Emily Olinger
NELNETAbout Emily Olinger
Emily R. Olinger (age 42) serves as Chief People Services Officer at Nelnet, Inc., appointed in March 2024 after prior Chief People Officer roles at Monolith (Mar 2022–Feb 2024) and Spreetail (Sep 2015–Feb 2022) . Her tenure aligns with Nelnet’s pay-for-performance framework emphasizing employee engagement and customer satisfaction in the Executive Officers Incentive Compensation Plan . Company-level performance during her tenure includes an improvement in total shareholder return (TSR) from 159.00 in 2023 to 194.61 in 2024 and net income excluding derivative market value adjustments of $176.4 million in 2024 versus $121.6 million in 2023 .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nelnet, Inc. | Chief People Services Officer | Mar 2024 – present | Not disclosed |
| Monolith | Chief People Officer | Mar 2022 – Feb 2024 | Not disclosed |
| Spreetail | Chief People Officer | Sep 2015 – Feb 2022 | Not disclosed |
External Roles
- Not disclosed in company filings for Olinger .
Fixed Compensation
- Base salary, target bonus %, and actual bonus for Olinger are not disclosed in the proxy; Nelnet’s CD&A details apply to Named Executive Officers only .
Performance Compensation
- Olinger’s specific incentive metrics, weighting, targets, and payouts are not disclosed. However, Nelnet’s Executive Officers Incentive Compensation Plan (applicable to executive officers) evaluates performance across the following criteria, capped at 150% of base salary :
| Performance Metric Area | Examples (from Plan) |
|---|---|
| Financial outcomes | EPS, net income, net income excluding derivative market value adjustments, revenues (including fee-based), asset growth, ROE/ROA, margin and expense levels |
| Customer & operational | Department of Education servicing performance; customer satisfaction; operating efficiency/productivity |
| People & engagement | Employee engagement, productivity, retention and satisfaction measures |
| Strategic & investment | Segment profitability; acquisitions/dispositions; investment performance; regulatory compliance |
- Company-wide policies relevant to incentives:
- No stock options; equity compensation via restricted stock under the Restricted Stock Plan .
- Clawback policy applies to current/former Section 16 officers (which includes executive officers): recovery of incentive-based pay for restatements, misconduct, or restrictive covenant breaches; a 2024 recovery analysis required no clawback due to immaterial adjustments .
- Prohibition on hedging/short sales; pledging discouraged and limited to ≤25% of total shares with prior approval .
- Officers must trade only via Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing ad hoc insider selling pressure .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership for Olinger is not individually listed; stock ownership tables cover directors and Named Executive Officers, plus group totals . Alignment mechanisms include:
- Restricted Stock Plan for equity awards; minimum vesting periods maintained .
- Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP) allowing associates to buy Class A shares up to $25,000/year at a 15% discount (encourages ownership) .
- Corporate-wide hedging/pledging limits and mandatory 10b5-1 trading plans for officers .
Employment Terms
- Executive officers are elected annually by the Board and hold office for one year or until successors are elected and qualified; Olinger listed as an executive officer in 2025 .
- Nelnet discloses no employment contracts and no individual change-in-control/severance arrangements for Named Executive Officers (general framework; Olinger-specific agreements not disclosed) .
Company Performance Context (during Olinger’s tenure)
| Metric | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| TSR – value of $100 initial investment | 159.00 | 194.61 |
| Net income excluding derivative market value adjustments ($USD Millions) | $121.6 | $176.4 |
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues ($USD Millions)* | $526.9* | $500.3* | $480.8* |
| * Values retrieved from S&P Global. |
Risk Indicators & Governance Context
- Strong insider policy regime: clawbacks, anti-hedging/short-sale rules, limited pledging, and 10b5-1 plan requirements reduce misalignment and opportunistic trading risks .
- Governance concentration: Michael S. Dunlap beneficially owns 80.6% of combined voting power, enabling effective control over Board composition and management oversight; Board independence is limited by this control .
- Say-on-pay approval remained high (99.7% in 2024), indicating investor support for the NEO compensation framework .
- Peer group for pay-versus-performance benchmarking: S&P 500 Financials index .
Investment Implications
- Compensation alignment: Olinger’s role sits within a plan emphasizing employee engagement and customer-centric outcomes—areas tied directly to her remit—supporting pay-for-performance integrity even though her individual metrics and payouts are undisclosed .
- Selling pressure & retention: Mandatory 10b5-1 trading, anti-hedging, and limited pledging reduce near-term insider selling risk; lack of individual severance/change-in-control protections for NEOs implies balanced retention economics without excessive golden parachutes (Olinger-specific terms not disclosed) .
- Governance overlay: The controlling shareholder structure may dominate governance levers (including compensation and succession), limiting external shareholder influence despite strong say-on-pay results; investors should monitor culture/engagement KPIs under Olinger’s leadership as leading indicators for execution quality .