The 10 highest paid CEOs in SC earn more than $2M — one makes $9M. See who they are
South Carolina has 10 chief executive officers of publicly traded companies who made more than $2 million in salary and benefits in 2022.
While their salaries are significant, some earned many times their base pay in stock awards and incentives.
Howard Coker of Sonoco Products Co., based in Hartsville, earned the most in 2022 — $9,794,049, according to a database supplied by the AFL-CIO.
The information is publicly available through company filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The union included in each profile how many times more the executive earned than the median income of his employees.
In Coker’s case it was 147 times.
Founded in 1899 by James L. Coker, Sonoco makes packaging, industrial products, and is the world’s largest producer of composite cans, tubes, and cores. Howard Coker was appointed as CEO in 2020.
Among Sonoco’s products are metal cans for Bushes baked beans, Lysol, spray paints; paper cans for Pringles and Pillsbury and trays for Lean Cuisine.
Howard Coker’s 2022 compensation included: salary $1,098,385, stock awards $6,205,527, incentive pay $1,977,093; other $513,043. He was appointed CEO in 2020 after working for the company since 1985.
The company had sales of $7.3 billion in 2022, 22,000 employees around in the world in 300 facilities.
Michael Gianoni of Blackbaud Inc., based in Charleston, had total compensation in 2022 of $8,819,151
The company offers cloud computing for nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare organizations, religious organizations, and individual change agents. It was founded in 1991 in NYC and moved to Charleston for financial reasons.
The company had revenue of $1.06 billion.
Blackbaud had a data breach involving 13,000 non-profits in 2020 and recently agreed to pay $49.5 million to settle claims brought by the attorneys general of 49 states.
His compensation was salary $795,876, stock $8,010,087, other $13,188.
Jeffrey Graves of 3D Systems Corp., based on Rock Hill — 2022 total compensation $5,687,163, including salary $849,800, stock $4,765,861, other $71,501. The company engineers, manufactures, and sells 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D scanners, and offers a 3D printing service.
Michael Baur of Scansource, Inc., based in Greenville — 2022 total compensation $5,647,684, including salary $875,000, stock $1,125,012, option awards $1,206,308, incentive $2,123,625 and other $317,739.
Philip Wieland of Diversey Holdings, Ltd., based in Fort Mill — 2022 total compensation $5,442,945, including salary $878,788, stock $4,500,000, other $63,641. Diversey Holdings, makes cleaning and hygiene products for hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage, food service, retail, and facility management markets.
John Fortson of Ingevity Corp. a North Charleston chemical company — 2022 total compensation $5,394,470, including salary $930,233, stock $2,115,062, option $705,003, incentive $1,525,580, other $118,592.
Robert Beck of Regional Management Corp., based in Greer — 2022 total compensation $4,915,677, including salary $660,000, stock $2,999,974, incentive $1,187,860, other $67,843. Regional Management Corp. is a consumer finance company offering “installment loans to customers with limited access to consumer credit from banks, thrifts, credit card companies, and other lenders,” the company says on its website.
John Miller of Denny’s Corp., based in Spartanburg — 2022 total compensation $4,575,064, including $747,263, stock $3,793,071 and other $34,730. Denny’s restaurant chain operates 1,700 restaurants.
Paul Jacobson of Thorne Healthtech, Inc., Summerville — 2022 total compensation $4,088,000, including $530,000 salary, $435,000 bonus, $3,123,000 stock.
Richard Hermanns of Hirequest, Inc. in Goose Creek — 2022 total compensation $2,276,745, including salary $382,404, stock $720,000, incentive $1,174,341. HireQuest owns HireQuest Direct, Snelling Staffing, DriverQuest, and HireQuest providing temporary staffing in branches nationwide.
