$26M pay package for Altria CEO tops list of region’s highest-paid public company execs

The CEOs of the region’s 20 largest publicly traded companies. (BizSense graphic)

It pays to be the top boss at Richmond’s resident tobacco giant.

William Gifford Jr., CEO of Henrico-based Altria Group, the maker of Philip Morris cigarettes and other products, was once again the highest-paid executive among the region’s 20 largest publicly traded companies in 2024, according to recent filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

With a total compensation package valued at $26.78 million, Gifford far outpaced the rest of his local peers.

His nearest competitor was CarMax CEO William Nash, whose most recent pay package at the Goochland-based used car retailer was valued at $17.11 million.

William Gifford

Each spring and summer, most publicly traded companies are required to file proxy statements disclosing the value of all manner of compensation given to their top handful of executives. Those pay packages include base salary, bonuses, cash incentives and the value of stock options and other perks such as pension contributions and even trips on the corporate jet.

Gifford’s spot atop the local list marks the third year in a row that he led the pack. His pay in 2024 was up 45% from 2023 when his compensation was valued at $18.52 million.

Gifford’s 2024 compensation included a base salary of $1.43 million, $7.23 million in stock awards and $7 million in non-equity incentive payouts. His biggest boost came from a $10.86 million increase in the value of his pension, which was up from $3.6 million in the previous year.

He also got $100,000 worth of personal use of the company’s corporate jet.

Personal use of the company jet is often listed in companies’ proxies under the “other” category, along with perks like car allowances, tax preparation services, executive wellness programs, country club dues, financial planning services, dividends on restricted stock and the company match on a 401k.

The compensation data for most companies on the list was for calendar-year 2024, with the exception of CarMax, which uses a fiscal calendar and therefore listed its most recent pay packages as for 2025.

* The compensation data for CarMax’s William Nash is for the company’s 2025 fiscal year.

At the number two spot, CarMax’s Nash saw a nearly $5 million bump from year-to-year, mainly due to $6.89 million in stock awards that were up from $1.82 million the year prior. He also received $3.44 million in non-equity incentive payments, up from $1.4 million.

While CarMax sells rubber-to-road vehicles, Nash spent a lot of time in the air last year, logging $132,000 worth of personal use on the company jet. That appears to be the largest amount among his local peers, according to a review of the filings.

Third in the rankings was Dominion Energy’s Robert Blue, who notched the biggest percentage-increase in total compensation year-over-year at 106%. His total was $12.9 million in 2024, up from $6.27 million the prior year.

The bulk of that big increase was due to an increase in his annual stock award from $2.08 million to $8.52 million.

Dominion was one of the few local companies to list “realized pay” (also labeled as non-SEC total) in its proxy, in an effort to signify that much of public company executive pay packages are made up of items that don’t equate to an immediate tangible benefit. Rather, items such as stock options, restricted stock warrants and changes in pension value are often types of deferred pay with restrictions on how and when they can be realized.

Blue, for example, is listed as receiving $6.51 million in realized pay in 2024, up from $5.98 million in 2023.

Of the 20 CEOs on the list, the average increase in compensation packages was 24%, up from 14% in last year’s rankings.

The group of 20 as a whole received a combined $159.29 million in total compensation for the year. That’s an average of $7.96 million.

Only four CEOs on the list saw a decline in the value of their pay packages in 2024. The largest decrease was for Arie Kotler, head of the Henrico-based convenience store and gas station giant ARKO, whose $4.79 million in total compensation value was down 21% compared to 2023. That was mainly due to a lack of stock option awards in 2024 compared to the previous year.

New to the list this year was R. Scott Tidey, chief executive at Henrico-based small appliance maker Hamilton Beach. Tidey was promoted to CEO last October, replacing Greg Trepp, who retired from the company in December but still topped its executive compensation list with $4.47 million for the year.

This year’s list features two fewer CEOs than last year due to the elimination of LL Flooring and Village Bank from the tally. LL Flooring collapsed into bankruptcy last year and had its assets sold off and its stock delisted, while Village Bank was acquired by Hampton Roads-based competitor TowneBank earlier this year.

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