CenterPoint shareholders rebuke CEO David Lesar's $38 million compensation

CenterPoint Energy shareholders on Friday rejected CEO David Lesar’s compensation package in nonbinding vote that sends a message to the Houston utility’s board that they disapprove of the nearly $38 million Lesar received in 2021.

The vote at CenterPoint’s annual meeting came two days after a report by the Energy and Policy Institute, a San Francisco watchdog group, showed that Lesar’s compensation in 2021 was far higher — in some cases two to three times higher — than chief executives of similar utility companies. His compensation more than tripled his 2020 compensation of $12 million.

It is unusual for shareholders to disapprove executive compensation in so called “say-on-pay” resolutions, which are required under the financial reform laws that followed the financial crisis of 2008. In another report by the Energy and Policy Institute, none of 66 utilities studied had shareholders cast advisory votes against executive pay and most passed with overwhelming approval.

Ted Pound, chairman of CenterPoint board’s compensation committee, said in a statement that the utility’s directors “value and respect the perspective of our shareholders” and “will take their views on executive compensation into consideration as we evaluate an approach that will serve the company and our investors.”

Read more: https://www.yourconroenews.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/CenterPoint-shareholders-rebuke-CEO-David-17122214.php

CenterPoint needs to hold onto its money since they still have wrongful death lawsuits from the 2021 freeze to settle. It's good to see the shareholders reluctance to pay the CEO an exorbitant salary.