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Company directors' pay is everyone's business
By
Kris Hundley, Times Staff Writer
In print: Friday, March 28, 2008
Just how fat are the fat cats on corporate boards? The public can now find out, thanks to a new federal disclosure requirement.
Starting with last year's filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, public companies have to give a clear accounting of each board member's compensation, including cash fees and the value of any stock or options. That means anybody can look up the filing of, say, First Advantage Corp. in St. Petersburg, and see that when Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, was on its board in 2006, her total compensation as a director was about $80,000. Nothing to scoff at for a part-time job, but not stratospheric.
A recent study by the Corporate Library in Portland, Maine, found that U.S. corporations spent an average of just over
$1-million annually on compensation to directors last year. "With the exception of a few outliers, most companies are not spending an unreasonable amount on their boards," said the report's author, Annalisa Barrett.
The report also showed, not surprisingly, that director compensation rises with company size. Hence, the relatively low-dough pay packages for many companies in the Tampa Bay area. At Superior Uniform Group in Seminole, for instance, the highest-paid outside director makes $21,550 a year. That individual, Robin Hensley, does not appear to be complaining; She's been on the board since 2000.
Not all boards are as stable, either in membership or the value of their directors' compensation. At WellCare Health Plans in Tampa, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi received a compensation package valued at more than $350,000 in 2006. He left the board soon after to take the job heading Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration. Agwunobi also left before the value of WellCare's shares, a major component of directors' compensation, took a dive after the company came under a federal investigation last fall. An update of the value of WellCare's directors' compensation will be available in the company's 2007 filing.
54 Number of Tampa Bay area companies above the
$1-million national average for board compensation
32 Percent of companies nationwide with boards paying less than $500,000
$28.5
million The highest total compensation
for a director
nationwide:
William E. Greehey,
Valero Energy
$569,894 The highest total compensation for a director in the Tampa Bay area: William F. Miller, Lincare Holdings
$104,250 Lowest-paid board in the Tampa Bay area:
Superior Uniform Group
$2.3 million Highest-paid board in the Tampa Bay area: Jabil
million
$127,750 The highest cash fees a Tampa Bay area director receives: Paul L. Whiting, Sykes Enterprises
4 Percent of
Tampa Bay area companies paying less than $500,000
22 Number of Tampa Bay area companies below national average
Source: SEC filings for Tampa Bay area companies; the Corporate Library's review of more than 3,000 public companies for national data
(www.thecorporatelibrary.com)
$474,229 Raymond James Financial:
(market cap: $2.64-billion)
$574,000 Brown & Brown:
(market cap: $2.5-billion)
$755,566 TECO Energy:
(market cap: $3.19-billion)
Billion-dollar companies with lowest-paid boards:
[Last modified: Mar 27, 2008 10:42 PM]
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