The total 2021 compensation for Jeff Williams, CEO of America's Car-Mart Inc. of Rogers, declined to nearly $800,000 from more than $4.9 million in 2020, according to a proxy statement filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
Williams' base salary was $750,000 in 2021, an increase from $572,894 in 2020. But his total compensation was down not only from 2020 but from the $3.09 million he earned in 2019.
Williams' compensation in 2018, his first year as CEO, was slightly more than $517,000.
The main reason for the compensation drop was a lack of option awards. Williams received more than $4.1 million in options in 2020 and nearly $2.5 million in 2019.
CFO Vickie Judy earned total compensation of $442,176 in 2021. Her base salary was $400,000 and, like Williams, she did not receive any option awards in 2021 after receiving more than $2 million in 2020.
Chief Operating Officer Leonard Walthall earned total compensation of $439,364 in 2021, down from $2.5 million in 2020. Walthall's base salary was $400,000, an increase from $305,962, but he didn't receive option awards after collecting more than $2 million in 2020.
The company reported Car-Mart's median employee compensation was $48,000; it had 3,150 total employees. The ratio of Williams' total compensation to the median employee was 17-to-1.
America's Car-Mart reported fiscal 2021 earnings in May. Revenue was $918.6 million, up from $744.6 million, and income was $104.1 million, up from $53.1 million.
Car-Mart's annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 25 at the company's headquarters in Rogers. The agenda includes the election of seven board members, an advisory vote on executive compensation and a vote to ratify Grant Thornton LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm.
Two of the board members will be up for election for the first time. Dawn Morris, a former banking executive, was named to the board in April 2021 to replace Jim von Gremp, who retired.
America's Car-Mart announced that board member Ray Dillon is also retiring. The company nominated Julia Davis, a technology executive who is chief information officer of R1 RCM, a health care management company, to fill Dillon's seat.
Dillon is the former CEO of Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado, now known as PotlatchDeltic Corp.
