The Highest-Paid CHROs in 2024

Top HR Leadership Comes at a Premium

July 18, 2025

Joyce Chen

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Today, corporate executives across several departments are navigating major shifts driven by digitalization through artificial intelligence and rising customer expectations. For chief human resources officers (CHROs), these changes require a different approach. While chief executive officers (CEOs) often represent the face and the foundation of an organization, CHROs are essential in cultivating and sustaining the internal organizational culture. In times of disruption or uncertainty, they must continue to uphold organizational values.

At the heart of their work, CHROs are champions for keeping the workplace human-centric. They work closely with other departments to foster employee engagement, strengthen corporate culture and improve overall productivity. While they oversee essential traditional HR functions, their role extends further by partnering with senior leadership to ensure HR initiatives support broader business goals.

In today’s business landscape, adaptability and resilience are critical, and CHROs are instrumental in building a capable, motivated workforce that sustains long-term success. They often prioritize environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals while managing the complex dynamics of a diverse, multi-generational workforce and the growing integration of artificial intelligence. Additionally, effective communication is key and HR leaders must unify teams across the organization and clearly articulate a vision for the future. With rapidly shifting workforce expectations and evolving talent needs, they must quickly adapt to change and align strategies accordingly.

As CHROs take on broader and more strategic roles, their compensation increasingly reflects the value they bring to the table. This study of the Equilar 500—the 500 largest U.S. public companies by revenue—presents the total compensation of the highest-paid CHROs in 2024, as disclosed in proxy filings through April 30, 2025.

Below is a table of the top 10 highest-paid CHROs, and a link follows to download a complete list of the top 50.

	EXECUTIVE NAME COMPANY NAME (TICKER)	TITLE	TOTAL COMPENSATION	SECTOR
1	Laura Fennell Intuit Inc. (INTU)	Executive Vice President and Chief People and Places Officer	$15,783,651	Technology
2	Kelly Tullier Visa Inc. (V)	Vice Chair, Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer and Corporate Secretary	$13,176,297	Financial Services
3	Jacqueline Canney ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW)	Chief People Officer	$10,853,144	Technology
4	Nikki Krishnamurthy Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER)	Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer	$9,828,733	Technology
5	Timothy Richmond AbbVie Inc. (ABBV)	Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer	$8,591,768	Healthcare
6	Neil Marchuk Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM)	Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer	$8,556,108	Industrials
7	Brandi Morandi Equinix, Inc. (EQIX)	Chief People Officer	$7,759,777	Real Estate
8	Sonia Coleman The Walt Disney Company (DIS)	Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer	$7,147,157	Communication Services
9	Lenore Williams Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS)	Corporate Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer	$7,074,797	Technology
10	Vijayanthimala Singh Electronic Arts Inc. (EA)	Chief People Officer	$6,966,719	Communication Services

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Laura Fennell, Executive Vice President and Chief People and Places Officer at Intuit Inc., is the highest-paid CHRO, earning a total compensation of $15.8 million in 2024. Visa’s Kelly Tullier is second on the list with a pay package of $13.2 million. Vijayanthimala Singh of Electronic Arts, Inc. rounds off the top 10 list with a total compensation of $7 million.

Among the top 50 CHROs, the median total compensation was $4.2 million in 2024. The median value of stock awards was roughly $2 million, the largest pay component in the study. The next largest pay component was cash bonus at $896,256, followed by base salary at $694,167.

In terms of pay splits by gender, women earned a median total compensation of $3.5 million in 2024, compared to $5.4 million for men. While the near $2 million pay disparity is notable, it is important to recognize that women comprised 74% of the executives on the list, with men representing just 26%. The figure of 74% female representation among top-paid CHROs comes as no surprise, as the trend closely mirrors the gender breakdown of the overall human resources function. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 76.8% of HR managers are women. In comparison, women make up 43.8% of the workforce across all occupations.

It is clear that there is a prominence of women among the highest-paid HR leaders in a field where female representation is strong. However, this trend also brings attention to persistent gender imbalance in other executive roles, where women remain significantly underrepresenting. Achieving true gender diversity requires expanding opportunities for women beyond human resources and into all areas of leadership, including the boardroom.

Compensation packages for CHROs continue to grow, a clear indicator of the increasing value placed on their contributions. The expertise CHROs offer their organizations is essential, particularly as it relates to talent management and strategy. As their role continues to expand in importance, it will be interesting to see how their compensation grows in reflection to this trend.

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