Here are the 100 largest total CEO pay packages from about 140 public companies examined by the Star Tribune. All data are for the most recently completed fiscal year, which in most cases was the 2007 calendar year. Total return is calculated on the company's fiscal year. Some executives were not included if their pay information was not available at press time.

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Stories

The changing of the guard

Time to say goodbye. More than a dozen Minnesota CEOs departed in 2007 -- some in triumph, some in defeat. However sorrowful the professional circumstances may have been for some of them, parting for most was sweet. More...

With CEO pay, 'peer' gets new meaning

When it comes to calculating executive pay, some firms are comparing coffee and coiffeur. More...

At U.S. Bancorp, the end of an era - in more ways than one

Under the Grundhofers, CEO pay was much more than Richard Davis got in '07. More...

The options picture

Who exercised the most options in 2007? Who got the biggest new grants? Two charts have the answers. More...

Standouts among the top 100

Most total compensation: Robert Ulrich, former Target Corp. CEO: $116 million

Biggest gain from stock option exercise: Ulrich: $93.5 million

Largest salary: George Buckley, 3M CEO: $1.67 million

Largest bonus: James Cracchiolo, CEO, Ameriprise Financial: $12.6 million

Largest current value of new options: Cracchiolo: $6.3 million

The trend within a trend

Median total compensation for Minnesota's 100 highest-paid CEOs rose 11 percent in 2007, marking the fourth straight year that total pay exceeded the $1 million mark. Total compensation includes salary, bonus and other compensation including gains from the exercise of previously issued stock options and shares vesting during the year.

Midwest salary sampler

Average salaries for rank-and-file hourly and salaried workers in the Midwest rose between 3.7 and 4 percent in 2007, a bit faster than in 2006, according to a survey of about 1,300 employers by World at Work, a salary tracking firm. The Midwest region includes Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, Omaha, Cleveland and Kansas City.