Top Ingram Execs’ Pay More Than Doubles

Santa Ana computer parts wholesaler Ingram Micro Inc. more than doubled the total compensation of its top officers last year as it was losing money and its stock was sliding.

Ingram’s annual proxy statement, filed Friday, shows that it awarded a $1.7-million bonus to Chairman and Chief Executive Kent Foster in 2002 on top of his $1.1-million base salary. In 2001, Foster earned a $31,000 bonus on nearly the same base salary.

President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Grainger’s bonus jumped from $177,000 to $798,000 while his salary held fairly steady.

Other bonuses, including those for Guy Abramo and Thomas Madden, both executive vice presidents, and Kevin Murai, president of Ingram’s North American operations, increased dramatically as well.

In addition, Grainger, Abramo and Murai received “executive retention agreement” payments averaging $1 million. In 2001, none of the three had such non-salary, non-bonus payments of more than $160,000.

Ingram posted a loss of $275 million last year as sales fell to $22.5 billion from $25.2 billion.

The firm’s shares have lost about a third of their value in the last 12 months. They closed Friday at $10.90, up 5 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

In its proxy, the company said it awarded bonuses based on preestablished performance targets, which it didn’t detail.

“Performance directives were set by our board, with the understanding that if objectives were met, our team would be eligible for the year-end bonus,” Ingram spokeswoman Marie Meoli said.

Of seven major brokerages with recommendations on Ingram’s stock, only one predicts that the shares will do better than the rest of the market. Four are neutral, and two predict that they will do worse.