We decided to check out the CFOs of Canada’s largest public companies and came up with some interesting numbers. The median compensation for the 60 CFOs for the latest fiscal year was $2,236,100 — or about 25 times the median CA level. With the values of options exercised removed, the median came in at $1,487,950.

The annual compensation ranged from over $10,000,000 for Wayne Brownlee of Potash Corp. to $408,300 for Mark Gow of Fording Canadian Coal Trust. A total of 47 CFOs made more than $1,000,000 last year. Considering that the average Canadian tax filer pulled in about $39,900, accounting is certainly a profitable profession.

What should your name be if you want to be on this list? If not the CEO, how about Chairman of the Board, CFO or one of the other most highly paid people in these companies? If you missed out, maybe naming your children after one of these people would increase their chances of bubbling to the top. We examined proxy circulars for these companies to find the first names of the 294 people who either chaired the company or were among the most highly paid individuals as indicated in the circulars. Where names like Alan, Ronald and Michael can be spelled or expressed in different ways, we’ve used one common spelling.

The results:

• There were only 11 women listed or less than 4% of the total population which indicates there is still a long way to go.
• Other than Galen, all the other names mentioned below are quite traditional, the type you would find on any Canadian street or classroom in the 1950s.
• If you want to be Chairman, we found that a guy named David chaired14% of these large companies. John was next at 10% and Robert came in at 8%. Other multiple mentions were Allan at 6% and Arthur, Frank and William at 4% each. These seven first names chaired half of Canada’s largest companies.
• If CEO is your game, Michael is your name. Four CEOs were named Michael, followed by three Donalds. Galen, Gerald, James, Jeffrey, John, Paul Pierre and Richard all had two mentions.
• If CFO is what you aspire to be, there are four each of Brian and Richard. William and Gregory come in three times each and there are two Pauls.
• How about just being one of the other most highly paid individuals in the company? If you can stoop to this, Robert should be your name with nine mentions, followed by Peter with eight and Michael and John with five each. Stephen, William, Richard, Mark and Donald all get four entries and Alan, Alexander, Brian, David, Eric, Gary and James all get three positions.
• The most popular names for all these positions are Robert (15), Peter/Pierre (13), Michael (13), Richard (12), John (12), David (11) and William (10). These seven names comprise over 29% of all the executives covered.