Lee Schram Deluxe Corp., CEO
Total compensation: $7,445,143 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016
Salary: $925,833
Nonequity incentive pay: $1,083,745
Other compensation: $21,287
Exercised stock options: $5,414,278
Value realized on vesting shares: $0
New stock options: 127,238
Total 2016 shareholder return: 33.8 percent
Note: The annual incentive plan payments at Shoreview-based Deluxe are measured on operating revenue, operating income and enterprise factors, which are used to measure Deluxe's progress in transforming its business.
In 2016, Deluxe did best in outperforming the enterprise factor goals, but despite solid financial results, fell shy of the targeted financial goals set at the start of the year.
Deluxe reported its seventh year of total revenue increases, with some of its biggest gains coming from its marketing solutions and "other services" segment that is a key focus of Deluxe's transformative growth strategy. But 2016 adjusted revenue of $1.84 billion earned executives 91.7 percent of the targeted awards and the company's operating income was even less than the targeted percentage. The combined payout percentage was 93.6 percent of the target amount. As a result Schram's annual incentive bonus for 2016 decreased 57 percent from the prior year.
Schram's overall compensation for the year increased because he was able to exercise previously issued stock options in 2016 when he didn't exercise any options in 2015. The value of the long-held options benefited from Deluxe's strong shareholder return for 2016 and a compounded three-year annual growth rate that has done better than Deluxe's peer group and the S&P Midcap 400 Index.
