175 Top Executives Increased the Value of their Pension Benefits by $1.6 bil in Three Years

As an introduction to my next several posts on US Debt Reduction Sequester Solution Tax Loophole Closers, from a quick review of the proxy statements of hundreds of publicly-held companies, I found 175 top executives, mostly CEOs, who had the Total Value of their Pension Benefits grow by $1,657.8 mil (yeah, that's more than $1.6 bil) in just the three most recent years disclosed, mostly for the years ended December 2009 to 2011.

These 175 Top Executives were ones I found who had the Value of their Pension Benefits grow by more than $5 mil each for the most recent three years.

Below here are these 175 Top Executives, their companies, and the related Increase in the Value of their Pension Benefits for each of those three years, and for the three years combined:

						Three Year
			2011	2010	2009	Total
			Increase	Increase	Increase	Increase
			in Value of	in Value of	in Value of	in Value of
			Pension	Pension	Pension	Pension
	Executive	Big Corp	Benefits	Benefits	Benefits	Benefits
			$000's	$000's	$000's	$000's
1	Hammergren	McKesson	10,076	14,073	20,672	44,821
2	Ryan	CVS Caremark		13,760	14,198	27,958
3	Plant	TRW Automotive	5,480	6,991	12,591	25,062
4	Tillerson	ExxonMobil	9,755	7,476	5,467	22,698
5	Immelt	General Electric	10,255	6,339	4,398	20,992
6	Read	Pfizer	6,893	10,977	1,916	19,786
7	Stephenson	AT&T	3,330	7,096	8,990	19,416
8	Rice	General Electric	9,788	5,007	3,729	18,524
9	Weldon	Johnson & Johnson	3,435	7,085	7,983	18,503
10	Strangfeld	Prudential Financial	8,999	6,386	2,855	18,240
11	Kent	Coca Cola	7,954	5,537	4,020	17,511
12	R Murdoch	NewsCorp	7,604	3,857	5,910	17,371
13	Coury	Mylan Labs	4,550	7,961	4,676	17,187
14	Roell	Johnson Controls	8,976	5,349	2,329	16,654
15	Neal	General Electric	8,199	4,817	3,400	16,416
16	McNerney	Boeing	4,555	5,972	5,738	16,265
17	Rosenfeld	Kraft Foods	6,207	5,812	4,241	16,260
18	Felsinger	Sempra Energy	1,881	1,771	12,565	16,217
19	Buckley	3M	11,295	3,971	943	16,209
20	Bracken	HCA	2,749	9,251	4,096	16,096
21	White	Abbott Labs	5,419	5,540	4,286	15,245
22	Finnegan	Chubb	3,003	6,428	5,514	14,945
23	Lechleiter	Eli Lilly	6,530	3,758	4,553	14,841
24	Breen	Tyco International	6,650	3,880	3,842	14,372
25	Clark	Merck	2,704	6,662	4,945	14,311
26	Sherin	General Electric	7,655	3,872	2,722	14,249
27	J Hess	Hess	4,210	4,491	5,385	14,086
28	Angel	Praxair	6,186	5,320	2,478	13,984
29	Krenicki	General Electric	6,623	4,545	2,816	13,984
30	Adkerson	Freeport McMoran	2,188	4,242	7,534	13,964
31	Faraci	International Paper	3,196	5,546	5,126	13,868
32	Young	Union Pacific	5,862	3,313	4,056	13,231
33	Hackett	Anadarko Petroleum	3,681	5,531	3,956	13,168
34	Novak	Yum Brands	7,507	2,038	3,566	13,111
35	Miller	PPL Corp	3,981	4,585	4,120	12,686
36	Rohr	PNC Financial	4,370	4,969	3,226	12,565
37	Alexander	First Energy	4,029	2,883	5,460	12,372
38	Kirkland	Chevron	5,571	3,687	2,851	12,109
39	Loranger	ITT	4,431	2,603	4,940	11,974
40	Palmisano	IBM	5,283	4,142	1,913	11,338
41	Meyrowitz	TJX	4,700	3,826	2,566	11,092
42	Meloy	Anadarko Petroleum	2,253	3,307	5,456	11,016
43	de la Vego	AT&T	2,926	4,240	3,737	10,903
44	Julian	McKesson	3,048	2,926	4,928	10,902
45	Oman	Wells Fargo	7,957	880	1,728	10,565
46	McDaniel	Moody's	5,756	3,256	1,520	10,532
47	Watson	Chevron	6,592	2,273	1,554	10,419
48	Ivey	Reynolds America	3,025	6,990	228	10,243
49	Krasnoff	Pall Corp	5,543	1,068	3,592	10,203
50	Liveris	Dow Chemical	3,711	3,644	2,818	10,173
51	Heminger	Marathon Petroleum	4,387	2,160	3,609	10,156
52	Kingsley	Pall Corp	10,145			10,145
53	Stevens	Lockheed Martin	4,831	2,779	2,523	10,133
54	JS Tisch	Loews	4,220	2,484	3,416	10,120
55	Chenevert	United Technologies	4,793	2,587	2,604	9,984
56	Welch	ITC Holdings	5,573	4,216	147	9,936
57	Eckert	Mattel	7,005	667	2,153	9,825
58	Dolan	ExxonMobil	4,657	3,173	1,903	9,733
59	Moorman	Norfolk Southern	3,340	2,706	3,678	9,724
60	Burke	Comcast	3,082	3,474	3,025	9,581
61	Lundgren	Macy's	3,175	3,120	3,244	9,539
62	Donegan	Precision Castparts	4,171	2,191	3,128	9,490
63	Luke	MeadWestvaco	4,237	3,727	1,436	9,400
64	Richels	Devon Energy	3,286	3,989	2,080	9,355
65	Pope	Smithfield Foods	3,314	1,493	4,472	9,279
66	Stankey	AT&T	4,446	2,440	2,214	9,100
67	Nosbusch	Rockwell Automation	4,581	2,909	1,478	8,968
68	Roberts	Comcast	3,690	2,903	2,252	8,845
69	Meyer	Keycorp	3,311	2,489	3,037	8,837
70	Swanson	Raytheon	1,770	3,518	3,533	8,821
71	Ratcliffe	Southern Company	4,565	2,745	1,481	8,791
72	Kullman	DuPont	3,629	3,476	1,685	8,790
73	Johnson	HJ Heinz	1,795	2,879	4,111	8,785
74	JM Tisch	Loews	3,339	1,922	3,508	8,769
75	Waddell	Northern Trust	4,079	3,307	1,332	8,718
76	PW Tisch	Loews	3,554	2,039	3,111	8,704
77	Rodkin	Conagra Foods	3,385	3,081	2,179	8,645
78	Ustian	Navistar	3,990	2,718	1,914	8,622
79	Hay	Nextera Energy	2,633	2,062	3,877	8,572
80	Burke	Consolidated Edison	3,499	3,189	1,882	8,570
81	Mulva	ConocoPhillips	8,534			8,534
82	Bunch	PPG Industries	3,900	2,489	2,059	8,448
83	Szymanczyk	Altria Group	1,639	3,273	3,452	8,364
84	Cote	Honeywell	2,464	5,342	384	8,190
85	Davis	US Bancorp	3,930	2,667	1,583	8,180
86	Laphen	Computer Sciences	2,101	2,607	3,463	8,171
87	Greenberg	UGI	2,884	3,259	1,971	8,114
88	Foss	Pepsico	6,026	2,032		8,058
89	Humphreys	ExxonMobil	4,327	2,306	1,296	7,929
90	Washkewicz	Parker Hannifin	4,395	1,513	2,017	7,925
91	Klappa	Wisconsin Energy	3,041	2,399	2,450	7,890
92	Kelly	Xcel Energy	258	2,855	4,707	7,820
93	Fettig	Whirlpool	2,680	3,425	1,705	7,810
94	Wells	Sun Trust Banks	1,393	4,454	1,843	7,690
95	Bush	Northrop Grumman	5,276	700	1,702	7,678
96	Su	Yum Brands	4,556	1,470	1,532	7,558
97	Camilleri	Phillip Morris	1,457	1,021	4,911	7,389
98	Darbee	PG&E	4,116	2,137	1,131	7,384
99	Strianese	L-3 Communications	2,976	2,772	1,509	7,257
100	Carey	NewsCorp	3,514	788	2,906	7,208
101	Merlo	CVS Caremark	2,071	1,906	3,226	7,203
102	Lamach	Ingersoll-Rand	3,867	2,226	1,053	7,146
103	Baird	Prudential Financial	3,079	2,833	1,156	7,068
104	Burns	Xerox	3,189	2,584	1,278	7,051
105	Calantzopoulos	Phillip Morris	2,580	2,420	2,021	7,021
106	Baker	Ecolab	2,565	2,652	1,774	6,991
107	Farr	Emerson Electric	3,398	1,730	1,862	6,990
108	McGettrick	Dominion Resources	1,655	3,458	1,872	6,985
109	Ettinger	Hormel Foods	3,438	1,983	1,488	6,909
110	Iger	Walt Disney	3,125	2,071	1,600	6,796
111	Johnson	HCA	1,225	3,524	2,032	6,781
112	Nooyi	Pepsico	3,030	2,143	1,591	6,764
113	Dayo	Johnson & Johnson	1,999	2,359	2,375	6,733
114	Lance	Harris Corp	3,253	1,563	1,787	6,603
115	Edington	Pinnacle West Capital	3,091	3,172	325	6,588
116	Conway	Crown Holdings	2,469	1,244	2,827	6,540
117	Wood	Murphy Oil	3,127	2,356	1,041	6,524
118	Pigott	Paccar	3,376	1,901	1,203	6,480
119	Sigal	Bristol Myers Squibb	2,518	1,942	1,967	6,427
120	Falk	Kimberly Clark	2,401	1,554	2,389	6,344
121	Hooley	State Street Corp	4,192	1,667	469	6,328
122	Craver	Edison International	2,969	2,100	1,242	6,311
123	Carmine	Eli Lilly	2,244	2,253	1,777	6,274
124	P Nordstrom	Nordstrom	2,414	1,919	1,881	6,214
125	Carucci	Yum Brands	4,764	361	1,084	6,209
126	Weeks	Corning	2,914	2,012	1,233	6,159
127	McLane	Alcoa	2,380	2,514	1,264	6,158
128	Carrig	ConocoPhillips		3,591	2,488	6,079
129	Cutler	Eaton	3,115	1,226	1,732	6,073
130	Anderson	Honeywell	1,908	1,526	2,604	6,038
131	Tangney	Colgate Palmolive	2,066	1,669	2,303	6,038
132	Griffith	Tinken	3,283	1,332	1,419	6,034
133	Robinson	Pinnacle West Capital	2,993	2,180	833	6,006
134	Kalil	Dow Chemical	1,938	2,240	1,811	5,989
135	Shawley	Ingersoll-Rand	2,724	2,299	923	5,946
136	Stumpf	Wells Fargo	1,928	1,405	2,584	5,917
137	Freyman	Abbott Labs	2,211	1,517	2,150	5,878
138	Watts	AT&T	3,125	2,748		5,873
139	Malfitano	Praxair	3,207	1,961	642	5,810
140	Hazen	HCA	1,410	2,637	1,725	5,772
141	Hirshberg	ConocoPhillips	5,408	359		5,767
142	Leidich	First Energy	2,072	1,515	2,159	5,746
143	Vallee	Avnet	1,478	2,134	2,111	5,723
144	E Nordstrom	Nordstrom	2,260	1,717	1,690	5,667
145	Manley	Smithfield Foods	4,242	440	971	5,653
146	Parkinson	Baxter	1,233	1,832	2,518	5,583
147	Davidson	Noble Energy	2,124	1,494	1,935	5,553
148	Frazier	Merck	2,587	1,825	1,082	5,494
149	Nichols	Devon Energy	1,286	3,156	1,035	5,477
150	Caralot	Marathon Oil	1,618	1,398	2,458	5,474
151	Mohapatra	Quest Diagnostics	2,052	1,838	1,568	5,458
152	Knauss	Clorox	1,978	1,812	1,623	5,413
153	Farrell	Dominion Resources	1,815	1,971	1,592	5,378
154	Delaney	OG Energy	1,447	2,091	1,838	5,376
155	Keen	IDACORP	2,163	1,610	1,591	5,364
156	Linebarger	Cummins	2,572	632	2,134	5,338
157	B Nordstrom	Nordstrom	2,260	1,691	1,386	5,337
158	Gellert	Health Net	2,758	1,794	767	5,319
159	Klein	Energizer Holdings	2,564	1,042	1,698	5,304
160	Lowe	Scripps Networks Interactive	2,137	1,711	1,439	5,287
161	Solso	Cummins	3,165	620	1,490	5,275
162	Cook	Colgate Palmolive	1,272	1,200	2,754	5,226
163	Angelakis	Comcast	2,275	1,709	1,229	5,213
164	Owen	McKesson	1,538	1,375	2,252	5,165
165	Allen	Deere	1,884	2,233	1,033	5,150
166	Waldemer	Phillip Morris	1,878	1,898	1,371	5,147
167	Eisenberg	Bed Bath & Beyond	790	4,180	176	5,146
168	Campbell	McKesson	1,507	1,266	2,333	5,106
169	J Murdoch	NewsCorp	3,262	379	1,454	5,095
170	Henrikson	MetLife	3,472		1,620	5,092
171	Antonellis	State Street Corp	3,355	1,327	398	5,080
172	Dubow	Gannett	3,303	1,478	293	5,074
173	McCallister	WGL Holdings	2,800	970	1,296	5,066
174	Buzzard	MeadWestvaco	2,641	1,626	775	5,042
175	Livingston	Dover	2,995	220	1,790	5,005
	Total all 175		657,952	525,206	474,656	1,657,814

In a review of the above 175 Top Executives, here are the three companies which had the highest increase in the Value of their Pension Benefits by their Top Executives, as shown here below:

				Three Year
	2011	2010	2009	Total
	Increase	Increase	Increase	Increase
	in Value of	in Value of	in Value of	in Value of
	Pension	Pension	Pension	Pension
	Benefits	Benefits	Benefits	Benefits
	$000's	$000's	$000's	$000's
General Electric
Immelt	10,255	6,339	4,398	20,992
Rice	9,788	5,007	3,729	18,524
Neal	8,199	4,817	3,400	16,416
Sherin	7,655	3,872	2,722	14,249
Krenicki	6,623	4,545	2,816	13,984
Total all 5 GE				84,165
McKesson
Hammergren	10,076	14,073	20,672	44,821
Julian	3,048	2,926	4,928	10,902
Owen	1,538	1,375	2,252	5,165
Campbell	1,507	1,266	2,333	5,106
Total all 4 McKesson				65,994
AT&T
Stephenson	3,330	7,096	8,990	19,416
de la Vego	2,926	4,240	3,737	10,903
Stankey	4,446	2,440	2,214	9,100
Watts	3,125	2,748		5,873
Total all 4 AT&T				45,292

I have to wonder how many more executives GE has who had the Value of their Pension Benefits grow by more than $5 mil in the most recent three years.

The actual value of these pensions are substantially higher than the above numbers, since the above numbers only include the increases in the value of the pension benefits for those three years.

To illustrate this point, below here are the Top 20 Executives who had the highest increase in the Value of their Pension Benefits for the most recent six years disclosed:

			Six Years
			2006-11
			Increase
			in Value of
			Pension
			Benefits
			$000's
1	Hammergren	McKesson	66,285
2	Ryan	CVS Caremark	40,871
3	Tillerson	ExxonMobil	40,568
4	Weldon	Johnson & Johnson	39,631
5	Plant	TRW Automotive	33,705
6	Stephenson	AT&T	31,275
7	R Murdoch	NewsCorp	28,480
8	Strangfeld	Prudential Financial	27,388
9	Clark	Merck	26,925
10	Finnegan	Chubb	25,924
11	Neal	General Electric	25,913
12	Rice	General Electric	25,890
13	Immelt	General Electric	25,670
14	J Hess	Hess	24,929
15	Roell	Johnson Controls	24,691
16	Felsinger	Sempra Energy	24,610
17	Coury	Mylan Labs	24,314
18	McNerney	Boeing	23,874
19	Bracken	HCA	23,339
20	White	Abbott Labs	22,702
	Total all 20		606,984

The Top Twenty Executives had the Total Value of their Pension Benefits increase by $607.0 mil in the most recent six years disclosed, up 51% over such increase in the most recent three years of $402.2 mil.

And yes, not only do companies receive upfront tax write-offs when they fund their pension plans, but also all of the massive amount of assets in Pension Plans grow tax free.....clearly resulting in another case of "Tax Deferrals Gone Wild" for the already financially well heeled. 

When you review the above numbers, you have to wonder whatever happened to economic fairness between the very wealthy and everyone else.

And how could it be right for so many people having defined benefit pension plans who are not executives, such as blue collar workers and state employees, who have had their pensions just flat-out slashed in the past six years or so, when at the same time, the Top Executives of the largest companies experienced just an incredible increase in the Value of their Pension Benefits?