Truck maker chiefs buck income trend

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Updated Dec 14, 2009

Daniel Ustian and Mark Piggott were among a handful of trucking-related CEOs included in the annual Wall Street Journal CEO compensation survey released today.

 

A photo of Ustian, head of Navistar International, made a front-page graphic due to his compensation rising almost five-fold, to $6.5 million, in 2008 – a year when average top CEO compensation fell. One of the stories, quoting a Navistar spokesman, attributed the large hike to Ustian’s “relatively low 2007 compensation and the company’s success reaching its performance targets.”

 

Pigott, head of Kenworth and Peterbilt parent Paccar, had 2008 compensation of $10.8 million, a 15 percent increase from 2007.

 

Having seen their compensation rise in 2008, Ustian and Pigott stood out from the others in the survey of chief executives of the nation’s 200 biggest companies. The Journal found the group’s total direct compensation for the year fell 3.4 percent to a median of $7.6 million.

 

Other leading Class 8 truck makers, having foreign ownership, are not eligible for the survey.

 

— Max Heine