Ben Burney is a Senior Advisor with Exequity, an executive compensation consulting firm based in suburban Chicago. In his role, Ben advises boards of directors and management teams on all aspects of executive compensation including compensation levels, design, and compliance with regulatory requirements. Prior to joining Exequity, Ben was a compensation consultant at Hewitt Associates, prior to its acquisition by Aon.
Ben earned his MBA from the Wisconsin School of Business in 2008, and credits the SHR program for building the foundation for how he consults with clients today. “At WSB, I became fascinated with the analytical side of HR and looked for ways to supplement the core MBA and HR coursework to build new skills. There are a wide variety of electives at WSB, and I took advantage of opportunities in finance and entrepreneurship—in addition to a research methods class taught by Charlie Trevor. This combination of courses was instrumental in building a new career post-MBA as an executive compensation consultant.” At Exequity, Ben has put the skills he learned from WSB into action. In addition to advising companies, he has developed new and unique statistical analyses to develop and assess peer groups used for informing compensation decisions or assessing relative performance and has authored numerous publications for the firm.
Ben holds two degrees in music performance: A Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music in New York City, and a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Obio. Both are in trombone performance; he performed in freelance roles in various New York City-based ensembles before pursuing a career change to the business world. He worked in roles at a private equity firm and in executive search.
Outside of work, Ben is an avid runner and cyclist—he recently rode in El Tour de Tuscon 100k bike race. He lives with his wife, Jara Kern (MBA 2008) and their three children in the Chicago suburbs.