Kirk Thompson was paid just over $3 million during his final year as president and CEO of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. of Lowell, according to the annual proxy statement released by the company last week.
Thompson’s compensation package included salary of $695,000, unchanged from 2009, plus $2.1 million worth of stock and bonus of $243,246.
He also realized $1.83 million by exercising shares of J.B. Hunt stock during 2010, according to the proxy. No new stock options have been granted to any J.B. Hunt executives in the past three years.
Thompson resigned as CEO effective Jan. 1 and was elected chairman of the trucking company’s board of directors, succeeding Wayne Garrison. At the same time, John N. Roberts III was promoted from president of dedicated contract services to president and CEO.
The proxy statement announced that the annual meeting of shareholders will be held at 10 a.m. on April 28 at the company headquarters in Lowell.
Other than re-election of the current slate of directors and rehiring Ernst & Young for audit services, shareholders are being asked to give advisory approval to the company’s executive compensation structure and to approve a resolution calling for such advisory votes on executive pay every three years. Shareholder approval of compensation packages is part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
Other compensation packages for 2010 revealed in the proxy were:
- Chief Financial Officer David G. Mee earned a total of $1.63 million, $1.22 million of it in the form of stock awards and a $100,590. He also realized $514,283 from the exercise of stock options.
- Garrison, the former chairman, was paid $661,220, including a salary of $550,385 and a bonus of $66,913. He did not exercise any stock options.
- Paul R. Bergant, president of the intermodal division, had a total compensation package of $905,768. That included a salary of $349,615, stock worth $417,840 and a bonus of $120,751. He realized an additional $627,824 by exercising stock options.
- Chief Operating Officer Craig Harper was paid $1.15 million, including salary of $361,538, stock worth $661,580 and a bonus of $126,000. He realized $1.16 million by exercising stock options.
Roberts was not a "named executive officer" for purposes of the 2010 proxy, so his compensation was not detailed.
The proxy lists two principal stockholders, Founder J.B. Hunt’s widow Johnelle Hunt of Rogers and Wellington Management Co. LLP of Boston, and both have significantly reduced their holdings of the company’s stock in the past year. (A principal stockholder is defined as a person or entity holding more than 5 percent of the outstanding common stock.)
Hunt had 21.12 million shares as of Dec. 31, currently valued at almost $920 million. She sold more than 7 million shares last year, reducing her share of outstanding stock from 22.1 percent to 17.4 percent.
At the end of 2010, Wellington held 8.3 million shares, currently valued at more than $360 million. The institutional investor sold more than 4.77 million shares last year, reducing its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport from 10.27 percent to 6.8 percent.
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