According to a report released last week by research firm SNL Financial, one CEO is earning an annual salary approximately the same as the average amusement park attendant.
Meet Edward Lee Spencer, Jr. At 82, he is the Chairman and CEO of
A collection of perks and an annual bonus of more than triple his salary still brings Spencer’s overall compensation to just $132,320.
Auburn representatives declined to comment, and a glance at the bank’s 2012 proxy statement, which touts a performance-based compensation philosophy, does little to clarify, and lists Spencer’s salary as even lower for 2011.
Aaron Boyd, Director of Governance Research at executive compensation research firm Equilar, Inc., suggests that Spencer’s equity stake in the bank—just over twenty percent—could explain his particularly low compensation package. Since Spencer has likely owned stock in the company for many years, income earned from his holdings during 2012 would not appear in 2013’s disclosures—and would significantly augment his overall haul.
Auburn Bank has eleven offices and thirteen ATMs throughout eastern Alabama, and describes itself as “community oriented.” Though modest in scope, Auburn is a solid performer, having spent the better part of the past decade as one of American Banker magazine’s Top 200 Community Banks, based on average return on equity over a three year period.
Todd Sirras of executive compensation consulting firm Semler Brossy says that idiosyncratic compensation structures in small institutions are hardly unique; little banks rarely attract the attention or scrutiny given to larger institutions, and they often pay in unlikely ways.
At community banks, said Sirras, “the pay structures will be all over the map.”
At all banks large and small, the SNL study found, the median CEO compensation package swelled 22.2% for the year, but CEOs of the largest banks brought home less than in previous years (topping the list is
Follow me on Twitter @KathrynDill.
