Editor’s note: GM posted adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $9.7 billion in 2020 and $8.4 billion in 2019. An earlier version of this story misstated those figures.
DETROIT — Mary Barra remained the highest-paid CEO of the Detroit 3 in 2020. She earned $23.7 million, a 9.4 percent increase, in her seventh year leading General Motors.
Barra is the only Detroit 3 CEO who is also chairman. Her compensation, disclosed Friday in GM’s annual proxy statement, includes a base salary of about $2 million, a 5 percent decline from 2019; $3.8 million in short-term incentives vs. $2.7 million in 2019; and $13.1 million in stock awards, up from $12.1 million.
Mike Manley, in his last year leading Fiat Chrysler Automobiles before merging into Stellantis, made $14.2 million in 2020. Jim Farley, who became Ford Motor Co.’s CEO in October, received $11.8 million last year, while predecessor Jim Hackett made $16.7 million.
GM also said its lead independent director, Tim Solso, is retiring from the board this year. Solso, who was chairman during Barra’s first two years as CEO, will be succeeded as lead independent director by Patricia Russo, a former Lucent Technologies CEO installed on the board by the federal government after GM’s 2009 bankruptcy.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, GM deferred 20 percent of salaried employees’ pay from April 1 to Aug. 1. It repaid the deferred amounts with interest in October. Senior leadership took an additional 10 percent pay cut, which was later replaced with shares subject to time-vesting requirements. Pay for GM’s board of directors was cut 20 percent and not repaid.
GM’s 2020 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose 15 percent to $9.7 billion. Adjusted automotive free cash flow more than doubled to $2.6 billion.
Most of GM’s current executive officers were new to their roles last year.
Barra and GM President Mark Reuss were the only executive officers listed for both 2019 and 2020. Reuss made $10 million last year, up from $8.2 million in 2019.
First-time executive officer 2020 compensation:
- Doug Parks, executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain: $6.7 million
- Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America: $6.3 million
- John Stapleton, CFO for GM North America: $3.7 million
Dhivya Suryadevara resigned as CFO in August to become CFO of Stripe, an online payments company. She made $6.4 million before her departure. Barry Engle, former president of GM North America, also left in August to head Qell Acquisition Corp, a special-purchase acquisition company he co-founded. Engle made $8.2 million before his departure.
