Treasurer Magaziner Announces Opposition to Executive Pay
Packages
Facebook, eBay, and the parent company of Google are among
the companies at which Rhode Island voted in
opposition to management-backed 'say on pay' proposals.
"My job as Treasurer is to
deliver strong financial performance for the state's pension fund. When
the companies we invest in award excessive pay packages to executives, it comes
at the expense of the pension fund and the public employees we serve," General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said. "Our
say-on-pay effort reflects our position that executive compensation
should be transparent and based on performance."
So far in 2016, Rhode Island has
voted "no" on executive compensation plans at 75 companies, due to a
misalignment between CEO pay and company performance or because the
compensation plans were deemed excessive or otherwise inappropriate.
Since the 1970s, inflation-adjusted CEO pay in the U.S. increased by almost 1,000 percent, according to a study last year from the Economic Policy Institute.
Six of the highest paid U.S.
CEOs make more than 300 times the salary of their typical employee, according
to the compensation analysis firm PayScale.
Facing increasing shareholder
advocacy amid a volatile market and slower growth rates, many of America's
biggest corporations are under an intense spotlight to link chief executive pay
to company performance, according to the Korn Ferry Hay Group 2015 CEO
Compensation Study.
The Office of the General Treasurer has sent a letter to all
companies that received "no" votes to inform them of Rhode Island's
opposition to their executive pay packages, and offer to open a dialogue about
how they can make progress on this important issue.