Agriculture-related trade association CEO salaries moved up in the last year, according to Internal Revenue Service filings reviewed by Agri-Pulse as part of an annual survey.
The median compensation, which denotes the middle of CEO incomes for the 137 organizations tracked this year, came in at about $494,000, about $34,000, or 7.4%, above last year’s $460,000. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison because some groups may have received extensions to file this year or simply did not share their IRS Form 990 with Agri-Pulse.
Most tax-exempt organizations are required to file an annual Form 990 with the IRS and to make the reports available to the public.
Leading the pack in CEO salaries were the American Petroleum Institute’s Michael Sommers, who checked in with $10.7 million, much of which came in the form of a potential bonus; Robert Nichols of the American Bankers Association at $5.1 million, and Leslie Sarasin of FMI-The Food Industry, filing as the Food Marketing Institute Foundation, at nearly $3.3 million.
Among the better-known farm groups, Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau Federation made $640,396; Steve Censky of the American Soybean Association pulled down $547,000; John Bode of the Corn Refiners Association earned about $942,000; and Neil Caskey of the National Corn Growers Association earned $413,000.
Leaders of large environmental groups were competitive with farm groups. Long-time Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp earned $1.3 million; Natural Resources Defense Council President and CEO Manish Bapna had a salary of just about $800,000.
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Leaders of smaller groups had smaller salaries. Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, had a salary of $240,430. Food Research & Action Center President Luis Guardia was paid $345,414 and Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, made $268,396.
Commodity checkoff-funded promotion and research groups, which collect fees on goods sold, are also represented in the report. Yin Woon Rani, who heads the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board, earned $839,621. Blair Richardson of the National Potato Promotion Board $835,300 and Bill Even of the National Pork Board $679,472. Hunter Consulting International was paid $763,000 for running the Softwood Lumber Board.
As quoted in our accompanying story, whether CEOs are worth the money they’re paid is a question for their boards, says Jared Spader of Reata Partners.
“It’s in the hands of the membership and those that they serve,” Spader said.
Many CEOs leading major ag groups have been in their jobs for a while.
“I think we've seen a lot of stability as far as the major ag trade associations," says Cam Camfield, CEO of Stratovation Group. "A lot of these folks have trusted tenures and a history of great relationships in and outside of the agri-food value chain. And they, in my opinion, must be doing a good enough job to keep their members happy.”
The full CEO salary survey can be downloaded here.
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