Executive Compensation at American Investment Council (2020)

The American Investment Council (AIC) is a very small tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) 3 “lobbying, advocacy, and research (the organization paid an outside vendor $1.3 million in 2020 for research) organization” based in Washington, DC governed by 22 voting members (21 of whom are independent) of its governing body. 18 of the 22 (82%) are male while 4 of the 22 (18%) are female – which is an improvement over the year before when 81% of the directors were male and 17% were female.

AIC reported total revenue of $25 million in 2020 (compared to $13 million in 2019), almost of all of which came from membership dues (which means there was a big spike in 2020 compared to the three previous years when the revenue ranged from $10-$13 million).

Expenses totaled $22 million in 2021 and can be categorized as follows:  compensation ($7 million), advertising and promotion ($6 million), public affairs and government affairs consultants ($5 million), fees for other services – primarily research ($1 million), and office-related expenses ($1 million).

15 employees received $7 million in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of $467,000 each. However, the Form 990 reports that only eight (8) employees received more than $100,000 in compensation:

• $2,354,486: Drew Maloney
• $   965,150:  Jason Mulvihill
• $   641,151:  Bradley Bailey
• $   539,761:  Emily Schillinger
• $   331,978:  Michael Lukso
• $   290,581:  Negra Husikic
• $   255,937:  Jamal Hagler
• $   217,912:  Andrew Shut

The eight (8) most highly compensated employees received $5.6 million in compensation (50% of the employees received 79% of total compensation) while the remaining 7 employees received $1.4 million in compensation (which given that the organization reported only 8 employees received more than $100,000 and those 8 employees received $5.6 million, the remaining 7 employees received $1.4 million – which equates to an average of $200,000 each; so there appears to be in error since none of these employees reportedly received more than $100,000 in compensation).

The two most highly compensated employees (representing 12% of total employees) received about 50% of total compensation annually, and nearly $10 million over the past 5 years:  $5.4 million over the past 5 years (Maloney); $4.1 million over the past 5 years (Mulvihill).

It is also interesting to  note that Drew Maloney went from receiving less than $200,000 in 2016 and 2017  to $735,000 in 2018 and nearly $2 million in 2019 and then $2.3 million in 2020.  Why his compensation was increased more than 10 fold in 2 years is unclear (given that revenue didn’t really increase until 2020 and even then the increase was not substantial). He was recognized by “The Hill” as one of the top lobbyists in 2020.

Drew Maloney

• 2020:  $2,354,486
• 2019:  $1,931,453
• 2018:  $  735,068
• 2017:  $  176,428
• 2016:  $  199,011

Jason Mulvihill

• 2020:  $965,150
• 2019:  $963,817
• 2018:  $859,396
• 2017:  $760,504
• 2016:  $541,519

AIC paid for first class or charter travel.

15 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the five (5) most highly compensated reported to be:

• $4,180,778:  Sard Verbinnen and Co, of New York, NY for public affairs
• $2,045,018:  Project Applecart, LLC, of New York, NY for public affairs
• $  862,278:  Targeted Victory, LLC, of Arlington, VA for public affairs
• $  830,000:  Ernst and Young, of Secaucus, NJ for government affair
• $  517,470:  Politico, of Arlington, VA for public affairs

As illustrated above, most independent contracting was for public and government affairs. On the Form 990, (Part IX Statement of Functional Expenses and Schedule O) total fees for public and government affairs total $5 million yet the total fees above for just 5 of the independent contractors compensated for public and government affairs totals more than $8 million so there appears to be an error in reporting.

The bottom line is that AIC is a small lobbying organization who relies on membership dues (yet, the organization is a 501 (c) 3 and not a trade association) to pay the $2.3 million compensation to Drew Maloney  and nearly $1 million to Jason Mulvihill, an additional $2 million to four other employees, and more than $8 million in fees to public and government affairs consultants.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2020), click here.