Gain amid the pain.

• Author: Maley, Frank
• Position: Top 75 Chief executive officers - Statistical table

Ken Thompson wasn't the only chief executive of a big Tar Heel company forced out in the past year, and given the pain shareholders are feeling, more might go. Forty-eight of the 75 largest public companies based in North Carolina produced a negative total return for shareholders in their latest fiscal year. Many have continued to struggle, and some of those with positive returns ended their fiscal year before December, when the economy was stronger, and have lost value since.

Among the biggest earners, CEO pay moved in the same direction as company performance, according to information compiled by the Charlotte office of human-resources consultant Findley Davies Inc. Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. watched profits plummet and posted negative total returns. Pay for their CEOs fell, too. At BofA, Ken Lewis saw his bonus shrink 35%; overall pay, 7%. Thompson's bonus withered from $5.2 million in 2006 to zero. His overall pay fell 23%. And eventually, he lost his job. But right behind them was Mackey McDonald, who retired from apparel maker VF Corp. earlier this year. His cash income--salary and bonus--shot up 22% and total pay increased 16% while VF's total return fell 14%. Boosting cash pay in the face of negative total returns wasn't an anomaly. Almost half of the companies with CEOs on the job at least two fiscal years did so.

In some cases, the CEO might have hit internal benchmarks that helped keep the company profitable--VF's net income rose 11%--or avoid a bigger loss, yet the company was still punished by Wall Street because it was in a struggling industry or other external factors. "There are an enormous amount of variables that go into these decisions," says Hank Federal, principal and market leader for Findley Davies' Southeast practice. "But when a shareholder receives this type of information, they're not going to care about all the internal nuances. They're saying, 'I lost a dollar a share, and my board thought it proper to increase executive comp.' And they're not going to understand that."

Despite a 24% drop from 2006, Ken Lewis still produced more profit per dollar than any other Top 75 CEO in 2007. CEO, company Total comp. Net income per (000s) dollar of CEO comp. 1 Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America $25,644.0 $584.23 2 Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's 8,436.2 332.97 3 Robert P. Ingle II, Ingles Markets 185.9 315.26 4 G. Kennedy Thompson *, Wachovia 21,446.7 294.31 5 James E. Rogers, Duke Energy 5,949.1 252.14 6 Daniel R. DiMicco, Nucor 6,672.9 220.58 7 John A. Allison IV, BB&T 8,659.0 200.25 8 Susan M. Ivey, Reynolds American 8,779.0 148.99 9 Lewis R. Holding *, First Citizens 1,010.5 107.48 BancShares 10 David J. Mcllquham *, Sealy 853.4 93.04 * no longer CEO PAY vs. PERFORMANCE CEO COMPENSATION Base Exchange-ticker salary Bonus 2008 CEO Headquarters (000s) (000s) 2007 Company Change Change 1 Kenneth D. Lewis (N-BAC) $1,500.0 $4,250.0 3 Bank of America Charlotte 0.0% (34.6)% 2 G. Kennedy Thompson (N-WB) 1,090.0 0.0 (1) 2 Wachovia Charlotte 0.0 (100.0) 3 Mackey J. McDonald (N-VFC) 1,180.0 2,088.6 (2) 5 VF Greensboro 3.5 36.7 4 Marshall O. Larsen (N-GR) 1,030.0 1,782.4 6 Goodrich Charlotte 6.2 28 1 5 Stephen P. Zelnak (N-MLM) 1,036.8 715.0 Jr. 12 Martin Marietta Raleigh 7.1 (24.1) Materials 6 David C. Swanson (N-RHD) 931.7 1,233.1 35 R.H. Donnelley Cary 10.0 16.7 7 Richard A. Noll (N-HBI) 800.0 1,251.6 11 Hanesbrands Winston-Salem 0.0 0.0 8 Christopher J. (N-SPW) 1,000.0 2,500.0 Kearney 14 SPX Charlotte 5.3 36.6 9 David P. King (3) (N-LH) 750.0 1,464.7 -- Laboratory Corp. of Burlington na na America 10 Susan M. Ivey (N-RAI) 1,190.4 1,525.0 10 Reynolds American Winston-Salem 4.9 (31.4) 11 John A. Allison IV (N-BBT) 965.3 667.0 7 BB&T Winston Salem 4.1 (15.4) 12 Robert A. Niblock (N-LOW) 1,050.0 0.0 9 Lowe's Mooresville 10.5 (100.0) 13 David A. Roberts (4) (N-CSL) 900.0 1,800.0 -- Carlisle Charlotte na na 14 William D. Johnson (N-PGN) 807.5 863.5 (3) -- Progress Energy Raleigh na na 15 Daniel R. DiMicco (N-NUE) 755.0 2,010.2 8 Nucor Charlotte 4.1 (0.1) 16 James E. Rogers (N-DUK) 0.0 0.0 1 Duke Energy Charlotte 0.0 0.0 17 Howard R. Levine (N-FDO) 825.3 859.1 23 Family Dollar Matthews 13.3 0.2 Stores 18 J. Frank Harrison (Q-COKE) 785.0 759.7 III 19 Coca-Cola Bottling Charlotte 3.5 6.8 Consolidated 19 Edward J. Fritsch (N-HIW) 476.1 877.9 28 Highwoods Raleigh 11.2 65.0 Properties 20 Daryl G. Brewster (N-KKD) 700.0 0.0 (5) 22 Krispy Kreme Winston-Salem na na Doughnuts 21 Matthew J. Szulik (N-RHT) 558.3 589.4 (6) 25 Red Hat Raleigh 10.7 7.9 22 Stanley K.Tanger (N-SKT) 597.3 810.4 46 Tanger Factory Greensboro 10.0 8.1 Outlet Centers 23 David V Singer (Q-LNCE) 550.0 484.0 30 Lance Charlotte 10.0 11.3 24 Ernest F. Schaub (N-NPO) 649.6 762.4 (7) 27 EnPro Industries Charlotte 3.2 (14.1) 25 Frank M.Drendel (N-CTV) 820.4 1,136.0 31 CommScope Hickory 13.7 45.5 26 O. Bruton Smith (8) (N-SAH) $1,100.0 $1,117.9 26 Sonic Automotive Charlotte 0.0% 6.6% 27 Earl E. Cortgdon (Q-ODFL) 445.9 2,200.1 29 Old Dominion Freight Thomasville 1.4 (2.6) Line 28 Franco Plastina (3) (Q-TKLC) 550.0 938.4 13 Tekelec Morrisville na na 29 Fredric N. Eshelman (Q-PPDI) 709.2 500.0 18 PPD Wilmington 2.9 100.0 30 Eugene B.Johnson (N-FRP) 460.0 526.2 39 Fairpoint Charlotte 5.8 33.5 Communications 31 Robert A. (Q-RFMD) 586.7 0.0 Bruggeworth 24 RF Micro Devices Greensboro 4.3 (100.0) 32 Robert E. Harrison (N-AOI) 603.0 450.4 (3) 45 Alliance One Morrisville na na International 33 Sidney Hinton (3) (Q-POWR) 438.4 654.8 -- PowerSecure Wake Forest na na International 34 Peter J. Sodini (Q-PTRY) 755.4 0.0 34 The Pantry Sanford 4.9 (100.0) 35 O. Bruton Smith (8) (N-TRK) 600.0 1,230.0 38 Speedway Concord 0.0 (15.2) Motorsports 36 Guy M. Campbell (9) (Q-HSTX) 426.3 126.0 -- Harris Stratex Morrisville 0.0 0.0 Networks 37 Charles G. Raymond (N-HRZ) 635.8 0.0 41 Horizon Lines Charlotte 4.5 (100.0) 38 Thomas E. Skains (N-PNY) 642.3 278.3 21 Piedmont Natural Charlotte 7.3 30.6 Gas 39 Veronica Hagen (3) (0-POLGA.OB) 450.0 450.0 -- Polymer Group Charlotte na na 40 Thomas Gutierrez (N-XRM) 670.0 0.0 (10) 43 Xerium Technologies Youngsville 0.0 0.0 41 Thomas W. Dickson (N-RDK) 555.0 514.2 48 Ruddick Charlotte 5.7 10.3 42 John P. Derham Cato (N-CTR) 962.5 0.0 32 Cato Charlotte 5.5 (100.0) 43 J. Eric Pike (N-PEC) 750.0 0.0 17 Pike Electric MountAiry 0.3 (100.0) 44 Carolyn J. Logan (Q-SLXP) 685.0 342.5 52 Salix Morrisville 11.4 22.3 Pharmaceuticals 45 Brian R. Parke (11) (N-UFI) 750.0 0.0 57 Unifi Greensboro 0.0 0.0 46 Charles M. Swoboda (Q-CREE) 550.0 50.0 47 Cree Durham 1.8 0.0 47 Martin A. Mattingly (Q-TRMS) 288.8 0.0 (4) -- Trimeris Morrisville na na 48 Robert B. Toth (N-PPO) 525.0 703.5 -- Polypore Charlotte 11.1 (6.2) International 49 John R. Plachetka (Q-POZN) 488.5 504.0 36 Pozen Chapel Hill 5.1 7.2 50 H.O.Woltz III (Q-IIIN) 421.3 421.3 51 Insteel Industries MountAiry 4.2 4.2 51 0. Edwin French (Q-MDTH) $575.0 $495.9 40 MedCath Charlotte 4.5% 38.7% 52 Simon Pedder (Q-CHTP) 374.4 238.1 54 Chelsea Therapeutics Charlotte 6.6 376.3 Intl. 53 Lewis R. Holding (Q-FCNCA) 933.9 0.0 (12) 50 First Citizens Raleigh 3.2 0.0 BancShares 54 Christy L. Shaffer (Q-ISPH) 448.5...