Barra's pay falls in 2016 after one-time awards

DETROIT -- Mary Barra received a 14 percent salary increase in 2016, her third year as CEO of General Motors, but total compensation for Barra and each of her top three lieutenants declined because of one-time stock options given out the previous year.

Barra’s total pay package last year was worth $22.6 million, GM said in a regulatory filing Monday. That’s down from $28.6 million in 2015.

Barra’s salary rose to $2 million, she received $13 million in stock awards and nonequity incentive plan compensation more than doubled to $6.7 million last year, when she was also elected chairman of GM's board of directors.

Her total compensation was more than double that of any other GM executive. President Dan Ammann received $10.2 million, a 13 percent decline. Product development chief Mark Reuss earned $8.4 million, down 18 percent, and CFO Chuck Stevens received $7.6 million, down 6 percent.

As with Barra, each of the three executives received a higher salary but no bonus and none of the one-time awards given in 2015. In all, compensation for the company’s top four earners declined by $9.9 million last year.

Barra’s compensation was about 2 percent more than the $22.1 million given to Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields, as disclosed in a filing last week.

Compensation reported by GM included $96,618 in personal travel expenses for Barra, who is barred by company policy from flying commercially, and $326,555 in security upgrades for Ammann’s Detroit home.

GM said independent security consultants recommended the upgrades for Ammann’s home, a grandiose mansion built in 1926 by auto-safety pioneer Alfred Fisher Jr. that he bought for $1.6 million in 2015.