James Cracchiolo, Ameriprise Financial Inc. chairman and CEO

Total compensation: $60,615,425 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017

Salary: $1,025,000

Nonequity incentive pay: $11,190,000

Other compensation: $830,422

Exercised stock options: $40,799,232

Value realized on vesting shares: $6,770,771

New stock options: 108,334

Total 2017 shareholder return: 56.0 percent

CEO Pay Ratio: 223:1

Median employee pay: $107,082

Note: Stock option gains have fueled Cracchiolo's pay for years. This year his $41 million realized from previously issued stock options gave him a 300 percent increase in compensation after he did not exercise any options in 2016.

Strong financial performance also led to Cracchiolo's $11.2 million cash incentive bonus, the first increase since 2014. The cash incentive bonus is based on a mix of financial and strategic measures. The company earned the maximum score on financial goals, as its revenue, earnings, return on equity and balance sheet performance were all well above targeted levels. Strategic measures account for 30 percent of the annual bonus, and Ameriprise largely exceeded those goals as well.

Total assets under management for Ameriprise also hit a record in 2017 on strong asset flows from clients and the strong stock market appreciation.

Shareholders enjoyed a good year as the stock had a total return of 56 percent. Since Ameriprise became a public company in 2005, the stock has had a total return of 504 percent, one of the best returns from a financial services firm in that time period.

Calculation of the CEO pay ratio and compensation of the median employee revealed that Ameriprise has employees in 19 different countries. The median compensation was from the company's 13,200 employees. For purposes of the calculation, the company included financial advisers employed by Ameriprise but not the 7,700 franchise financial advisers.