CEO Pay Watch: Donaldson's Tod Carpenter made $2.5 million last fiscal year

Total compensation: $2,496,882 for the year ended July 31, 2017

Salary: $844,712

Nonequity incentive pay: $1,453,590

Other compensation: $64,062

Value realized on vesting shares: $134,518

New stock options: 166,500

Total fiscal 2017 shareholder return: 47.5 percent

Carpenter's base salary rate increased by 16 percent, but the biggest change came from his annual incentive bonus which was $1.5 million compared to the $106,000 he earned the previous year.

Executives earned above-target annual cash incentive awards because the company exceeded revenue, earnings and return on investment goals. Forecasts at the beginning of the year for their engine-related end markets were cautious, but by the end of the second quarter Donaldson began to see improvements in those markets. The engine-related end markets continued to improve through the year, offsetting continued softness in some industrial markets.