Sesame Workshop CEO salary and executive pay
Sesame Workshop paid its CEO, Sherrie Rollins Westin, $1,136,265 for the fiscal year ending June 2025. On the return for the fiscal year ending June 2024, the CEO was Stephen Youngwood, paid $1,066,294. Total revenue on that return was $180,674,492, up 6.1% from $170,338,735 for the fiscal year ending June 2024. Sesame Workshop ranks 8th of 11 arts and culture nonprofits on this site by CEO pay. Sesame Workshop has 4 Form 990 returns on record, for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2025.
Last updated from IRS e-file data. EIN 13-2655731, New York, NY.
CEO, fiscal year ending June 2025
$1,136,265
- Total revenue
- $180,674,492
- CEO pay vs. peers
- Higher than 63%
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2025, IRS object ID 202611349349312926.View the filing
Peers: the 207 other organizations on this site with revenue of $50 million to $500 million. Ranked 76th of 208 by top pay as a share of revenue. Pay is 0.63% of revenue, our calculation from the same return. Revenue is Part I, line 12; peers are compared on their latest full-year returns.
Highest-paid people on the latest return
On the latest return, 10 people were paid more than $500,000, 1 of them more than $1 million.
| Name and title | Total |
|---|---|
| Sherrie Rollins Westin CEO PRESIDENT & CEO | $1,136,265 |
| Stephen YoungwoodFORMER CEO | $761,041 |
| Kay N Wilson StallingsEVP, CREATIVE & PRODUCTION | $551,141 |
| Valerie Mitchell-JohnstonEVP/GENERAL COUNSEL | $550,026 |
| Shari RosenfeldSVP INT. SOC. IMPACT (THRU 08/24) | $548,247 |
Also paid on the latest return: Brett Robinson (CFO & EVP OF FIN., TECHNOLOGY), $529,345; Hillary W Strong (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER), $527,557; Shadrach Kisten (SVP, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER), $516,733; Randle Whitfield Higgins (EVP & HEAD OF GLOBAL ENT.), $513,416; Jennifer Alison Bryant (CHIEF RES, EDU, DATA (THRU 02/25)), $507,167; Taska Carrigan (SVP, BUSINESS AFFAIRS & OPERATIONS), $461,614; Gabriela Arenas Rodriquez (SVP, GLOBAL LICENSING), $444,811; Lesley Bourns (SVP INT. SOC. IMPACT), $380,373; Diana Lee (FORMER EVP/CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCE), $178,949.
Also listed in Part VII of the latest return, with no pay reported: Gabrielle Sulzberger (CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD), Joan Ganz Cooney (HONORARY TRUSTEE (NON-VOTING)), Varun Chandra (TRUSTEE (THRU 07/2024)), Stephen Davis (TRUSTEE (AS OF 12/2024)), Thasunda Brown Duckett (TRUSTEE), Lee Eastman (TRUSTEE), Kathleen G Elsesser (TRUSTEE), Carla Harris (TRUSTEE), Valerie Jarrett (TRUSTEE), Dr Amy Beth Jordan PhD (TRUSTEE), Paul Lindley (TRUSTEE), Jenna Mack (TRUSTEE), Michael G Manasse (TRUSTEE), Dr Beverly Daniel Tatum (TRUSTEE), Ann Rubinstein Tisch (TRUSTEE), Miriam Rivera (TRUSTEE), Jeffrey Weiss (TRUSTEE), Joseph Giraldi (COO (AS OF 01/2025)).
CEO pay by year
Each row is the CEO on that year's return.
| Fiscal year ending | Name and title | Total | Revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2025 | Sherrie Rollins Westin CEO PRESIDENT & CEO | $1,136,265 | $180,674,492 | Filing |
| Jun 2024 | Stephen Youngwood CEO CEO (THRU 2/2024) | $1,066,294 | $170,338,735 | Filing |
| Jun 2023 | Stephen Youngwood CEO CEO | $1,060,482 | $186,926,322 | Filing |
| Jun 2022 | Stephen Youngwood CEO CEO | $995,329 | $271,209,334 | Filing |
How this pay was reported
The parts of each total, as reported on the return for the fiscal year ending June 2025.
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2025, IRS object ID 202611349349312926.View the filing
| Part VII | Schedule J | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name and title | From org | Other | Base | Bonus | Other | Deferred | Nontaxable | Total |
| Sherrie Rollins WestinPRESIDENT & CEO | $1,099,259 | $37,006 | $807,126 | $281,962 | $10,171 | $33,842 | $3,164 | $1,136,265 |
| Stephen Youngwood*FORMER CEO | $751,982 | $9,059 | $79,493 | $0 | $672,489 | $8,050 | $1,009 | $761,041 |
| Kay N Wilson StallingsEVP, CREATIVE & PRODUCTION | $527,067 | $24,074 | $428,871 | $94,480 | $3,716 | $21,424 | $2,650 | $551,141 |
| Valerie Mitchell-JohnstonEVP/GENERAL COUNSEL | $436,625 | $113,401 | $357,186 | $77,700 | $1,739 | $34,500 | $78,901 | $550,026 |
| Shari RosenfeldSVP INT. SOC. IMPACT (THRU 08/24) | $468,351 | $79,896 | $263,342 | $77,859 | $127,150 | $25,002 | $54,894 | $548,247 |
These figures come from Sesame Workshop's Form 990 returns, as the IRS publishes them. The methodology page explains how they're chosen. To report an error, email corrections@ceopaycheck.com.
How Sesame Workshop compares
Ranked 8th of 11 arts and culture nonprofits by CEO pay.
- Previous in this ranking: 7th, Art Institute of Chicago, $1,163,144
- Next in this ranking: 9th, Huntington Library, $1,102,364
Closest in revenue among organizations in the same revenue band:
Robin Hood Foundation$1,041,339 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston$1,192,383 (highest-paid), fiscal year ending Jun 2025- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago$382,829 (CEO), fiscal year ending Jun 2025
- Hawaii Pacific Foundation$6,377,921 (highest-paid), fiscal year ending Dec 2023
Sierra Club$524,826 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
Common questions
Sherrie Rollins Westin (PRESIDENT & CEO) was paid $1,136,265 for the fiscal year ending June 2025: $1,099,259 from Sesame Workshop and $37,006 in other compensation (Part VII columns D and F).
The CEO, Sherrie Rollins Westin, was the highest-paid person on the latest return, at $1,136,265.
Sesame Workshop paid its CEO, Sherrie Rollins Westin, $1,136,265 for the fiscal year ending June 2025. On the return for the fiscal year ending June 2024, the CEO was Stephen Youngwood, paid $1,066,294. The earliest return on record is for the fiscal year ending June 2022, when the CEO was Stephen Youngwood, paid $995,329. By fiscal year end: June 2022, $995,329 (Stephen Youngwood); June 2023, $1,060,482; June 2024, $1,066,294; June 2025, $1,136,265 (Sherrie Rollins Westin).
Sesame Workshop's return for the fiscal year ending June 2025 reports total expenses of $169,692,246 and total revenue of $180,674,492 (Part I, lines 18 and 12), so revenue exceeded expenses by $10,982,246. Expenses were $166,879,256 for the fiscal year ending June 2024, so they rose 1.7%. The CEO's pay of $1,136,265 equals 0.67% of expenses, our calculation.
From the 4 Form 990 returns Sesame Workshop filed with the IRS for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2025. The latest full-year return was filed on May 14, 2026. Schedule J of the fiscal year ending June 2025 return breaks down pay for all 5 people in the pay breakdown above.