Business & Tech

Can You Name the Highest Paid CEO in Illinois?

An AFL-CIO analysis shows chief executives at publicly traded companies in Illinois earned 123 times more than the average worker.

The average CEO pay for publicly traded Illinois companies is $5.4 million, according to the AFL-CIO’s 2014 Executive PayWatch, 123 times more than the average worker's salary of $44,509 a year.

Illinois CEO pay is 318 times greater than what a minimum-wage worker earns.

The analysis tracks the most recent salaries available for S&P 500 Index companies.

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In Illinois, the highest paid CEO, at $27.7 million, is James Skinner at McDonald's, a company that's been under fire in recent months for several workforce issues.

Foreign employees claim they work under "slave-like conditions," and in the United States many McDonald's employees say their bosses engage in "wage theft" to avoid overtime pay.

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Nationally, the highest paid chief executives were Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and Elon Musk of Telsa Motors Inc., who were paid $78,440,657 and $78,150,010, respectively.

Here are the top 15 CEO salaries in Illinois:
  1. James A. Skinner, McDonald's, Oak Brook, $27,741,408 (2012)
  2. Douglas R. Oberhelman, Caterpillar, Peoria, $22,374,744 (2012)
  3. Sandeep Mathrani, General Growth Properties Inc, $22,102,608 (2013)
  4. David W. Nelms, Discover Financial Services, $21,171,839 (2013)
  5. Miles D. White, Abbott Laboratories, $20,865,668 (2013)
  6. Laurence S. Geller, Strategic Hotels and Resorts, $20,559,749 (2012)
  7. Samuel R. Allen, Deere and Co., Moline, $19,148,372 (2013)
  8. Richard A. Gonzalez, Abbvie, North Chicago, $18,176,794 (2013)
  9. Christopher M. Crane, Exelon, Chicago, $17,191,698 (2013)
  10. Thomas J. Wilson, Allstate, Northbrook, $17,058,555 (2012)
  11. Robert L. Parkinson Jr., Baxter International, Deerfield, $16,162,128 (2013)
  12. Troy A. Clarke, Navistar, Lisle, $14,527,858 (2012)
  13. Irene Rosenfeld, Mondelez International, Deerfield, $13,994,780 (2013)
  14. Gregory D. Wasson, Walgreen, Deerfield, $13,654,636 (2013)
  15. Gregory Q. Brown, Motorola, Schaumburg, $12,621,931 (2013)
> FIND MORE AT AFL-CIO.ORG


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