Women still are greatly outnumbered by males in the top ranks of money-earners in the United States, but they are outpacing their male counterparts in the increases they see year to year, according to the annual review by Equilar and The Associated Press.
From 2013 to 2014, the females noted a 21 percent increase, with the median pay at $15.9 million, the study showed. That compares with a median annual income of $10.4 million for males, a figure down by 0.8 percent from the previous year. Only 17 of the 340 executives included in the survey were women.
No. 1: Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo – Top of the stack among the female execs is Marissa Mayer, CEO for Yahoo, whose income for the study period was $42.1 million. That was a whopping 69 percent. Hired in 2012 with hopes of revitalizing the aging Yahoo, Mayer’s leadership helped Yahoo become competitive again, in technology. Yahoo’s earnings jumped as a result of spinning off part of it’s share of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce site.
No. 2: Carol Meyrowitz, TJX Companies. Next highest on the list was Carol Meyrowitz, head of discount retailer TJX Companies, whose income was listed at $23.2 million, a 13 percent increase over the previous year. She led the company to $2.22 billion in profits
No. 3: Margaret Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Her annual income was reported at $19.6 million, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year. The H-P board voted to increase her pay package to make it comparable to those of peers at the company’s technology competitors, raising the base to $1.5 million.
No. 4: Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo. Her $19.1 million income for the year was a 45 percent hike over the year before. PepsiCo, which also markets Frito-Lay products, Gatorade sports drinks and Quaker oatmeal products, has upped its income through raising prices and lowering production costs under her leadership. At the same time, PepsiCo experienced challenges caused by currency volatility in Russia and Bolivia. The negative impact was offset by improved income through growth in sales of Frito-Lay products in North America.
No. 5: Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics exec, whose $19 million earnings were up by just 1 percent. She was a senior executive at the company for more than a decade before stepping into the top spot in January 2013. Under her leadership, the defense contractor’s stock has doubled, with increased dividend payments and elevated stock buy-backs.
No. 6: Virginia Rometty, IBM head, saw a 28 percent increase to bring her annual earnings to $17.9 million. Her total included a $3.6 million bonus for performance, even though IBM’s sales and profits declined. In 2013, she and other top execs bypassed bonuses when the company’s bottom line dipped.
No. 7: Marilyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin also pocketed $17.9 million for the survey period, an increase of 13 percent. She has been with the defense company for 32 years and the second female chief executive in that sector to achieve top income status. Her income went up commensurate with increased earnings at Lockheed. The firm’s stock has risen some 30 percent under her guidance.
No. 8: Patricia Woertz, CEO for Archer Daniels Midland, a company that produces vegetable oil, ethanol and ingredients used in packaged foods and drink, saw her pay rise 138 percent, the largest jump among the female execs. Her total for the survey period was $16.3 million. Some of the increase, some $501,560 was for relocation when the company moved from Decatur, Ill., to Chicago.
No. 9: Irene Rosenfeld, Mondelez International CEO, saw a 14 percent increase to $15.9 million. The board of Mondelez International, makers of Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate products and Trident gums, authorized the increase, even though shares rose only 3 percent during the reporting time. The gain in the broader market was 11.4 percent.
No. 10: Ellen Kullman of Dupont actually lost 1 percent of income, leaving her with a total of $13.1 million. She was embroiled in an effort by activist investor Nelson Peltz, who attempted to gain more influence in the 212-year-old chemical company. Shareholders voted against Peltz, but company heads felt the conflict pointed out Dupont’s failure to educate shareholders adequately about a shift in emphasis. The company is moving away from traditional chemicals to become more involved in the production of agricultural products and advanced materials.
