Eastman Chemical pays new CEO $3.5 million in 2009 compensation, according to AP tally

Eastman Chemical CEO gets $3.5M in 2009 pay

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — In his first year as CEO of Eastman Chemical Co., James Rogers received compensation valued at $3.5 million, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Rogers, who previously served as president and as the chemicals and fibers business group head, took over as CEO from J. Brian Ferguson on May 7, 2009, when Ferguson became executive chairman.

The company, which makes chemicals, plastics and fibers used in everything from paints to furniture, paid Rogers a salary of $799,183 and a performance-related cash bonus of $1 million last year. The 58-year-old executive also received stock options and awards worth nearly $1.6 million. All other perks, which include use of the company’s aircraft, contributions to a savings plan and financial counseling, among other items, amounted to $113,170.

For the full year, Eastman Chemical reported a 61 percent drop in earnings, hurt by sinking sales. The company’s 2009 profit fell to $136 million, or $1.85 per share, from $346 million, or $4.55 per share, in the previous year. Sales tumbled 25 percent to $5.05 billion from $6.73 billion in 2008.

The Associated Press executive compensation formula is designed to isolate the value that the company’s board placed on the executive’s total pay package during the fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year on the date they were granted.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals that companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive’s compensation in the previous fiscal year.