More companies are appointing HR executives to named executive officer (NEO) roles, which generally refers to the five highest-paid executives at public firms.
The number of CHROs designated as named executive officers in public filings from Russell 3000 companies rose from 148 in 2021 to 230 in 2025, according to recent research from the Conference Board and ESGAUGE, in partnership with FW Cook and Ropes & Gray LLP. The prevalence of CHROs who were among the top-paid executives peaked in 2024, with 265 named as NEOs, the research found.
What’s more, CHROs and HR executives with other equivalent titles—like chief people officers—are seeing their pay grow more rapidly than other named executive officers. Median compensation for Russell 3000 CHROs grew by 14.7% between 2024 and 2025, compared to 8.1% for all NEOs. When looking at S&P 500 companies, CHRO pay grew by 30.4% in the same timeframe.
HR’s growing mandate. A number of trends over the past five years have “pushed C-suites and boards to really pay close attention to the workforce as a source of opportunity and also source of risk,” Andrew Jones, a principal researcher for The Conference Board’s Governance & Sustainability Center, said. In 2020 and 2021, companies were responding to pandemic disruption and a tight labor market. More recently, business leaders have been focused on issues like political scrutiny surrounding DEI and what AI transformation means for the workforce.
As a result, CHROs are “taking on larger mandates, moving beyond that traditional operational focus, to take on something more,” Jones said. The fact that CHROs are becoming more “strategically integrated” into their organizations reflects how “workforce and culture issues really are just top of mind,” he added.
Recent examples of CHRO roles evolving to reflect a broader mandate are tied to AI investments. ServiceNow’s Jacqui Canney now serves as chief people and AI enablement officer, while Ana White assumed the same title as the lead HR executive for Lumen Technologies this month. Moderna’s Tracey Franklin was appointed as chief people and digital technology officer in Nov. 2024, after serving as the pharmaceutical company’s CHRO for five years.
Proximity to corporate boards is another indicator of CHROs’ increasing influence. Tanya Moore, who serves as chief people officer of management and technology consulting firm West Monroe, said she’s observed this in her own work. Moore now attends all of the firm’s board meetings, given “people topics are so woven into everything else,” she said. “The inclusion of the CHRO, chief people officer, in the board discussions is really becoming critical.”
At the same time, some executive HR titles are going away, reflecting companies’ dwindling investments in other areas of the business. No companies in The Conference Board’s analysis included a chief diversity officer in their disclosures of highest-paid executives in 2024 or 2025.
A years-long trend. The Conference Board’s findings echo research shared by scholars from Stanford University in 2024. That data, which analyzed S&P 1500 disclosures, found that the share of HR executives named as NEOs rose from 0.5% in 1992 to 13% in 2022. The analysis also found that more companies were appointing CHROs or chief people officers to oversee the HR function, eclipsing less senior-sounding titles, like HR director.
This report was originally published by HR Brew.
