A little-known and little-publicised group of board members of a corporation (largely comprising CEOs and CFOs of other corporations) that meets to determine the compensation rules and employment contracts for senior executives of the corporation, including the CEO. This body often exists in perpetuity; the CEO may be fired, often collecting a large severance package, but the Compensation Committee members are usually never held accountable for the contract that allowed the (ex-)CEO to collect the large severance package.