Executives

At a time when executives routinely score payouts worth tens of millions of dollars for selling a company, Mercantile Bankshares Corp. chief Edward J. "Ned" Kelly III could have bargained for a bigger potential "golden parachute" when his contract was up for renewal this year. But he didn't. Instead he surprised board members by suggesting they drop provisions in his contract that would have brought him a $9 million windfall when and if the Baltimore bank were sold. In the world of executive compensation, where exit packages for corporate America have become a lightning rod for shareholders and corporate ethicists, this might be the equivalent of man-bites-dog.

Let's be intellectually honest. Supposedly, investors buy stocks for the long run, banking on companies to become increasingly profitable and shares to perhaps double or even triple as many years go by. But if that's true, then why are so many chief executive officers given multimillion-dollar compensation packages as rewards for the past year, rather than for effective leadership for 10 years or so? William George, a Harvard Business School professor who was given plenty of multimillion-dollar packages while CEO of medical device-maker Medtronic Inc. between 1991 and 2001, thinks the system is topsy-turvy.

Maryland's top energy regulator vowed a thorough review of the sale of Constellation Energy Group as state lawmakers grilled the company's executives about its management and the terms of a deal it struck to avoid a possible bankruptcy. Douglas Nazarian, chairman of the Public Service Commission, outlined issues that his agency plans to address when reviewing the proposed $4.7 billion purchase of Baltimore's last Fortune 500 company by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. The PSC must approve the deal and can impose conditions to ensure that it is in the public interest.

HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. executive Kevin Hannon pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy yesterday, admitting that he helped senior executives misrepresent the value of the company's broadband services division. Hannon, who was chief operating officer for Enron Broadband Services, agreed to work with prosecutors trying to convict other former Enron executives, including former Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey K. Skilling and former Chairman Kenneth L. Lay, after the collapse of the Texas energy trader.

Multimillion-dollar bonuses and severance payments for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield executives - which stunned legislators when they became public in March - are illegal and "not reasonable," a consultant to Maryland's insurance commissioner concluded in a report released yesterday. The consultant, former Missouri insurance commissioner Jay Angoff, singled out a $9.1 million bonus for Chief Executive Officer William L. Jews, which, he wrote, "serves no other purpose than to enrich Jews."

Constellation Energy Group Inc.'s board sliced its chief executive's pay last year by 37 percent after the energy company abandoned an ambitious plan to split in two and paid Goldman Sachs Group Inc. $355 million to end a business partnership. Christian H. Poindexter, who was CEO until November, earned a little more than $1 million last year, compared with $1.7 million in 2000. Poindexter still is board chairman. Mayo A. Shattuck III, who replaced Poindexter as CEO on Nov. 1, earned $150,000 for the last two months of last year.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - For retired General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch, like many others who once led large U.S. companies, these are the golden years. Welch gets a $9 million annual pension. For any day when he offers General Electric advice, he earns an additional $17,000. He was able to build his nest egg by putting part of his salary into an account on which the world's largest company by market value guaranteed 10 percent annual interest. Big-league CEOs often award themselves lifetime benefits that would be the envy of most Americans.

A CHANGING OF the guard occurs today in Maryland's suburbs. The county executives and commissioners elected a month ago will be inaugurated. They replace people who gained the job -- one of the most demanding in local government -- as population boom and economic strife collided in the early 1990s.County executives John G. Gary in Anne Arundel, Charles I. Ecker in Howard and Eileen M. Rehrmann in Harford and Carroll commissioners W. Benjamin Brown and Richard T. Yates leave office for different reasons.

LOS ANGELES -- Northrop Grumman Corp., the sixth largest U.S. defense contractor, was sued yesterday by a shareholder who said executives artificially inflated its share price by hiding news that Lockheed Martin Corp.'s acquisition of Northrop wouldn't be completed.The suit, filed in state court in Los Angeles, claims Northrop officials made misleading statements about the U.S. government's antitrust objections to Lockheed's $10.7 billion purchase of the maker of B-2 bomber.That propped up Northrop's stock while insiders sold more than $10 million in shares in a month, the suit claims.

Nine top USF&G Corp. executives will take senior positions with the Minnesota-based company that is acquiring the Baltimore insurer, the companies said yesterday."