CenterPoint shareholders rebuke CEO David Lesar's $38 million compensation

[TexasTowelie]

CenterPoint Energy shareholders on Friday rejected CEO David Lesar’s compensation package in nonbinding vote that sends a message to the Houston utility’s board that they disapprove of the nearly $38 million Lesar received in 2021.

The vote at CenterPoint’s annual meeting came two days after a report by the Energy and Policy Institute, a San Francisco watchdog group, showed that Lesar’s compensation in 2021 was far higher — in some cases two to three times higher — than chief executives of similar utility companies. His compensation more than tripled his 2020 compensation of $12 million.

It is unusual for shareholders to disapprove executive compensation in so called “say-on-pay” resolutions, which are required under the financial reform laws that followed the financial crisis of 2008. In another report by the Energy and Policy Institute, none of 66 utilities studied had shareholders cast advisory votes against executive pay and most passed with overwhelming approval.

Ted Pound, chairman of CenterPoint board’s compensation committee, said in a statement that the utility’s directors “value and respect the perspective of our shareholders” and “will take their views on executive compensation into consideration as we evaluate an approach that will serve the company and our investors.”

Read more: https://www.yourconroenews.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/CenterPoint-shareholders-rebuke-CEO-David-17122214.php

CenterPoint needs to hold onto its money since they still have wrongful death lawsuits from the 2021 freeze to settle. It's good to see the shareholders reluctance to pay the CEO an exorbitant salary.

[catrose]

1. I would be happy to screw up a job for $38M, though I wouldn't want anyone to die.

[Midnight Writer]

2. Wonder if they provide parking?

[Hoyt]

4. LOL. The guy probably told the governing body he's working from home permanently.

[Susan Calvin]

8. Unless I were literally homeless and starving,

I don't think I could find it in my conscience to screw up a job for any amount of money. Unless it were a totally inconsequential job.

[Hoyt]

3. Seems laughably/contemptuously high. And I'm not one to gripe about

compensation for this kind of talent* if they are doing the job and getting paid commensurate with others.

** To me “talent” is dancing, playing an instrument, singing, writing, etc.

[catrose]

5. Being one of those who went a week without water, power, etc., I'm not inclined to be generous.

[Hoyt]

6. Get it.

[Susan Calvin]

11. I can identify with that.

$1,500 worth of burst pipes, and I was lucky.

[TexasTowelie]

13. That's why I posted the article when I saw it.

There is certainly some pent up anger among the customers and this compensation package is a slap in the face to those customers.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

7. No "talent" on earth is worth 38 million

I dont care who you think you are and what you think you"deserve" for what you do.

[Hoyt]

9. Well, if their policies/plans for future fail, the hit to us could be billions.

But, if $38 M is 3 times others in similar situations, that’s not supportable.

Besides, plenty of writers, actors, ball players, musicians, lottery winners, etc., make more than $38 Million.

Heck, I’m for more of them. Just tax them accordingly.

[Susan Calvin]

12. After a certain point

The tax should be real near 100%. We need a maximum wage. There's a lot of people who don't understand tax brackets, and people who want to hoover the money upstairs take advantage of that.

[Hoyt]

14. Taxes need to increase, for sure. Truthfully, I'd love to have millions of people

making $38 Million annually — from medical, scientific, and other needed achievements — and taxed at a marginal rate of say 55%.

[Susan Calvin]

10. That is an extremely good point.

Do the math on the CEO salaries and billionaires' wealth. See how long it would take a regular person to get that much money. It's obscene. And I try very hard never to refer to those people as earning their money, because they haven't. They can't. It's impossible to earn that much money.