Marco Alverà
Director at SPGI
Board
About Marco Alverà
Independent director of S&P Global since 2017; age 49. Currently Finance Committee Chair and member of the Executive and Nominating Committees. Independent under NYSE rules; other current listed company directorships: none. Background includes CEO roles in energy infrastructure and trading, with European and global strategy experience.
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Committees/Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snam S.p.A. | Chief Executive Officer | 2016–2022 | Led Europe’s largest natural gas utility; upstream/mid/downstream experience. |
| Eni S.p.A. | Senior EVP Upstream; Head of commodities trading and shipping | Not disclosed | Operational and trading leadership across energy value chain. |
| Enel S.p.A. | Head of Group Strategy | Not disclosed | Group strategy in power and gas; Europe & LatAm footprint. |
| Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. | Chief Financial Officer | Not disclosed | Corporate finance leadership. |
| Netesi (Italy’s first broadband ADSL) | Co-founder | Not disclosed | Early-stage broadband venture. |
| Goldman Sachs | M&A (start of career) | Not disclosed | Transaction execution foundation. |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree Energy Solutions GmbH (TES) | Group Chief Executive Officer; Investor | Since June 2022 | LNG and new energy; ordinary-course subscriptions from SPGI Commodity Insights in 2024 per independence review. |
| Zhero | Co-founder and CEO | Since 2022 | Energy transition ventures. |
| Cini Foundation (Venice) | Board member | Not disclosed | Cultural/academic governance. |
| Kenta Foundation | Co-founder | Not disclosed | Philanthropy. |
| Oxford University | Visiting fellow | Not disclosed | Academic engagement; publications on hydrogen/energy. |
Board Governance
- Committee assignments: Finance (Chair), Executive, Nominating.
- Independence: Board determined all directors (other than CEO and Senior Advisor) met NYSE independence in 2024; Marco is listed “Independent Director since 2017.”
- Attendance and engagement:
- Board met 10 times in 2024; committees met: Executive 3, Finance 6, Nominating 9; no director attended fewer than 75% of aggregate board+committee meetings; all directors attended the 2024 Annual Meeting.
- Executive sessions: Independent directors held executive sessions at least 10 times in 2024.
- Board leadership: Independent Chair structure maintained; chair succession to Lord Ian Livingston after 2025 meeting.
Fixed Compensation
| Component | 2024 Amount | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Fees Earned or Paid in Cash | $139,000 | Includes board retainer and applicable committee chair/member retainers. |
| All Other Compensation | $60 | Company-paid life insurance and eligible matching programs; Marco’s total reported “All Other Compensation” $60. |
| Total Cash + Other | $139,060 | Sum of cash and other. |
| Program Schedule (for reference) | — | Board annual cash retainer $100,000; Committee Chair: Audit $20,000; Compensation/Nominating/Finance $15,000; Committee Member: Audit $18,000; Compensation/Nominating/Finance $12,000; No meeting fees. |
Performance Compensation
| Element | 2024 Grant Value | Structure | Performance Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual deferred share credit | $225,000 | Credited as 454.09 deferred shares based on $495.50 closing price on Jan 2, 2025; payable after board service ends; holding requirement during tenure. | |
| Performance linkage | N/A | Non-employee director equity is not performance-conditioned; no options/PSUs for directors disclosed. | Not applicable for directors. |
Other Directorships & Interlocks
| Company | Role | Current/Past | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | — | Current listed public boards | “Other Current Listed Company Directorships: None.” |
| Related-party context | — | 2024 | SPGI provided commodities data/subscriptions to TES; Board concluded ordinary course and independence not impaired. |
| Director compensation advisors | Pay Governance LLC | Ongoing | Independent advisor to Nominating (director pay review) and Compensation Committee (executive comp); no conflicts in 2024. |
Expertise & Qualifications
- Energy infrastructure and markets, commodities trading/shipping, upstream/midstream/downstream operations.
- Corporate strategy and finance (Enel; Wind CFO; Goldman Sachs M&A).
- Publications and thought leadership on hydrogen and energy transition; visiting fellow at Oxford.
Equity Ownership
| Metric | Amount | Date/Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Shares with sole voting/investment power | 400 | As of March 6, 2025. |
| Right to acquire within 60 days (options) | 0 | As of March 6, 2025. |
| Total beneficially owned shares | 400 | As of March 6, 2025. |
| Director Deferred Stock Awards outstanding | 4,553 | As of March 6, 2025. |
| Director Deferred Stock Awards outstanding | 4,065 | As of Dec 31, 2024 (plan table). |
| Ownership guidelines | 5x annual cash retainer; directors must hold deferred shares during tenure | All directors in compliance as of March 6, 2025; anti-hedging and anti-pledging policy; no director pledges. |
Governance Assessment
- Strengths:
- Finance Committee chair role positions Alverà at the center of capital allocation, treasury, major investments, and technology budgets oversight—core to SPGI value creation.
- Independence affirmed despite TES customer relationship; transactions ordinary-course and at market; no material related-party transactions disclosed for 2024–2025.
- Robust director stock ownership and holding policies; deferred equity increases alignment; all directors compliant. Anti-hedging/pledging reduces misalignment risk.
- Attendance and engagement: above 75% aggregate threshold; presence at Annual Meeting; frequent executive sessions.
- Potential watch items:
- External CEO role at TES and investment could introduce perceived conflict in energy data/content areas; current board process deems non-material, but monitor future expansions of commercial ties.
- No performance-conditioned director pay; equity is time-based deferred shares; while governance-standard, provides limited direct pay-for-performance sensitivity versus PSUs.
- Compensation structure signals:
- 2024 total director compensation for Alverà: $364,060 (cash $139,000; equity $225,000; other $60); program moved to peer-group median effective Oct 1, 2023 to address below-25th percentile levels—suggests focus on market-competitive yet aligned mix.
- Shareholder feedback context:
- Say-on-pay approval for executive program was ~95.6% in 2024; active outreach reported—indirectly supportive of board oversight of compensation governance.
RED FLAGS: None disclosed regarding pledging/hedging, related-party transactions, low attendance, or director-specific pay anomalies in 2024–2025.