Pay package for HEI’s Lau worth $3.1M | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

STAR-ADVERTISER / 2014

Connie Lau’s total compensation was increased to reach $3.1 million, according to a filing with the SEC.

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Hawaiian Electric Industries President and CEO Connie Lau saw her total compensation jump 12.7 percent last year to $3.1 million even as the company’s proposed sale to NextEra Energy was rejected in July by the state Public Utilities Commission.

Lau, 65, received a base salary of $864,700, stock awards worth $648,531, nonequity incentive plan compensation of $1.2 million, and $364,325 in a change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings, according to an HEI filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As of Dec. 31, 2016, Lau would have received $9.9 million if HEI had been sold to Next-Era.

Lau’s pay package in 2015 was worth $2.7 million.

The SEC requires publicly traded companies to list the compensation of their CEO, chief financial officer and other highly compensated employees serving as executive officers at year’s end. Companies typically release the information in March or April ahead of their annual shareholders’ meetings.

Lau’s compensation ranked her as the fourth-highest-compensated CEO in the state in 2016 at a publicly traded company. Bank of Hawaii’s Peter Ho ($5 million), First Hawaiian Bank’s Bob Harrison ($4.3 million) and Matson’s Matt Cox ($4.1 million) all ranked ahead of her.

The total compensation for Hawaiian Airlines CEO Mark Dunkerley, who also is typically among the highest-paid CEOs, has not been released yet. Dunkerley received $3.3 million in 2015.

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HEI, which owns Hawaiian Electric Co., Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light Co., as well as American Savings Bank, also reported compensation for four other executives.

Chief Financial Officer James Ajello of HEI saw his total compensation rise 10 percent to $1.6 million. HECO President and CEO Alan Oshima saw his pay package rise 12.1 percent to $1.6 million, and Rich Wacker, president and CEO of American Savings, had his compensation increase 6.1 percent to $1.5 million. Gregory Hazelton, HEI senior vice president of finance, received $1.1 million in compensation after joining HEI on Oct. 24.