Ronald Williams, chief executive of Aetna Inc., received compensation last year valued by the insurance company at nearly $18.2 million, according to a proxy statement.
Williams was paid a salary of $1.09 million in 2007 and received $1.9 million in a non-equity incentive plan.
He also received other compensation of $104,162, including perks such as $77,098 for personal use of company aircraft and $10,314 to use company vehicles.
But most of Williams’ compensation, about $15 million, was in what Aetna estimates to be the fair value of stock grants awarded to the chief executive in two payments in February 2007.
Williams, 58, was paid $30.8 million in 2006, but it included compensation paid only that year: a $6.1 million bonus earned that year and in 2005, and $7.7 million he received in fair value of stock grants the day he took over as chief executive.
The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.
The calculations do not include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Hartford-based insurer reported revenue in 2007 of nearly $27.6 billion, up nearly 10 percent from 2006. Profit was $1.83 billion, or $3.47 a share, up 7.6 percent from $1.7 billion, or $2.99 a share.
In the proxy, Aetna officials said they based Williams’ compensation on the company’s “overall superior financial performance,” growth in the number of Aetna customers, effective strategies in buying other companies and success in reaching new markets.
Williams also “has become a sought-after and influential leader on health care issues,” Aetna said in the proxy.
An Aetna committee’s compensation decisions place Williams above the median of similar executives in a comparison group of companies, the committee said. However, Aetna officials said Williams’ pay is “appropriate given the company’s superior financial performance and (his) strong leadership and individual performance.”
Williams said in February that Aetna expects between 550,000 and 600,000 new members in the first quarter of 2008, which would double growth of 300,000 that previously was projected.
For 2008, Aetna expects between 800,000 and 850,000 new members in its medical insurance, more than the 650,000 that had been projected.
