CEO of Minneapolis-based Qumu gets cost of living increase for his San Francisco base

Minneapolis-based Qumu's CEO gets an $82,000 cost of living increase to his base salary because he is based in San Francisco.

April 11, 2018 at 4:58PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What is the cost of living difference between San Francisco and Minneapolis? $82,000 a year if you are the CEO of Minneapolis based Qumu Corp.

Qumu, a maker of enterprise video content management system, released its proxy statement on Monday. The proxy contains the annual compensation and perks of CEO Vern Hanzlik.

Hanzlik runs the company from his base in San Francisco where the company has an engineering, service, and administration office in nearby San Bruno, Calif.

Hanzlik was named president of the company in December 2014 when the stock was trading near $14 per share. When Hanzlik was promoted to president in December 2014 the compensation committee approved an $82,000 per year adjustment to his base salary to accommodate the higher cost of living in San Francisco.

Hanzlik was later named CEO in October 2015. According to the proxy Hanzlik's 2017 annual salary was $390,800 per year. He did not get an increase to his annual salary in 2017 but the proxy reveals he continues to get the $82,000 per year adjustment to his annual salary.

Vern Hanzlik, the CEO of Minneapolis-based Qumu Corp., works out of San Francisco
Vern Hanzlik, the CEO of Minneapolis-based Qumu Corp., works out of San Francisco (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

But for purposes of calculating his annual incentive pay the compensation committee uses his unadjusted base salary of $308,800 as the base for his annual incentive bonus.

The company's annual incentive plan rewards executives with cash and shares. Hanzlik didn't earn a cash award in 2017 but the company did hit 22.1 percent of the targeted measures and issued Hanzlik 23,395 shares of stock.

Hanzlik's total compensation for 2017, including value of restricted stock that vested during the year, was $457,685, down 11.7 percent from 2016.

Financially the company has seen revenues decline the previous two years and the company has lost money for the last six years. Shares now trade under $2 per share.

In December Qumu reached a standstill agreement with an activist investment fund affiliated with Alabama-based Harbert Management Corp. Under the agreement Harbert named two nominees to Qumu's seven member board of directors. One of those directors, Neil Cox, was appointed to the compensation and governance committee.

about the writer

about the writer

Patrick Kennedy

Reporter

Business reporter Patrick Kennedy covers executive compensation and public companies. He has reported on the Minnesota business community for more than 25 years.

See More

More from Business

card image

While most baby boomers and Gen Xers are finding ways to stay in their house until death, digital nomads Scott and Kate Carlson are choosing to rent in different locations for three months at a time while working remotely.

card image