Sunday, August 4, 2019

Dubuque, Iowa-Based Heartland Financial USA's Top-Tier Executives Average Pay Raise Was a Robust 13.8% Per Year During the Past 10 Years (2009-2018)

After the second Democratic 2020 Presidential candidate debate held in Detroit where Cory Booker was the standout performer, where several other non-top-tier candidates performed exceptionally well especially Steve Bullock and where most of the top-tier candidates stumbled, I now will turn my attention to the early primary States and start with Iowa.

The key issue to Iowa citizens should be the huge and continuing Income Inequality Expansion which is at the core of many critical problems the US faces.

Thus I will be doing research and making posts on the average pay raise per year that the Top-Tier Executives of the larger Iowa Companies were rewarded with in the past ten years.

The 8th Iowa Company I am addressing is Heartland Financial USA.

From annual compensation information contained in Company Proxy Statement filings with the SEC, the chart at the very bottom below shows Heartland Financial USA's Top-Tier Executives Annual Total Compensation for each of two consecutive full years of employment for the most recent ten years. 

Heartland Financial USA's Top-Tier Executive Average Pay Raise was a robust 13.8% per year for the last ten years, the 6th highest of the eight Iowa Companies I have addressed so far.
  1. Athene Holding Ltd +116.8% per year for the past three years
  2. Workiva +71.6% per year for the past five years
  3. American Equity Investment Life +25.0% per year for the past ten years
  4. Casey's General Stores +24.2% per year for the past ten years
  5. Principal Financial Group +14.4% per year for the past ten years
  6. Heartland Financial USA +13.8% per year for the past ten years
  7. Meredith Corp +11.6% per year for the past ten years
  8. Rockwell Collins +9.0% per year for the past ten years
The only highly effective US Government law enacted by either party in the past decade that has substantially reduced income inequality expansion is Obamacare and the political right is continually trying to repeal and replace it and three of the top four Democratic Presidential candidates now leading in the polls are effectively running as their principal issue to do in essence precisely the same thing ..... repeal and replace Obamacare ..... but to do it with either a pure or a version of Medicare For All.  The pure Medicare For All advocated by both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and which was co-sponsored in a US Senate bill by Kamala Harris is off-the-charts enormously expensive and would take up an enormous amount of wasted time with no positive result since it has no chance of getting passed legislatively.  Just given their near-sighted stance on Medicare For All, if the Democratic nominee is any of the three of them, it will be extremely difficult for any of them to beat Trump in the general election.  It is that simple. 

My objective is to get a better handle on just why the US and particularly here Iowa has such massive continuing Income Inequality Expansion ..... it appears to be predominantly about the relative long-term annual pay raise percentages for the executives of a Company vs the many non-executives employees of a Company, coupled with the stock price appreciation subsequent to the time the company executives were rewarded in their pay with stock equity compensation.

To fix Income Inequality driven mainly by Company and its Board of Director choices on Percentage Annual Pay Raises, the US Government should step in and pass wisely-designed, simple but effective Fair Pay Raise Income Inequality Narrowing Company tax incentives ..... the carrot ..... and Company wise tax disincentives ..... the stick.  I am certain ..... it is simple math ..... that this tax proposal would be very effective in substantially reducing the huge income inequality expansion that has occurred for decades in annual percentage pay raises between company executives and the rest of the company employees. 

And the continuing annual net tax revenues raised by the US Government here should be set up in a separate fund to be used only for wise additional income inequality narrowing initiatives.  This fund should be run by an outside group made up entirely of minorities harmed the most by Income Inequality Expansion of the past decades  .....all women, all blacks, all Latinos, all other non-white people, all past and present union members, all LGBTQ, all non-employee contract workers and all middle and lower income people of all ages, including those retired.

Also, the US Government should require all US Corporate Boards to include at least one worker representative and to exclude any Company Executive.

FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE
  Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
Heartland Financial USA 2018 2017 2017 2016 2016 2015 2015 2014 2014 2013
Top-Tier Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Executive Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp
$ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s
Bruce Lee CEO       1,492       1,241       1,241       1,044       1,044       1,023  N/A   N/A 
Lynn Fuller Executive Operating Chairman       1,370       1,293       1,293       1,306       1,306       1,133       1,133       1,068       1,068       1,055
Bryan McKeag CFO          783          700          700          627          627          574          574          582  N/A   N/A 
Brian Fox EVP Operations          622          525  N/A   N/A               424          370
Andrew Townsend EVP Chief Credit Officer          599          537          537          550  N/A   N/A 
Douglas Horstmann CEO DB&T          545          516          516          497          497          489
Kenneth Erickson EVP Chief Credit Officer          558          533          533          505
               
 Totals        4,866       4,296       3,771       3,527       3,522       3,246       2,781       2,680       2,522       2,419
Annual % Change vs Prior Year 13.3% 6.9% 8.5% 3.8% 4.3%
 5 Year Average Per Year % Change 7.3%
FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE FYE
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
Heartland Financial USA 2013 2012 2012 2011 2011 2010 2010 2009 2009 2008
Top-Tier Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Executive Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp Comp
$ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s $ 000s
Bruce Lee CEO
Lynn Fuller Executive Operating Chairman       1,055       1,053       1,053          649          649          605          605          342          342          476
Bryan McKeag CFO  N/A   N/A     
Brian Fox EVP Operations          370          334  N/A   N/A     
Douglas Horstmann CEO DB&T          489          506          506          368          388          352          352          233          233          293
Kenneth Erickson EVP Chief Credit Officer          505          520          520          363          363          348          348          232          232          285
John Schmidt EVP COO and CFO  N/A   N/A           721          486          486          455          455          266          266          333
Melvin Miller EVP          281          258          258          171          171          181
Edward Everts EVP          205          214
 Totals        2,419       2,413       2,800       1,866       2,167       2,018       2,018       1,244       1,449       1,782
Annual % Change vs Prior Year 0.2% 50.1% 7.4% 62.2% -18.7%
5 Year Average Per Year % Change 20.2%
10 Year Average Per Year % Change 13.8%  



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