Proxy Shows Executive Pay Dropped at PAM Transport

President and CEO Dan Cushman of PAM Transport Inc. of Tontitown earned total compensation of $1.19 million in 2019, down from $1.68 million a year ago according to a preliminary proxy filed by the company with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Cushman’s base salary was $628,400, up from $610,430, but he received no stock awards in 2019. In 2018, Cushman received $436,200 in stock awards and he received $1.6 million in 2017.

Cushman received $544,000 in bonuses, down from $618,000 in 2018.

PAM (NYSE: PTSI) reported income of $7.9 million for fiscal 2019, down from $24 million in 2018.

CFO Allen West, the only other named executive in the report, received total compensation of $532,858, down from $755,131 in 2018. West’s base salary was $347,620, up from $327,626 in 2018, and he received $177,000 in bonuses, down from $201,000 the previous year.

As with Cushman, West did not receive any stock awards in 2019 after getting $218,100 in 2018.

West is facing charges of third-degree battery, disorderly conduct and public intoxication, all misdemeanors, stemming from a run-in with an Uber driver Feb. 16 in downtown Fayetteville. The black driver told police West had used racial slurs and spit on him, and the arresting officer reported he saw West punch the driver in the face.

PAM has not commented on West’s arrest. He entered a not guilty plea in Fayetteville District Court and has a court date May 6.

PAM also announced its annual shareholders meeting would be at 11 a.m. April 29 in Warren, Michigan, the home of the holding company CenTra Inc. CenTra Inc. is run by Matthew T. Moroun, the chairman of PAM’s board of directors and controller of nearly 68% of the company’s stock.

On the agenda is the election of nine directors to the board, including Matthew J. Moroun, the 19-year-old son of the chairman. Matthew J. Moroun is pursuing a business degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Two previous members of PAM’s board, Norman Harned and Daniel Sullivan, retired in April 2019.

The meeting will also have an advisory vote on executive compensation, the reappointment of Grant Thornton LLP as the company’s independent auditor and a vote to require a 75% supermajority vote to remove a director from the board of directors.

The proxy also reported that PAM had paid subsidiaries of CenTra and Oakland Financial Corp, also controlled by the Moroun Family, more than $33 million in 2019 for real estate leases, parts and maintenance and liability insurance. PAM received $2.66 million from CenTra for services in 2019.

(Correction: The base salary President and CEO Dan Cushman received in 2018 was incorrect in a previous version of this article. We have corrected the error.)