Fat times for top HR execs

Workforce, Dec, 2002 by Fay Hansen

HR executives aren't getting paid the astronomical $706 million that Oracle Corporation CEO Lawrence J. Ellison earned last year when he exercised his stock options, but they are bringing in fat pay packages. The highest-paid HR executive in the country is Home Depot, Inc.'s Dennis M. Donovan. He pulled down $30.9 million in total direct compensation for 2001, including $1.5 million in salary and bonus and $29.4 million in stock options, according to data released by Equilar, Inc. The San Mateo, California, company combs Securities and Exchange Commission filings for compensation trends.

The second-highest-paid HR executive is Alcoa Inc.'s Robert F. Slagle, who received $870,854 in salary and bonus and $16.8 million in stock options for 2001. Capital One Financial Corporation's Dennis H. Liberson takes third place, with $1.1 million in salary and bonus and $12.4 million in options, followed by PerkinElmer, Inc.'s Richard F. Walsh, with $764,826 in salary and bonus plus $9.4 million in options. Electronic Data Systems' Troy W. Todd fills out the top five, with salary and bonus of $1.7 million and $6.8 million in options.

Donovan joined Home Depot in April 2001 with an employment agreement that guarantees him $525,000 in annual base salary, an annual bonus of no less than his base pay, and a $3 million loan with extremely favorable terms. Although Donovan, Slagle, and Todd direct HR for companies with more than 100,000 employees, Walsh and Liberson manage far smaller operations.

Median pay for a top HR executive hit $216,000 this year, up 2.9 percent from $210,000 in 2001, according to a new Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC survey of 1,100 employers.