CEOs.

In sixth place was The Travelers Cos. Inc.'s Alan Schnitzer, who earned $19.4 million in total adjusted compensation in 2021, a 6% increase over his pay in 2020. Schnitzer's compensation, which is about 181x the median employee salary at Travelers, is comprised of $1.4 million in cash, $6.9 million worth of shares, $4.6 million in options and $6.5 million from a nonequity incentive plan.

One-time stock grant lifts Palomar exec

David Armstrong of Palomar Holdings Inc. was seventh with total adjusted compensation of $19.2 million, up from $1.1 million in 2020. The massive increase, according to a proxy statement, was due to Armstrong receiving an executive retention stock grant which accounted for approximately $16.1 million, or 83% of his total compensation. Palomar in the filing said that was a "unique event and is not intended to recur annually."

* Download a template to analyze professional details and compensation of analyzed executives, * Read about the workers' compensation rate changes in Q2.

The remainder of Armstrong's compensation package includes $900,000 in cash, $500,000 in stock options and $800,000 from a nonequity incentive plan.

The final spots in the top 10 included The Allstate Corp.'s Tom Wilson, who received $18.4 million in 2021, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.'s Christopher Swift, whose $15.8 million in total adjusted compensation represented a 34.3% increase from 2020 and Assured Guaranty Ltd.'s Domenic Frederico, whose compensation rose 33.6% to $14.5 million.