Total compensation: $41,829,330 for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015
Salary: $1,025,000
Nonequity incentive pay: $8,148,000
Other compensation: $728,300
Exercised stock options: $18,078,664
Value realized on vesting shares: $13,849,366
New stock options: 186,058
Total 2015 shareholder return: -17.8 percent
Note: James Cracchiolo's realized pay of $41.8 million includes $31.9 million in gains from previously issued long-term equity awards that either vested or he exercised last year. While the number is large, it is down from the previous two years when he took home $97.4 million and $92.2 million, respectively.
Cracchiolo had the first increase in his base salary in five years, up to $1.025 million from $950,000. His annual cash bonus was down 30 percent from the previous year, to $8.1 million.
The annual bonus is based on revenue, earnings and balance sheet quality metrics. In the last several years, the company has generally exceeded annual financial targets. But in 2015, overall performance came in just over targets, earning executives smaller annual bonuses than in years past.
Revenue for the company was essentially flat and total assets under management were down 4 percent for the year to $777 billion.
A return on equity measure accounts for 20 percent of the annual bonus and Ameriprise's 24.3 percent return for 2015 was a record and above target for the year.
The company's Advice and Wealth Management business had a strong year, growing clients by 8 percent and adding 347 experienced new advisers.
Shareholders have given the company very high scores in the annual nonbinding say-on-pay vote on executive compensation (96 percent approval the last two years), mainly because the stock has done exceptionally well.
Last year, the stock had a negative 18 percent total return, but for the fifth straight year the company returned more than 100 percent of its operating earnings to shareholders via dividends or share buybacks while investing more than $230 million into its core business in 2015. Over longer periods, Ameriprise shares have done much better than its peer group.
In the past five years, the stock has had a total return of 106 percent, and the total return since Ameriprise was spun out of American Express in 2005 has been 259 percent.
Patrick Kennedy
The school is changing an elective course while still working with the Eden Prairie-based health care giant after students raised concerns.
