Thanks to $35.4 million in stock awards, BJ’s Wholesale Club CEO Christopher Baldwin has become the best paid CEO of a public company in Central Massachusetts with a 2018 pay of just over $42 million.
Baldwin, who became the Westborough wholesale company’s CEO in 2015, was paid a 2018 salary of $1.2 million, but was paid a hefty sum after the company went public in 2018.
According to the company’s U.S. Securities and Exchange filings, Baldwin and the company agreed to an IPO equity award in March 2018 where BJ’s granted Baldwin more than 1.4 million of the company’s shares, subject to the completion of an initial public offering.
Those shares became fully vested a month after the IPO last July.
Other sources of income from his leadership include $2.2 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation and $3.1 in option awards.
Similar to Baldwin, Marlborough medical device manufacturer Hologic paid more stock awards to its CEO Stephen MacMillan than it did actual salary, resulting in a total pay of more than $42 million, making him the second highest-paid Central Mass. public company CEO.
MacMillan received $27.2 million in stock awards, $12 million in option awards and $1.4 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation in addition to a base salary of just $1 million.
According to SEC filings, Baldwin beat out Macmillan for the top mark by $16,622.
Rounding out the top five are Ernie Herrman of Framingham retailer TJX Cos. with $18.8 million, Michael Mahoney of Marlborough medtech Boston Scientific with about $14 million and Krishan Canekeratne of Westborough IT firm Virtusa with $8.7 million.
