The "average" Ohio CEO made $6,262,232, according to the website www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-You. Meanwhile, the "average" Ohioan makes $39,046, according to the site.
CEO salaries on the database — updated last week with what the union said was the most recent available information — were obtained from annual corporate proxy statements, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while earnings for “average” Ohio workers were calculated with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data tools, union spokesman Mike Gillis said.
A BLS search last week put average weekly earnings for Ohio employees on private nonfarm payrolls at $762.32 in February, the most recent number available. That calculates to $39,640.64 a year, similar to the number the AFL-CIO uses in the database.
In a Tax Day press release, the union singled out for attention two Ohio CEOs — Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries, who made $48,069,473, and First Energy CEO Anthony Alexander, who made $23,310,829, the site said.
Many of the CEO compensation figures on the database are from 2011, some from 2012. A look at the database points to Dayton-area CEOs, including James Wainscott, CEO of West Chester Twp.’s AK Steel Corp., who was paid a total of $8,722,267 in 2011. Stuart Rose, chairman and CEO of Harrison Twp.’s REX American Resources Corp., drew $1,157,705 in 2011.
Mike Koehler, CEO of Miami Twp.-based Teradata, who works in the Atlanta area, received $10,255,647 in 2012, the site said.
The point behind the database is simple, Gillis said. “It’s showing the growing wealth disparity in the U.S. and Ohio.”
Noting the numbers isn’t a matter of envy or sour grapes, Gillis said. Astronomical CEO pay “contributes to less investment that would benefit the average American worker,” he said.
“The numbers are becoming obscene,” he added.
Peter Morici, a professor of international business at the University of Maryland, said the question goes beyond numbers. Not all CEOs are paid exorbitant amounts, he said. And running companies can be a demanding task.
“There are some CEOs that really do add as much value as they are taking out,” Morici said.
But he is critical of pay packages that he sees as too lavish, as well as arrangements he believes are too cozy. He argued that many CEOs “sit on each other’s boards” and decide what their peers earn.
In Dayton, Joseph Morgan, president and CEO of Standard Register, saw his compensation fall 17 percent, to nearly $1.76 million in 2012, down from $2.1 million in 2011. That was in part because Standard Register did not hit all of the incentive targets board members set for the company, said Robert Ginnan, the company’s vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer
“Obviously, companies make their pay decisions based on their unique circumstances, but Standard Register and its board believe that when executive compensation is linked to performance, it’s in the best interest of shareholders,” Ginnan said.
“When you talk about the relationship to the average worker, it (the pay gap) does seem pretty stark,” said Melissa Gruys, a Wright State University management professor.
But being CEO isn’t for the faint of heart, Gruys said. A CEO’s professional reputation can rest on his or her performance and the job doesn’t end at 5 p.m., she said. And top executives often have decades of proven performance in lesser positions before winning the corner office.
“You’ve paid your dues,” she said.
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