Compensation Philosophy

Thrivent Financial's mission is to improve the quality of life for our members, their families and communities. However, this mission is set within the complex and competitive environment of financial services. In addition to being a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society, we are also a Fortune 500 life insurance provider that competes with virtually all other financial services organizations. This requires that we attract a talented and experienced Executive Management Team and Board of Directors, who share our values, to help ensure the continued success of the organization.

As a membership-owned organization, we recognize that every dollar we spend is not ours, it's yours, our members'. We balance this knowledge with the understanding that we must be both fair and competitive in our compensation to attract and retain the talent needed to safeguard member assets and long-term interests. The Human Resource Committee of Thrivent Financial's Board of Directors takes the lead in determining this balancing point for executive compensation.

Thrivent Financial maintains an executive and director compensation philosophy of paying competitively, but conservatively, relative to comparable sized insurance and financial services organizations. It's important to note that we recruit much of our executive talent from these competitors, and, in turn, they try to recruit our executives. Compared to their peers in similar organizations, our directors' and executives' compensation is set conservatively relative to market data benchmarks. We believe that serving as a board member or an executive at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans provides a "sense of purpose" which is a highly valued intangible benefit. This perceived value supports taking a conservative approach to setting compensation levels for our board members and executives. Also, 50 to 75 percent of our executives' compensation is not guaranteed but rather based on overall Thrivent Financial performance. Regular performance reviews and both short- and long-term incentive plans help motivate leaders to operate in the best interests of the membership.

Our membership nominates and votes for the directors on our board. Regular performance reviews are conducted for each board member. Directors' compensation is set at competitive levels with individual compensation determined by board leadership roles and committee leadership roles. The Governance Committee of Thrivent Financial's Board of Directors takes the lead in determining the appropriate compensation level for director compensation.

For more information on Executive Management Team and Board of Directors compensation, please send a specific request in writing to:

Brett Weinberg
Director of Public Relations
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
625 Fourth Ave. S.
MS 680
Minneapolis, MN 55415