Northwest executives' pay rose 11 percent — but the movement giving shareholders a greater voice in setting executive pay is having an influence on corporate compensation. Read story →
For the third straight year, Howard Schultz is the highest-paid chief executive among Northwest public companies. Schultz earned $16 million in 2011, most of it in the form of stock and options. Read story →
Interactive graphic:
CEO pay and performance
Compare how shareholders and CEOs fared at individual companies with our interactive chart. (Jump to chart)
Here are the 20 CEOs of Pacific Northwest companies with the highest total compensation reported for fiscal year 2011.
CEO pay by the numbers
Top stock and option awards
Stock and stock-option awards often are the biggest and most uncertain part of a CEO's pay. The grants often don't vest until years after they are awarded, so their true value hinges on the stock's future price. These don't count previous awards realized in 2011. Starbuck's CEO, for example, realized nearly $37 million in 2011 from exercising an October 2001 option on 1.43 million shares.
Executive
Company
Equity pay
Steven Appleton
Micron Technology
$6,904,194
Mark Donegan
Precision Castparts
$6,721,320
Mark Parker
Nike
$6,416,160
John McAdam
F5 Networks
$6,406,726
Howard Schultz
Starbucks
$11,479,494
Source: Equilar analysis of company reports
Top bonuses
Expeditors International CEO Peter Rose leads this year's list again because unlike many of the other Northwest CEOs, his bonus makes up almost all his pay. His $110,000 base salary hasn't changed since 1988.
Executive
Company
Bonus
Peter Rose
Expeditors International
$6,695,888
Mark Pigott
PACCAR
$3,124,000
Howard Schultz
Starbucks
$2,982,000
Mark Parker
Nike
$2,735,569
Tamara Lundgren
Schnitzer Steel
$1,820,000
Source: Equilar analysis of company reports
Top salary
Cash salary generally makes up only a fraction of CEOs' total pay. Tax rules limit the deductibility of CEO compensation to $1 million a year, but companies can take additional deductions for pay that is tied to company performance. Thus, Nike's Mark Parker's $1.5 million salary accounts for just 14 percent of his total pay.
Executive
Company
Salary
Mark Parker
Nike
$1,535,557
Mark Donegan
Precision Castparts
$1,445,625
Mark Pigott
PACCAR
$1,417,308
Howard Schultz
Starbucks
$1,382,692
Dara Khosrowshahi
Expedia
$1,000,000
Source: Equilar analysis of company reports
Top female CEOs
Just four of the 120 Northwest companies included in the 2011 survey are headed by women. Schnitzer Steel Industries' Tamara Lundgren, who became CEO is fiscal 2009, leads this year's list again in total pay.
Executive
Company
Total pay
Melanie J. Dressel
Columbia Banking System
$862,475
Patricia Moss*
Cascade Bancorp
$727,380
Tamara Lundgren
Schnitzer Steel Industries
$6,975,624
Colleen Brown
Fisher Communications
$1,638,016
*Moss was no longer CEO as of Jan. 1, 2012.
Note: Diane Irvine, who resigned as CEO of Blue Nile last November, received total compensation of almost $2 million. She is not included in the Equilar survey because she didn't serve the full year.
Source: Equilar analysis of company reports
Interactive: CEO pay and shareholder return
Sometimes CEOs get a pay increase even when shareholders lose money, or vice versa. This interactive chart shows the relationship between pay and performance at different Pacific Northwest companies by graphing the shareholder return (change in the stock's value, plus dividends) against the change in total CEO compensation. Look at changes after one or three years, at companies where the CEO was unchanged during that time.
How to use the interactive: Click on any circle to see the CEO's pay package in 2011 and how much it's changed since 2008. Use the filters at right to look up a specific company or highlight a sector. To de-select any item, click on white space.
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