(The following story by Gregory Richards appeared on The Virginian-Pilot website on March 22.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. increased its chief executive’s compensation 20.9 percent last year, according to a regulatory filing Friday.
Wick Moorman received compensation valued at $14.6 million in 2007, according to the proxy statement the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2006, he earned $12.1 million.
Moorman, 56, became the Norfolk-based railroad’s president in October 2004, chief executive in November 2005 and chairman in February 2006.
Last year, Norfolk Southern, the nation’s fourth-largest railroad, reported a profit of $1.5 billion, down 1.2 percent from 2006 amid rising fuel costs and reduced freight shipments. Its stock price increased a slight 0.3 percent last year, closing at $50.44 a share on Dec. 31. Thursday, it closed at $53.07 a share.
Moorman’s compensation package included a base salary of $800,000, stock awards of $8.3 million, $2.6 million in stock options, $862,400 from a nonequity incentive plan plus a $1.9 million increase in the value of his pension.
He also received $153,570 in all other compensation last year, including $50,044 for such perks as corporate aircraft use, financial planning, company automobiles and annual physicals; $41,199 to pay taxes on personal benefits; and $31,700 contributed to charities on Moorman’s behalf as part of the company’s matching gift program.
By comparison, Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX Corp., the other major eastern railroad, paid its chief executive, Michael J. Ward, $16.6 million last year, according to an SEC filing in February.
Annual compensation increased for most of the other five Norfolk Southern executives whose pay was disclosed in the proxy. One was new to the list: James A. Squires, who became chief financial officer on July 1. Stephen C. Tobias, its vice chairman and chief operating officer, saw his compensation drop 24.3 percent due mostly to a decline in stock awards.
Norfolk Southern also announced that its annual stockholders meeting will be held at 10 a.m. May 8 at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art.
At the meeting, four members of the company’s board of directors are up for re-election: Gerald L. Baliles, a former governor of Virginia and director of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs; Gene R. Carter, executive director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; retired Navy Adm. J. Paul Reason; and Karen N. Horn, a partner with Brock Capital Group, who was first elected to the board in February to fill a vacancy.
Shareholders will also vote on the accounting firm KPMG LLP as Norfolk Southern’s auditors.