Executive pay in public for-profit organizations can vary drastically depending on a variety of factors, including the organizational size and scope, as well as the industries in which they operate. However, unlike many other jobs, geography plays little role in compensation for top executives. Regardless, CEOs are typically (though not always) the highest-paid executives at many organizations.
For the purposes of this examination, base salary serves as the metric since it is predetermined and the most fixed among the various forms of executive compensation. Other pay, defined as excess benefits and perquisites greater than $10,000, is the second most common form of CEO compensation and is also included in the table below. Bonus, nonequity, stock, options, and pension are not included.
The following is a summary of top CEO pay in manufacturing industries broken into two major groupings. Industries are defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, as indicated by the organization. For every CEO, compensation is restricted to the organization’s primary SIC code to prevent duplicate entries. Learn more about top CEO total executive compensation in different industries, including the top 10 highest-paid medical professionals in nonprofit health care and the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in real estate.
Because manufacturing spans a wide range of SIC codes (from 2000 to 3990), it was broken into two sub-groups that reflect more commonality than manufacturing as a whole. This resulted in a separate table for organizations that manufacture metals, machinery, electronics, transportation equipment, and instruments (SIC 33xx, 34xx, 35xx, 36xx, 37xx, 38xx) and organizations that manufacture chemicals, petroleum, and plastics or rubber (SIC 28xx, 29xx, 30xx).
Top 10 CEO Base Salary for Metals, Machinery, Electronic, Transportation, and Instrument Manufacturing
| Company | Name | Title | Salary | Other Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Inc | Timothy Cook | Director and CEO | $3,000,000 | $11,769,259 |
| General Motors Co | Mary Barra | CEO & Chairman of the Board | $1,995,000 | $21,662,987 |
| Abbott Laboratories | Miles White | Executive Chairman of the Board | $1,900,000 | $17,928,384 |
| Lockheed Martin Corp | Marillyn Hewson | Executive Chairman of the Board | $1,877,519 | $26,622,306 |
| Cleveland-Cliffs Inc | C. Goncalves | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,810,016 | $16,701,389 |
| Ford Motor Co | James Hackett | Director, President and CEO | $1,800,000 | $14,928,505 |
| Harley-Davidson Inc | Jochen Zeitz | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,682,692 | $7,706,250 |
| Howmet Aerospace Inc | John Plant | Executive Chairman of the Board and Co-CEO | $1,600,000 | $37,491,008 |
| Caterpillar Inc | D. Umpleby | CEO and Chairman of the Board | $1,600,000 | $12,076,551 |
| General Dynamics Corp | Phebe Novakovic | Chairman of the Board and CEO | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $17,743,499 |
Fiscal Year 2020; SIC: 33xx, 34xx, 35xx, 36xx, 37xx, 38xx
Top CEO Base Salary for Chemical, Petroleum, and Plastic/Rubber Manufacturing
| Company | Name | Title | Salary | Other Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valhi Inc | Robert Graham | Vice Chairman of the Board, CEO and President | $8,080,000 | $0 |
| Bausch Health Companies Inc | Joseph Papa | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $2,015,031 | $16,622,525 |
| The Estee Lauder Companies Inc | Fabrizio Freda | President, CEO and Director | $2,000,000 | $19,435,428 |
| Valero Energy Corp | Joseph Gorder | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,800,000 | $18,122,417 |
| Merck & Co Inc | Kenneth Frazier | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,702,006 | $20,386,423 |
| Huntsman Corp | Peter Huntsman | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,700,000 | $11,829,958 |
| Methanex Corp | John Floren | Director, President and CEO | $1,698,840 | $7,223,721 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Co | Giovanni Caforio | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,687,115 | $18,463,787 |
| Nike Inc | Mark Parker | Executive Chairman of the Board | $1,676,923 | $18,316,099 |
| Phillips 66 | Greg Garland | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,675,008 | $23,314,366 |
Fiscal Year 2020; SIC: 28xx, 29xx, 30xx
When taken as a whole, total compensation packages for the top executive employees vary considerably across organizations. This is due to a variety of complex factors that include market values, vesting time tables, and other variable-related compensation that are often difficult to compare. However, as can be seen, base salaries, though considerably large, tend to be more consistent.
