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Lincoln National Executive Compensation (FY25)

LNC · Executive and director compensation, fiscal 2022 to 2025
Chief executive, fiscal 2025
◇
Ellen Cooper
Latest say-on-pay support
=
May 28, 2026
Chief executive pay ratio
◇
To the median employee
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Data as of October 19, 2026Latest filing (8-K): June 1, 2026
14 filings cited on this page
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266 figures on this page: 257 cited to the filing that reported them, 9 calculated from figures it prints. See the citations

More on Lincoln National

Five data products on this company. Each one is requested through the developer setup page.
What changed from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025
The figures that moved, and by how much. Analysis of these figures is part of the Velarion platform.
Chief executive total compensation — Ellen Cooper: $15,903,302 → $27,991,242 (76.0% higher)
Say-on-pay support: 94.0% → 71.2% (22.8 points lower)
CEO pay ratio: 163:1 → 277:1 (69.9% higher)

Frequently asked questions

Answers drawn from the data on this page.
Who is Lincoln National's chief executive and what were they paid?
Total compensation for Ellen Cooper, President and CEO, came to $27,991,242 in fiscal 2025. Cooper's total moved 76.0% higher from the $15,903,302 reported for fiscal 2024.
What was Lincoln National's say-on-pay result?
For fiscal 2025, shareholders backed the say-on-pay proposal with 71.2% of votes cast for or against in favor at the meeting held May 28, 2026.
Which companies are in Lincoln National's peer group?
Companies named in the disclosed peer group include Aflac, Allianz Life Insurance, Brighthouse Financial, CNO Financial and Corebridge Financial, among others.
What is Lincoln National's chief executive pay ratio?
The company reported a chief executive pay ratio of 277:1 for fiscal 2025, against median employee compensation of $101,192.

Executive compensation

Every element reported for each named executive officer, by fiscal year.
Fiscal 2022
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Randal Freitag
EVP and CFO
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Ellen Cooper
President and CEO
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Kenneth Solon
EVP, Chief Information Officer, and Head of IT, Digital and Enterprise Services
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Matthew Grove
EVP, Head of Individual Life & Annuities and LFN
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Dennis Glass
Former President and CEO
Departed during or after this year
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
James Reid
EVP and President, Workplace Solutions
◇◇◇◇◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2023
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Ellen Cooper
President and CEO
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Sean Woodroffe
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Culture and Communications Officer
◇◇◇◇◇—◇◇
Matthew Grove
Executive Vice President and President, Retail Solutions
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Christopher Neczypor
Executive Vice President and CFO
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
James Reid
Executive Vice President and President, Workplace Solutions
◇—◇◇◇—◇◇
Randal Freitag
Former Executive Vice President and CFO
Departed during or after this year
◇———◇◇◇◇
Fiscal 2024
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Ellen Cooper
President and CEO
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Matthew Grove
Former Executive Vice President and President, Retail Solutions
Departed during or after this year
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Christopher Neczypor
Executive Vice President and CFO
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
James Reid
Executive Vice President and President, Workplace Solutions
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Kenneth Solon
Executive Vice President and Head of IT Transition
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Sean Woodroffe
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Culture and Communications Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2025
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Ellen Cooper
President and CEO
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Christopher Neczypor
Executive Vice President and CFO
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
James Reid
Executive Vice President and President, Workplace Solutions
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Brian Kroll
Executive Vice President, Head of Retail Life and Annuity Solutions
◇—◇—◇◇◇◇
Sean Woodroffe
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Communications and Enterprise Services Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. A negative change in pension value is shown but, as the company reports it, not included in the total.

Equity awards granted

Individual awards as disclosed: type, date, unit counts at each level, and grant date value.
Fiscal 2025
OfficerAwardGrant dateThreshold unitsTarget unitsUnits grantedMaximum unitsExercise priceGrant date fair value
Brian KrollRSU◇——◇——◇
Brian KrollPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Christopher NeczyporPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Christopher NeczyporRSU◇——◇——◇
Ellen G. CooperRSU◇——◇——◇
Ellen G. CooperRSU◇——◇——◇
Ellen G. CooperPSU◇—◇———◇
James ReidRSU◇——◇——◇
James ReidPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Sean N. WoodroffeRSU◇——◇——◇
Sean N. WoodroffePSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Fiscal 2022, 2023, 2024 are included in the PDF.
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. Threshold, target and maximum apply only to performance awards and are never shown for time-based or option awards.

Outstanding awards

Awards still held at fiscal year end.
As disclosed at fiscal 2025 year end
OfficerAwardUnvested unitsMarket value of unvested unitsExercise priceExpires
Sean WoodroffePSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
James ReidRSU◇◇——
Ellen CooperRSU◇◇——
Christopher NeczyporRSU◇◇——
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Severance and change in control

The terms as written in the agreements.
James Reid
Executive Vice President and President, Workplace Solutions · citing a 2026 filing
Change-in-control trigger◇

Director compensation

What each non-employee director was paid.
Fiscal 2025
DirectorFees earned in cashStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
M. Leanne Lachman
◇◇———◇◇
William H. Cunningham
◇◇———◇◇
Gary C. Kelly
◇◇———◇◇
Deirdre P. Connelly
◇◇————◇
Dale LeFebvre
◇◇————◇
Owen Ryan
◇◇———◇◇
Eric G. Johnson
◇◇————◇
Reginald E. Davis
◇◇————◇
James Morris
◇◇————◇
Lynn M. Utter
◇◇———◇◇
Janet Liang
◇◇————◇
Ellen G. Cooper served on the board in fiscal 2025 and received no compensation for board service. Executive directors are typically paid through their executive roles, shown above.
Earlier years are included in the PDF.
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director fee schedule

The standing retainers and premiums the board pays, as published.
Board cash retainer◇
Board equity retainer◇
Total board retainer◇
Audit committee chair◇
Audit committee member◇
Compensation committee chair◇
Nominating and governance chair◇
Equity is delivered as Deferred LNC Stock Units.

Disclosed peer group

The companies this board named as its compensation comparison group. The list is disclosure; the comparison is analysis.
Fiscal 2025
  • Aflac AFL
  • Allianz Life Insurance symbol not shown
  • Brighthouse Financial BHF
  • CNO Financial CNO
  • Corebridge Financial CRBG
  • Equitable Holdings EQH
  • Genworth Financial GNW
  • Globe Life GL
  • Jackson Financial JXN
  • John Hancock symbol not shown
  • MetLife MET
  • Principal Financial PFG
  • Prudential Financial PRU
  • Sun Life Financial SLF
  • Unum Group UNM
  • Voya Financial VOYA

Say-on-pay history

Shareholder support for the compensation program, by year.
YearMeetingSupportVotes forVotes againstAbstentions
2025May 28, 2026=◇◇◇
2024May 22, 2025=◇◇◇
2023May 23, 2024=◇◇◇
2022May 25, 2023=◇◇◇
2021May 27, 2022=◇◇◇
2020June 3, 2021=◇◇◇
2019June 11, 2020=◇◇◇
2018May 24, 2019=◇◇◇
2017May 25, 2018=◇◇◇

Chief executive pay ratio

As calculated and reported by the company.
Ratio
◇
Median employee compensation
◇
Chief executive total compensation
◇

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Sample answer — “What is the CEO’s total compensation?”
- Ellen Cooper (President and CEO), FY2025 total compensation $27,991,242 (base salary $1,314,462) [exec_comp, SEC accession 0001193125-26-157983, filed 2026-04-16]

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What this page does not include

Everything above is a fact Lincoln National disclosed, and it is free. Everything below is our analysis of those facts, and it is not.
Peer benchmarking
Where Lincoln National sits against its disclosed peers — percentile position by role and by pay element, and the ranking behind it. The disclosed peer group is free; comparisons across it are part of the Velarion platform.
Executive Compensation Report — $1,500
Written compensation analysis
A read of the pay program as designed and as paid: incentive structure, goal rigor, the alignment between the committee's stated philosophy and what the numbers show.
Executive Compensation Report — $1,500
Board and governance analysis
Committee composition, independence, director pay positioning, and the governance provisions read together rather than listed.
Board Governance Report — $499
Realizable pay
What the awards above are actually worth today against what they were valued at on grant, and what the gap says about the pay-for-performance link.
Velarion Intelligence
Adviser switching and vote outcomes
Two datasets covering compensation-adviser changes and what followed a contested vote. Both are part of the Velarion platform.
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Citations

Every figure on this page is cited to the document that reported it. Select any figure to see its citation.
266 figures on this page: 257 cited to the filing that reported them, 9 calculated from figures it prints.
257 cited to the filing
9 calculated from the filing

Documents cited

  1. 0000059558-26-000038
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  2. 0001193125-26-157983
    CEO Pay Ratio · Grants of Plan-Based Awards · Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End · Summary Compensation Table
  3. 0000059558-25-000049
  4. 0001193125-25-077438
    Summary Compensation Table
  5. 0000059558-24-000033
  6. 0001193125-24-092543
    Summary Compensation Table
  7. 0001564590-23-007443
  8. 0001193125-23-100016
    Summary Compensation Table
  9. 0001564590-22-021967
  10. 0001564590-21-031949
  11. 0001564590-20-029355
  12. 0000059558-19-000018
  13. 0000726865-18-000262
  14. 0000059558-26-000016
Cite this data
This page is free to cite. Attribution we ask for:
Velarion, “Lincoln National executive compensation, FY2022–FY2025.” https://intel.velarion.ai/comp/LNC (accessed 2026).
Short form: data: Velarion

The paid brief for Lincoln National

Positioning against its disclosed peers, the governance read, incentive design, and the CD&A alignment analysis; the full peer table; a committee-ready PDF.
$1,500 for the Executive Compensation Report. Both reports for $2,400.
Get the executive briefGet the board briefNo account needed.
14 filings cited on this page
Method: intel.velarion.ai/methodology
A report that fails to generate is refunded in full
Published by Velarion Company Intelligence
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Insurance rankings

Chief executive pay — InsuranceCEO pay ratio — InsuranceSay-on-pay support — Insurance

Peers Lincoln National discloses

The companies named in LNC's own disclosed peer group.

AflacBrighthouse FinancialCNO FinancialCorebridge FinancialEquitable HoldingsGenworth FinancialGlobe LifeJackson FinancialMetLifePrincipal FinancialPrudential FinancialUnum GroupVoya Financial

Terms on this page

Say-on-Pay VoteCEO Pay RatioMedian Employee CompensationAll companies

Free to read and cite. Redistribution or bulk use of the dataset requires a data license. Talk to us about the data license.

Cite this data
APA
Velarion Company Intelligence. (2026). Velarion database: executive and board compensation data (Version 2026Q3) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854
BibTeX
@misc{velarionData2026,
  author = {{Velarion Company Intelligence}},
  title = {Velarion database: executive and board compensation data},
  year = {2026},
  version = {2026Q3},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22283854},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854}
}
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