If you want to be a rich CEO, work in health care

Managing doctors and researchers might be more lucrative than overseeing bankers or computer programmers.

Among the 200 top-paid US executives at public companies, those in health care and pharmaceutical businesses were awarded average pay packages of $37 million in their most recent financial year, the most of any sector, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index, which ranks executives based on awarded compensation. Information-technology managers were No. 2 at $35.3 million.

The best-paid executive officers in financial services were awarded $33.8 million on average, about 8.6 per cent below their colleagues in health care, according to the index. Awarded compensation includes salary, bonuses,