Jabil narrows the CEO-to-worker pay ratio

Compensation for Jabil Inc.’s CEO, Mark Mondello, remained flat in fiscal year 2019.

Mondello’s total pay package, including his salary and cash and stock awards tied to company performance, was $11,412,435 for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, compared to $11,396,365 for the prior year.

Last year, Mondello was the second-highest-paid CEO among companies headquartered in the Tampa-St. Pete area, just behind Ken Burdick, CEO of WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG).

Mondello’s compensation, and that of other executives, was included in a proxy filed late Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jabil (NYSE: JBL), a St. Petersburg-based manufacturing solutions company and the second largest public company in the area, ends its fiscal year on Aug. 31 and it is typically the first local firm to report executive compensation, a subject closely watched by workers and industry peers. In addition, Jabil sometimes is viewed as a bellwether for its largest customer, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL).

Mondello’s 2019 pay was 1,605 times that of the $7,109 total compensation paid to Jabil’s median employee. The company has 135,000 employees, most of whom work outside of the United States. Pay levels differ from country to country, and Jabil works to be competitive with local market practices, the proxy said.

Last year, the first time Jabil was required to report the CEO-to-worker pay ratio, Mondello’s total compensation was 2,238 times the total pay of the median worker, who made $5,091.

Pay for performance

The total pay package that Jabil and other companies include on summary compensation tables required by the SEC is not the same as the pay that executives actually receive during the year. The required compensation table includes the accounting value of long-term incentives when they were granted, and that value could fluctuate over time.

Mondello’s “realized pay” for fiscal 2019 was $8.3 million, the company said.

Mondello’s 2019 pay package was mostly made up of performance-based stock awards valued at $8.14 million and cash incentive plan compensation of $2.05 million, also tied to the company’s performance.

Jabil’s financial performance last year was strong, with a 14 percent increase in revenue to $25.3 billion, as well as gains in core earnings per share, net core operating income and core return on invested capital, the proxy said.

Mondello’s salary of $1.215 million was up 6 percent from fiscal 2018, the smallest percentage salary increase awarded to any of the five highest-paid executives named in the proxy.

Michael Dastoor was promoted to chief financial officer in fiscal 2019 and got a 38 percent bump in salary, to $625,000. His total compensation, including stock and cash incentives, was $2.86 million.

Steve Borges, executive vice president and CEO of Jabil’s healthcare division, worked on strategic collaborations that expanded Jabil’s medical device manufacturing portfolio, diversification and capabilities, the proxy said. His salary went up 12 percent to $580,000 and his total pay package was $3.125 million.

Salary increases for two other executives were intended to align their pay with market compensation.

Michael Loparco, executive vice president and CEO of the engineered solutions group, had a 14 percent increase in salary, to $625,000, and total compensation of $3.05 million.

Kenneth Wilson, executive vice president and CEO of Green Point, the Jabil division that makes consumer and mobile products, had a 9 percent salary increase to $600,000 and total compensation of just under $3 million.

Shareholders will cast advisory votes on executive pay at Jabil’s annual meeting Jan. 23 at the company’s St. Petersburg headquarters. Last year, more than 96 percent of shareholder votes for the say-on-pay proposal approved the compensation for executives.

Shareholders also will vote on nominations for the board of directors, including newly appointed director Kathleen Walters, named to the Jabil board about two months ago. All of the other Jabil directors have served on the board for several years.