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The chief executive of Standard Register Co. saw his total pay fall 17 percent last year.
Joseph Morgan, president and CEO of the Dayton-based document and information management company, received $1,758,932 in 2012, down from $2,129,148 in 2011, according to the company’s latest proxy statement.
Morgan’s base salary of $600,000 has been frozen since 2009.
Morgan’s 2012 incentive program goals included $620 million in revenue and $22.8 million in adjusted operating profit. The company missed the first target and hit the other — $602 million in revenue and $28.8 million in adjusted operating profit.
“That was really the difference,” said Robert Ginnan, the company’s vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer. “We didn’t hit the target.”
Standard Register has faced challenges in recent months. In January 2012, the company announced that it was restructuring and shedding up to 15 percent of its workforce. In the spring of 2012, the New York Stock Exchange warned the company that its stock price (NYSE: SR) was so low that it was in danger of being de-listed from the exchange.
Morgan did not receive stock option awards in 2012 while receiving a $709,764 option award in 2011.
“It’s very clear what the metrics were with short-term incentives,” Ginnan said.
Standard Register shareholders will have their say about executive pay practices when the company has its annual shareholders meeting at its Dayton offices April 25. Then, votes will be tallied in the company’s latest “say-on-pay” vote, which all public companies are mandated to hold at least every three years.
Say-on-pay lets shareholders endorse or reject corporate pay practices.
Standard Register adopted a say-on-pay vote last year, a year earlier than was required for smaller companies, Ginnan said. Ninety-eight percent of Standard Register shareholders voted to have say-on-pay votes each year, Ginnan noted. About the same percentage also supported the company’s pay plan for executives.
Say-on-pay votes are considered “advisory,” meaning company leaders are free to embrace or ignore them. At Standard Register, a trio of committees of board members have a say on executive pay and other leadership matters: A governance committee, a compensation committee and an audit committee. The company also has a hotline for contacting the audit committee.
Standard Register’s compensation committee also listens to external consultants and pays attention to corporate trends, Ginnan said.
Standard Register has 523 Dayton employees and nearly 2,200 total employees. Its shares closed Tuesday at 64 cents, up 3 cents.
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