General Motors’s top CEO, Mary Barra, got a compensation package worth just below $22 million in 2018, slightly less than the earlier year, according to the No. 1 U.S. automaker’s proxy statement issued on Thursday.
GM also stated two members of the board of directors – former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, retired Admiral Michael Mullen and the former CEO of ConocoPhillips , James Mulva – will not opt for re-election. The Detroit company did not name replacements, indicating the number of board members will decrease to 11.
GM and the rest of the auto industry are dealing with an expected reduction in U.S. demand this year, declining sales in the world’s largest auto market in China and possible costly tariffs that could be imposed by the administration of American President Donald Trump as it negotiates new trade deals with China, Europe and Japan.
GM is also investing significantly in developing electric and self-driving technologies.
Barra’s total compensation package was valued at $21.87 million, little below the $21.96 million she got in 2017. Barra, GM’s chairman and CEO, was paid $22.58 million in 2016. GM stated Barra’s pay was 281 times that of the median company worker.
Barra’s pay package consisting of a salary of $2.1 million, still not changed from 2017; stock awards worth nearly $11.1 million; options worth over $3.4 million and a performance award worth almost $4.5 million, according to the proxy.
Barra is the automaker’s highest-paid executive. CFO Dhivya Suryadevara received little over $5.5 million in total compensation, and Chuck Stevens, who she replaced last September, got little below $7 million, according to the proxy.
Former President Dan Ammann, who now leads GM’s Cruise automation unit, received just under $9 million, whereas Mark Reuss, who replaced Ammann as president, received nearly $7.4 million, according to the proxy.
GM’s yearly investor meeting is set to be held online on June 4.
One shareholder proposal seeks the board adopt as policy the naming of an independent board chairman, a proposal that at the 2017 annual meeting had 41 percent voting support. General Motors opposes the proposal.
