By Isha Marathe

April 1 - (The Insurer) - Everest Group president and CEO Jim Williamson has signed an updated employment agreement that increases his base salary by 39% to $1.25 million, with target annual incentive and target annual equity awards taking the total direct compensation package to $9 million a year.

Williamson assumed the CEO position permanently on January 22, two weeks after he took on the role on an interim basis following Juan Andrade’s departure to take the helm at USAA.

Under the terms of his new employment agreement, outlined in an 8-K/A filing, Williamson’s base salary has been set at $1.25 million.

He will also receive a target annual incentive bonus of 200% of his base salary, or $2.5 million, a target annual equity award equal to 420% of base salary, or $5.25 million, and a monthly car allowance of $1,000.

Williamson is eligible to participate in employee benefit plans on terms generally available to senior executives. He can also participate in Everest’s tax-qualified defined contribution retirement plan and defined contribution supplemental retirement and excess benefit plans.

The executive had a base salary of $900,000 under his previous employment agreement, which was agreed on April 26, 2024 and which Everest provided an update on in a 10-Q filing issued in May last year.

Under that agreement, Williamson’s target annual incentive bonus was 140% of base salary, while his target value for equity compensation was 217% of base salary. That would indicate total targeted compensation of around $4.1 million under those terms of employment.

The terms of his new employment agreement mean that, in the event of Williamson’s termination, he will be bound by one-year non-compete, non-solicitation and non-disparagement provisions.

The newly inked employment agreement will remain in effect until January 21, 2027, with automatic extensions thereafter for successive one-year periods, the form said.

In an 8-K filing Everest submitted to the SEC on January 22 confirming Williamson’s appointment to the CEO position permanently, the Bermuda-based (re)insurer said the terms of the executive’s employment were to be negotiated.

Although Everest had originally planned to file that updated employment agreement in its annual 10-K filing in late February, the contract was not yet finalised and it has taken until the end of March for the details to be announced.