ArcBest CEO Judy McReynolds’ salary unchanged in 2017, total compensation up 31%

Judy McReynolds, chairman, president and CEO of Fort Smith-based ArcBest Corp., didn’t receive a salary increase in 2017, but her total compensation rose 31.9% to $2.126 million.

On March 22, ArcBest, the parent company of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight, filed its proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

McReynolds’ annual salary remained $660,000 in 2017, from 2016. In 2015, her salary was $642,500, but total compensation was $2.261 million.

Timothy Thorne, president of ABF Freight, also didn’t received a salary increase, and it remained $400,000, from 2016. But his total compensation rose 24.6% to $1.064 million.

Jim Ingram, chief operating officer, Asset-Light Logistics for ArcBest, earned a base salary of $355,000 in 2017, flat from 2016. Total compensation increased 21.9% to $935,333.

David Cobb, vice president and chief financial officer for ArcBest, received a 9.2% pay increase to $344,000, from 2016. Total compensation rose 48.6% to $900,090. Cobb was the only executive officer to receive a base salary increase after the company’s compensation committee reviewed market data and performance to determine salary changes. The raise went into effect Jan. 1, 2017, aligning his salary closer to the 50th percentile of his peer group.

Michael Newcity, senior vice president and chief innovation officer for ArcBest and president of company subsidiary ArcBest Technologies Inc., wasn’t an executive officer until 2017 and earned $340,000 that year. Total compensation was $860,993.

In 2017, total compensation for the company’s median employee was $95,518, with McReynolds earning 22.3 times more than that employee, the proxy shows.

SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
ArcBest will host its annual shareholders meeting at 8 a.m., May 1 at the company’s corporate offices at 8401 McClure Drive in Fort Smith, according to the proxy. Shareholders of record as of March 5, 2018, will be entitled to vote on whether to reelect the nine directors of the company for a one-year term.

Following are the directors up for reelection, and the company’s recommended their reappointment: Eduardo Conrado, Stephen Gorman, Michael Hogan, William Legg, Kathleen McElligott, McReynolds, Craig Philip, Steven Spinner and Janice Stipp. There are no family relationships among any of the directors and executive officers of the company, the proxy shows.

As of March 5, shareholders who own more than 5% of the company’s stock are BlackRock Inc. of New York, 3.321 million shares or 12.95%; The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pa., 2.332 million shares or 9.09%; Dimensional Fund Advisors LP of Austin, Texas, 2.171 million shares or 8.47%; and JPMorgan Chase & Co. of New York, 1.804 million shares or 7.04%. Combined, the 20 directors and executive officers own 305,236 shares or 1.19%. McReynolds owns the most of the directors and executive officers at 92,579 shares.

Shareholders also will vote on whether to increase the number of shares the company can issue as part of its compensation program. The change would increase the number of shares by 250,000, from 3.1 million to 3.35 million. Under the company’s existing 2005 plan, a total of 1.563 million shares have been issued as of Feb. 22, 2018.

Shares of ArcBest (NASDAQ: ARCB) closed at $33, down 95 cents or 2.8% on Friday (March 23). In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $39.70 and $16.95.