James Cracchiolo, chairman and CEO Total compensation: $10,224,454 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009
Salary: $850,000
Non-equity incentive pay: $5,700,000
Other compensation: $474,764
Long-term incentive pay: $2,090,000
Value realized on vesting shares: 1,109,690
New stock options: 1,028,531
Total return to shareholders: 70.5 percent
Note: The long-term incentive pay for 2009 is for an award under a plan covering the period from 2007 to 2009. That plan has been discontinued. The company also took an expense of $9.1 million for new options for Cracchiolo.
The committee bases executive compensation 60 percent on financial measures and 40 percent on strategic improvements.
Ameriprise's finances improved considerably last year during a difficult economic environment. The company's 2009 revenue was $7.8 billion, up 13 percent over 2008, and net income was $723 million compared with a 2008 net loss of $38 million.
In 2009 Ameriprise announced plans to acquire the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management, a unit of Bank of America. The acquisition will make Ameriprise the eighth-largest long-term mutual fund manager in the United States. The transaction will close this spring.
Cracchiolo's base salary has been the same for the past four years, but his $5.7 million bonus last year after none in 2008 helped Cracchiolo take home more than 77 percent over the previous year.
The compensation committee in its note to shareholders acknowledged the increased scrutiny on risk and executive compensation, especially among financial services companies. Ameriprise has added a "say-on-pay" proposal to its proxy and is asking shareholders to approve the advisory, nonbinding vote on the company's executive compensation philosophy.
Ameriprise's compensation committee also is considering a performance share plan to be used as a component of 2010 total direct compensation. Performance shares would vest only upon the achievement of specific financial targets over a three-year performance period.
PATRICK KENNEDY