Living Here Guide 2009
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Monday, Sep. 14, 2009

Leaders of the area's Fortune 500 companies

By Cameron Steele - cameronsteele@charlotteobserver.com
  • 2008 CEO Pay

    KEN LEWIS

    Bank of America Corp., Charlotte

    2008: $6,030,137 2007: $17,028,009

    CHRIS KEARNEY

    SPX Corp., Charlotte

    2008: $10,320,043 2007: $15,070,911

    MARSHALL LARSEN

    Goodrich Corp., Charlotte

    2008: $7,818,557 2007: $13,570,638

    JIM ROGERS

    Duke Energy Corp., Charlotte

    2008: $4,462,509 2007: $7,615,992

    DAN DIMICCO

    Nucor Corp., Charlotte

    2008: $5,475,7642007: $7,108,331

    ROBERT NIBLOCK

    Lowe's Companies Inc., Mooresville

    2008: $6,550,377 2007: $5,911,055

    HOWARD LEVINE

    Family Dollar Stores Inc., Matthews

    2008: $2,845,028 2007: $3,043,130

    BRUTON SMITH

    Sonic Automotive Inc., Charlotte

    2008: $4,237,467 2007: $2,608,204

    *The Charlotte Observer calculates annual CEO pay by adding base salary, bonus, the value of stock awards, profits from exercising stock options and “other” pay, such as use of corporate airplanes.

Charlotte might be considered Banktown, but after San Francisco-based Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, Bank of America is the sole bank company left out of the eight area Fortune 500 companies.

In addition to one of the nation's largest banks, the group includes the second-largest home improvement chain and one of the largest power companies. Most of the company chief executives underwent major pay cuts as the recession stymied rising executive compensation and Charlotte banks hemorrhaged billions. BofA Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis' total compensation for 2008 dropped 35 percent to $6.03 million from a little over $17 million in 2007. Marshall Larsen, Goodrich Corp. CEO, and Jim Rogers of Duke Energy Corp. both watched their 2008 compensations drop by just over 40 percent.

Only Robert Niblock of Lowe's Company Inc. and Bruton Smith, the CEO of Sonic Automotive Inc., experienced increases in total compensation. Niblock's compensation rose 11 percent to nearly $6.6 million while Smith's total compensation of $4.2 million grew from last year's $2.6 million.

The latest securities filings detailing executive compensation, called proxies, don't reflect the full story of the slumping economy's effect on executive pay. The round of proxies out in 2009 will likely show more withheld bonuses, devalued stock options and deeper pay cuts.

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