Last year, it was all men in mining. This year, miners still dominate The Vancouver Sun's Top 100 Executive Pay list, although not the top spots. And two women made the list, whereas (amazingly) there were none last year.
But top dog, Steve Rogel, the CEO of Weyerhaeuser, may want to ask for a raise, as his take-home pay of $13.8 million was down from the $17 million garnered by last year's top earner, Ian Telfer, the former CEO of Goldcorp. And it's only two-thirds of the $21 million Don Mattrick made at Electronic Arts the year previous.
While B.C.'s top earners may be making less, the average compensation for those on our list is up eight per cent, to $2.98 million for fiscal 2007, from $2.74 million in 2006. And our Top 100 cut-off keeps going up, this year to $1.2 million, where last year it took an even $1 million to call yourself one of the top earners in the province.
Mining company executives still make up more than half the list, but they took only two of the top five spots in fiscal 2007. Stepping up to take their place was Canaccord Capital, with its president Paul Reynolds -- who earned the province's largest bonus at almost $11 million -- ranking in second place. Canaccord CEO Peter Brown's bonus of $8.7 million put him in fourth.
Filling out the top five: Goldcorp's current president and CEO Kevin McArthur; and former Lundin Mining Corp. CEO Colin Benner. McArthur was the only executive to break The Vancouver Sun's top-five two years running.
Karen Radford, president of partner solutions at Telus, was the top-earning woman, with her $2.1 million salary putting her in 48th spot. Cheryl Sedestrom, vice-president of risk management at Goldcorp, squeaked onto the list at 98th.
But her pay packet of $1.2 million is still nothing to sneeze at.
The big pay incentives reflected in this year's list are necessary to keep good top executives in British Columbia, according Fiona Macdonald, managing partner at professional services firm Towers Perrin.
Compensation in British Columbia pales compared to the rest of Canada, and especially the United States.
"It's a mobile market. People can leave," Macdonald said. So companies have to offer healthy compensation packages to get and keep the best talent.
And a good executive is worth it, she added.
"The calibre of the top executives, particularly the CEO, makes an enormous difference to the success of a company. This can't be overstated."
Top executives have to make decisions such as where to expand and what business to be in, decisions that can't be reversed overnight, Macdonald said.
Armine Yalnizyan, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, believes once compensation gets into the millions, it's no longer about the actual number.
"It's not about the dollar figure," Yalnizyan said. "It becomes symbolic after a certain point. There's something else that's going on."
Like wanting to make more than the guy down the hall.
"It's the psychology of negotiating -- it's culture, it's whatever it is. It's not economics," she said.
But what's important is whether the executives' pay reflects how much they contribute to the company compared to the employees, Yalnizyan pointed out.
According to Statistics Canada numbers, the average worker in B.C. made $39,600 in 2007. That's up only three per cent from the $38,500 earned in 2006.
"Are these guys -- and they are mostly guys -- are they really worth that much more than the average worker in the same organization?" Yalnizyan asked.
To create the list -- its sixth annual -- The Vancouver Sun reviewed the public filings of companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that claimed British Columbia as their base. B.C. companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange whose shares traded above $2 were also included for consideration, although only one executive -- from Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. -- made the Top-100 list.
Several companies, such as Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, which had executives on last year's list, were excluded as their 2007 compensation numbers had not been filed by The Sun's deadline. Private companies, including credit unions, do not disclose their compensation figures and are not included for consideration.
An expanded list of executive compensation, including the names of those who almost made it, can be found at www.vancouversun.com/salary.
fionaanderson@png.canwest.com
TOP 20 BY SALARY
Executives who were paid the most in base salary for 2007 (all converted to Canadian dollars):
1. Weyerhaeuser Steven Rogel $1,397,500
2. Telus Darren Entwistle $1,225,000
3. Teck Cominco Don Lindsay $1,100,000
4. Methanex Corp. Bruce Aitken $1,005,750
5. Goldcorp Inc. Kevin McArthur $1,000,000
6. Finning International Douglas Whitehead $960,000
7. Teck Cominco Peter Kukielski $825,000
8. Weyerhaeuser Richard Hanson $769,328
9. First Quantum Min. Philip Pascall $752,500
10. Weyerhaeuser Daniel Fulton $661,063
11. HSBC Bank Canada Lindsay Gordon $650,000
12. CHC Helicopter Sylvain Allard $650,000
13. Glentel Inc. Thomas Skidmore $630,000
14. Silver Wheaton Peter Barnes $625,543
15. Goldcorp Charles Jeannes $600,000
16. Goldcorp Lindsay Hall $600,000
17. Canaccord Capital Bradley Kotush $600,000
18. Goldcorp Steve Reid $600,000
19. Lundin Mining Joao Carrelo $537,652
20. Ballard Power John Sheridan $530,000
TOP 20 BY BONUS
Executives who received the highest bonus payments for 2007 (all converted to Canadian dollars):
1. Canaccord Capital Paul Reynolds $10,988,242
2. Canaccord Capital Peter Brown $8,691,283
3. Canaccord Capital Timothy Hoare $7,690,208
4. Canaccord Capital Jens Mayer $5,325,366
5. Wall Financial Peter Wall $1,408,263
6. Wall Financial Bruno Wall $1,408,263
7. HSBC Bank Canada Lindsay Gordon $1,327,273
8. Goldcorp Kevin McArthur $1,250,000
9. Telus Corp. Darren Entwistle $1,166,900
10. Methanex Bruce Aitken $1,140,000
11. Canaccord Capital Bradley Kotush $1,096,280
12. Quest Capital Brian Bayley $1,050,000
13. Quest Capital Murray Sinclair $1,050,000
14. Finning International Douglas Whitehead $1,000,000
15. Red Back Mining Richard Clark $981,250
16. Teck Cominco Don Lindsay $900,000
17. Ballard Power John Sheridan $868,537
18. HSBC Bank Canada Brad Meredith $755,170
19. CHC Helicopter Sylvain Allard $690,690
20. Quadra Mining Paul Blythe $650,000
ONLINE: Find all of today's package at: vancouversun.com/news/business
- PDFs of Top 100 lists from the past four years
- an extensive interactive database with this year's data at: vancouversun.com/salary