General Motors CEO Mary Barra experienced a pay raise in 2020. Barra remained the highest-paid CEO of the major Detroit automakers last year, earning $23.7 million, a 9.4% jump in her seventh year at the head of General Motors.
The automaker released her compensation in its annual proxy statement, which included a base salary of about $2 million, a 5% drop from 2019. Barra’s earnings also included $3.8 million in short-term incentives compared to $2.7 million in the previous year.
The company also announced that its primary independent director, Tim Solso, is retiring from the board this year. Solso served as chairman during Barra’s first two years as CEO, and he will be succeeded as lead independent director by Patricia Russo.
General Motors deferred 20% of salaried employees’ pay from April 1 to August 1, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deferred compensation was repaid with interest in October. Executives and senior management took an additional 10% pay cut, which were eventually replaced by shares subject to time-vesting requirements. Pay for General Motors’ board of directors was cut by 20% and wasn’t repaid.
Barra’s pay raise was significantly higher than other auto executives in the Motor City. Mike Manley, in his last year serving as CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles before the Stellantis merger, made $14.2 million in 2020. Jim Farley, who took over Ford in October, made $11,8 million last year. Former Ford CEO Jim Hackett made $16.7 million.
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