The men and women who run corporate ӣƵ had a very good year in 2017.
Median CEO compensation rose 33 percent last year at the 26 public companies that had the same chief executive throughout 2016 and 2017.
Profits were generally strong, and boards rewarded the bosses with bonuses that were up 40 percent from the previous year. More than half of ӣƵ CEOs’ pay came in the form of stock, so they also benefited from a rising market.
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was the area’s highest-paid CEO for the fourth year in a row. His total compensation rose 15 percent to $25.3 million, but Centene can make a strong case that pay is in line with performance. Its per-share profit grew 38 percent last year and its share price climbed 79 percent.
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The second-biggest pay package for 2017 went to He earned $20.6 million, including a one-time stock award of $15 million for leading Peabody out of bankruptcy.
Ten of the 26 local CEOs saw their pay fall last year. In some cases, that reflected the timing of incentive stock awards, but in others it reflected poor results. Michael Anderson of Chesterfield-based , for example, suffered along with shareholders. His pay fell 40 percent to $1.9 million as Avadel’s share price tumbled 21 percent.
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Harder to explain is the , where CEO Mark Trudeau’s reported pay rose 19 percent to $15 million even as shareholders watched their investment l
Trudeau will realize less than a third of the $15 million, however, if the company fails to rebound. His $4.6 million in options are worthless unless the stock price bounces back, and a $5.5 million stock award will vanish if Mallinckrodt falls short of three-year performance goals.
Mallinckrodt also says it’s reducing executives’ pay for 2018 to reflect last year’s poor performance.
Long-term stock incentives like Trudeau’s are an increasingly common component of CEO pay packages. Companies repeatedly point out that a large chunk of pay is “at risk” if results fall short.
Last year, ӣƵ CEOs earned an average of $7.2 million but just 12 percent of that, or about $850,000, was in salary. An annual bonus added about $1.5 million, but 53 percent of the total pay was in stock and 10 percent was in stock options.
The stock portion has grown over time; in 2011, just 29 percent of ӣƵ CEOs’ pay came in stock.
Consulting firm Mercer says that for 108 large U.S. companies that reported their information by mid-march, median CEO pay was up 7.9 percent last year. “It was a pretty solid year,” Mercer senior consultant Adam Bogucki said, “and most of the increase came in the form of long-term incentives.”
The ӣƵ area’s highest-paid CEOs and what they made last year
Meet the 30 top-paid CEOs in ӣƵ, 2017 pay
* Jeffrey S. Hollister, American Railcar Industries
Hollister left the company on Dec. 31, .
30. Timothy D. Boyd, Peak Resorts
In January, .
29. Earl R. Refsland, Allied Healthcare Products
28. Robert L. Montgomery, Reliv International
27. Jon P Vrabely, Huttig Building Products
; CEO earned 20 times as much as median Huttig employee. The company says its 1,300 full- and part-time workers earn a median of $47,091.
26. James B. Lally, Enterprise Financial
.Enterprise calculates that the CEO made 16 times as much as its median employee, who earned $60,000.
25. Robert D. Moore, Foresight Energy
From March:
24. Mike Anderson, Avadel Pharmaceuticals
.
23. Sharon John, Build-A-Bear Workshop
;John earned 306 times as much last year as the median Build-A-Bear employee. Median pay was $6,198 for the Overland-based company's 4,455 U.S. and British workers.
22. Eric H. Brunngraber, Cass Information Systems
21. Charles R. Gordon, Aegion
;Gordon made 36 times as much as the median employee's compensation of $73,848. The Chesterfield-based pipe-repair company employs 6,242 people worldwide.
20. V.L. Richey Jr., Esco Technologies
19. Suzanne Sitherwood, Spire
18. Jeffrey S. Davis, Perficient
. Its 2,078 workers in the United States, China and India earned a median $96,193.
17. David P. Hatfield, Edgewell Personal Care
16. David Kemper, Commerce Bancshares
15. Alan R. Hoskins, Energizer
From January:
14. John Stroup, Belden
;the CEO earned 133.6 times as much as the median Belden worker, who made $52,487 last year.
13. Anna Manning, Reinsurance Group
;Manning's pay is 66 times as much as the median employee earned last year. Median pay for the company's 2,741 employees was $107,171.
12. Diane M. Sullivan, Caleres Inc.
. Median pay for its 12,055 workers was $21,528 (about 40 percent of its employees are part-time/temporary/seasonal).
11. John E. Fischer, Olin
. Olin employs 6,526 people worldwide.
10. Warner L. Baxter, Ameren
;Baxter earned 66 times as much as the median Ameren employee. Ameren employs 8,600 people and says they earn a median of $122,003.
9. Robert V. Vitale, Post Holdings
8. John W. Eaves, Arch Coal
.
7. David Farr, Emerson
From February:
6. Ronald J. Kruszewski, Stifel
Stifel reported that its CEO earned 92 times as much as its median employee. .
Mark C. Trudeau, Mallinckrodt
; Mallinckrodt CEO Mark Trudeau's pay in 2017 was 102 times as much as the median company employee, who earned $146,870.
4. Timothy Wentworth, Express Scripts
. Median pay for its 26,600 workers was $52,509.
3. Hugh Grant, Monsanto
From April:
2. Glenn L. Kellow, Peabody Energy
. Peabody's 7,148 employees in the United States and Australia earned a median $118,812 last year.
1. Centene, Michael Neidorff
The CEO earned 379 times as much as the median Centene employee, . The company's 33,312 workers earned a median $66,600, including medical premiums.
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