John Wiehoff C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.
Chairman, president, CEO
Total compensation: $2,672,076 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016
Salary: $1,167,000
Nonequity incentive pay: $936,604
Other compensation: $23,344
Value realized on vesting shares: $545,128
New stock options: 144,860
Total shareholder return: 21.0 percent
Note: For 2016, C.H. Robinson made a number of changes to its executive compensation program to account for the company's growth and a changing competitive environment while maintaining a pay-for-performance philosophy. According to the company's proxy, its previous compensation system was "nontraditional" with extremely low annual salaries. Even with the changes, the company has kept its total targeted compensation relatively consistent.
Despite the big increase in Wiehoff's annual salary, his overall realized compensation went down in 2016 because of a smaller annual incentive and a smaller gain from restricted shares that vested.
Wiehoff has led the Eden Prairie-based transportation and logistics provider since 2002, the longest CEO tenure of major Minnesota public companies. His annual salary from 2006 to 2015 was between $400,000 and $410,000. Under the new plan, it increased 185 percent to $1.2 million.
Annual incentive compensation is based on adjusted income figures and now has more variability and a set cap on the upper end. Annual incentives are still based on performance, however. Challenging market conditions in the transportation industry affected C.H. Robinson's revenue and income for 2016 and performance was ultimately below performance goals. Wiehoff earned an annual incentive of $936,604 in 2016, which was a 47 percent decrease from the prior year.
Patrick Kennedy
