Annual CEO pay review: Top 3 findings

1 For the first time in memory, the highest-paid CEO among North Carolina’s biggest public companies last year was a woman. Susan DeVore, chief executive of Charlotte-based health care company Premier, received total compensation of $24.9 million, the highest in the Observer’s review. DeVore topped the list primarily because of stock and option awards she received in connection with Premier becoming a public company in 2013. Those awards vest over three years and are tied largely to performance. The ranks of CEOs remain overwhelmingly male in North Carolina and across the country. Women lead just three of North Carolina’s 50 biggest public companies, and they constitute only 4.6 percent of CEOs at S&P 500 companies. Executive ranks also remain overwhelmingly white among North Carolina’s biggest companies, an exception being Paul Sunu of FairPoint Communications.

2 Median CEO compensation rose 5 percent last year, to $4.4 million. That’s nearly 137 times the median wage for the state’s other workers.

3 Some North Carolina CEOs received less compensation last year after their companies didn’t meet performance metrics. Kelly King, CEO of Winston-Salem’s BB&T Corp., saw his pay shrink about 8 percent, to $7.3 million, as the lender failed to meet targets.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Annual CEO pay review: Top 3 findings."