Archie Black’s $20M payday, his last and biggest leading SPS Commerce

Archie Black got his biggest payout as CEO of Minneapolis-based SPS Commerce in what was his final year in that role.

Black, still executive chairman, retired as chief executive of SPS Commerce Oct. 2, 2023, and was succeeded by Chad Collins.

When he started as CEO 22 years ago, the company was nearly insolvent. He immediately had to make some tough and painful decisions about the direction of the company. He oversaw consistent revenue and earnings growth, allowing shareholders to enjoy a steadily positive return.

Between salary, bonuses and stock awards, Black made $20 million in 2023, up from $13.5 million the previous year.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total compensation for the year ended December 31: $19,954,553

Salary: $538,000

Non-equity incentive compensation: $753,000

All other compensation: $9,900

Stock options exercised: $4,049,469

Restricted stock awards that vested: $14,603,984

Median employee pay: $88,579

CEO pay ratio: 85 to 1

In some ways CEO’s should get their largest paydays in the final years of their tenure, as long-term equity awards are worth more if they had successful and profitable leadership terms.

When Black took over, SPS had annual revenue of $6.3 million. SPS finished 2023 with $537 million in annual revenue and a streak of 92 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. He led the company through its initial public stock offering in 2010, and as a public company, it also has been consistently profitable.

From 2010 to the end of 2023, the company’s stock had a return of 2,750%, more than six times better than the performance of the S&P 500 Index over that time.

Over the previous three years, Black’s realized compensation has averaged $14.5 million. Most of his compensation came from at-risk pay, the previously issued stock options and stock awards that have grown in value with the success of the company.

Black’s salary has been fairly modest by CEO standards; his salary in 2023 was $538,000. His annual bonus was relatively modest as well — $753,000 after the company achieved 140% of the targeted incentives for the year.

Like most executives, Black’s compensation came mostly from 34,482 stock options he exercised in 2023 that were valued at $4 million and the $14.6 million he realized from restricted stock awards that vested. The restricted stock awards are a mix of time-based awards and performance stock units (PSU) awarded for a three-year performance period. In the 2021 to 2023 performance period, SPS executives earned the maximum from the PSUs.