PAM Transport CEO’s Pay Falls to $1.1M in 2023

PAM Transport CEO Joe Vitiritto (Photo provided by PAM Transport)

Joe Vitiritto received slightly more than $1.1 million in total compensation as CEO of P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. in Tontitown in fiscal year 2023, according to a company filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Vitiritto’s compensation was down from 2022 when he earned more than $1.6 million. The chief reason for the decrease was the lack of incentive bonuses; Vitiritto received nearly $550,000 from the company’s incentive plan in 2022 but none in 2023.

P.A.M. reported fiscal revenue of $810.8 million in 2023, down from $946.9 million, and income of $18.4 million, down from $90.9 million. The company said it awarded a discretionary bonus of $150,000 to Vitiritto for the profitable year in a trying economic environment.

CFO Lance Stewart, listed as a named executive for the first time after his promotion in April, earned total compensation of $493,326 in 2023. Stewart’s salary was $344,840 and the company awarded him a discretionary bonus of $80,000 for the profitable year.

Former CFO Allen West, whose resignation was official in June, earned total compensation of $591,111 that included a salary of $205,255 and payments of $219,961 that were primarily consulting fees. West earned total compensation of $919,710 in 2022.

As part of his severance package, P.A.M. said it will pay West a cash bonus of $1.25 million in five installments and bought his vested and outstanding shares for $641,552.

The company’s filing was not a proxy statement as is traditionally the way a corporation releases its compensation information. P.A.M. said in its 10K amendment filing that it would not file the proxy statement within 120 days of the end of its fiscal year.

The filing did have much of the same information, including that P.A.M.’s annual shareholders meeting would be held Aug. 1 although a location was not listed. P.A.M. has previously held its annual meeting in Warren, Michigan, and Laredo, Texas.

Warren is where the Moroun family is based. Matthew Moroun, the chairman of the P.A.M. board, controls nearly 16 million shares, more than 72% of the company’s shares; board member Frederick Calderone is the voting trustee of two other Moroun trusts that own more than 6 million shares.

P.A.M. paid companies affiliated with Matthew Moroun more than $26 million in 2023 for such things as equipment, real estate leases and insurance.