At a time when the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is a hot political topic, you may be interested to see that Jacksonville’s top executives made less money last year.
A look at the total compensation packages for chief executive officers at Jacksonville-based public companies shows that, of the 20 who have been in place for more than one year, 12 actually earned less in 2015 than they did in 2014.
The three highest-paid CEOs were, not surprisingly, the chief executives of Jacksonville’s three Fortune 500 companies. However, they all earned less in 2015.
Gary Norcross of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. received a total package worth $12.95 million, but that was 3 percent lower than 2014.
Michael Ward of CSX Corp. earned $9.2 million last year, 9 percent lower than 2014, and Raymond Quirk of Fidelity National Financial Inc. earned $7.1 million, down 22 percent.
That trend is somewhat different than the national results found by consulting firm Willis Towers Watson, which reports on executive pay packages.
Its survey of S&P 1500 companies found CEO pay did increase by 2 percent in 2015, but that was much lower than the 16 percent rise in 2014.
The firm said the smaller increase was partly due to lower values for pension benefits but also to weaker corporate performance in 2015, which resulted in lower bonus and incentive payments.
The compensation data for Jacksonville executives comes from proxy statements or annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Besides public companies headquartered in Jacksonville, the chart (shown above) includes two companies that are based out of state but have CEOs in Jacksonville, Edwin Hortman of Ameris Bancorp and Derek Dewan of General Employment Enterprises Inc.
The chart also includes Richard Burke of Advanced Disposal Services Inc., which has filed for an initial public offering but has not yet become public.
Two smaller Jacksonville-based companies that have not filed yearend reports, Latitude 360 Inc. and NAC Global Technologies Inc., are not included.
The chart shows the annual salary each CEO received and the total of other cash bonuses or incentive payments.
The total compensation includes those cash payments plus the estimated value of stock and stock option awards and other non-cash benefits they may have received.
The change represents the increase or decrease in total compensation package for each executive last year.
* Became CEO on Oct. 2, 2015
** Became CEO on April 1, 2015
NM — not measurable