Top Executives

CEOS: Nearly 60 percent of the nation's top corporate executives -- including chief executive officers, partners, owners, presidents, chairmen and principals -- are in their 40s or 50s, says Dun & Bradstreet, the business information company. Dun & Bradstreet found 29.4 percent of top executives are 40 or over, while 29.9 percent are in their 50s, 17.9 percent in their 60s, 7.4 percent in their 70s and 1.6 percent are octogenarians.TPI: The cost of travel has been rising at a much faster clip than overall inflation, according to the Travel Industry of Association.

Your recent article about the Hostess Inc. bankruptcy stated that the company blamed its closure on striking workers, but it failed to mention what else was happening as the company was trying to cut bakery workers' pay ("Hostess' shutdown prompts snack rush," Nov. 17). Indeed, while it was filing for bankruptcy, Hostess tripled its CEO's pay and gave significant salary increases to its top executives. That's some bad HoHo. Randi Hogan, Crownsville

The Securities and Exchange Commission's move yesterday to require a lot more transparency by corporations in reporting their top executives' pay is needed and long overdue. The proposal, unanimously approved by the five SEC commissioners, would force companies for the first time to add up in a single table on their annual filings all the various elements of executives' pay packages - salary, bonuses, stock options, perquisites and pension deals - to accurately show their total compensation.

Compensation for T. Rowe Price Group's top executives went up last year, the Baltimore money manager reported Thursday. Chief Executive Officer and President James A.C. Kennedy's total package rose 10.5 percent to $7.9 million in 2011. Kennedy's base salary remained at $350,000, according to the company's proxy. His cash bonus rose to $5.5 million, from $5 million in 2010. The value of his stock options was $1.96 million, up from $1.7 million. Other compensation, which includes retirement contributions, matching charitable contributions and other benefits, totaled about $70,800, a slight increase from a year earlier.

TOKYO -- When Ford Motor Co. was caught falsifying emissions test records in 1973, company executives showed little remorse, simply paying the $7 million fine out of company coffers.That isn't the way things work in Japan.Mazda Motor Co., in a show of contrition unusual even for Japan, said yesterday that its top executives had agreed to accept temporary pay cuts to take responsibility for mishandling safety problems in some of its passenger cars.President Norimasa Furuta and 17 other executives will take salary cuts of 5 to 10 percent in the first three months of 1991.

McCormick & Co. Inc. shareholders approved an incentive pay program yesterday that could give top executives millions of dollars in stock each if the company achieves its financial goals.The approval was announced at an annual shareholders meeting in which Charles P. "Buzz" McCormick Jr. said he would retire as chairman next year. McCormick, 69, who came out of retirement four years ago to guide the company through a tumultuous period, named Chief Executive and President Robert J. Lawless as his successor.

ATLANTA -- Coca-Cola Co. awarded a severance package worth $17.8 million to M. Douglas Ivester, who stepped down as chairman and chief executive Feb. 17 after a two-year tenure marked by slow sales worldwide and a lagging stock price. The world's largest soft-drink maker also denied bonuses and stock awards last year for top executives --including Ivester and his successor, Douglas Daft -- because of poor sales, according to Coca-Cola's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

DETROIT -- Officers and top executives of General Motors Corp. suffered a 36 percent pay cut in 1991, according to the automaker's proxy statement published yesterday.GM directors last week removed Robert C. Stempel, chairman and chief executive, as head of the executive committee.Mr. Stempel, 58, was GM's highest-paid executive, receiving $1 million in salary. His pay was down 31 percent from $1.44 million in 1990.The company, which lost $4.5 billion in 1991 -- the worst loss in U.S. corporate history -- said the "reduced level of compensation for GM's entire officer group in 1991 reflected another year of declining business conditions and lower corporate results."

Top executives at Under Armour Inc., the Baltimore-based performance apparel maker, saw a big boost in their compensation last year as the company's revenues and profits sharply climbed, according to an Under Armour statement filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kevin Plank, the chief executive officer, received $1.3 million in total compensation, up from $748,000 in 2009. Brad Dickerson, the chief financial officer, was paid $585,000, up from $368,000 a year earlier.

No. 1: "The Customer Is Always Right!" may be a cliche or sound advice, but it's also the name of a book by Armen J. Kabodian, who has compiled comments by top executives. Among them: "Make serving the customer an obsession," from R. L. Qualls, CEO of Baldor Electric Co. And, "We've got to get back to a fundamental issue, and that is: We all work first for the customer," from IBM Chairman Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Kabodian also offers a suggestion from Rick Stewart, CEO of Frontier Cooperative Herbs: "Did you ever try to outsmart your 17-year-old daughter?