After leading one of the nation’s biggest shopping center development companies out of bankruptcy and into a growing, profitable enterprise again, CBL Properties CEO Stephen Lebovitz got a boost in pay last year to make the second-generation head of the company the highest-paid CEO in Chattanooga in 2022.
Lebovitz, 56, who succeed his father Charles as head of the company in 2010, was paid total compensation of $11.2 million in 2022.
Lebovitz’s compensation package was one of the richest ever paid to a Chattanooga executive, although it was still below the $13.3 million paid in 2020 to Unum CEO Rick McKenney.
Staff photo / CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz poses for a photo at CBL Headquarters at Hamilton Place mall on Jan. 9, 2020.The company’s compensation committee of the board noted the success of CBL’s turnaround. Ninety-eight percent of shareholders voted in favor of the compensation provided to company executives.
“In November 2021, we successfully emerged from Chapter 11 proceedings as a restructured company,” CBL reported in its annual proxy report to shareholders detailing the compensation. “CBL experienced a strong and successful 2022, and we continue to make substantial progress in executing our short-term and long-term strategies.”
CBL boosted Lebovtiz’s base salary last year by 7% to $719,442, but the overwhelming amount of Lebovitz’s compensation was at-risk pay and reflected his performance in helping the company achieve its financial goals.
Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Jeff Lyash received less in total compensation in 2022, but he remained the highest paid federal employee in America. Under the performance-based pay system for TVA executives, Lyash was rewarded for boosting energy sales, cutting TVA’s debt and boosting net income.
“We had an outstanding fiscal year, lowering our debt to a 35-year low and boosting TVA’s overall performance while reducing operating and maintenance expenses,” TVA Chairman Bill Kilbride said by phone after last week’s TVA board meeting in Mississippi. “We need the very best talent, and we’re fortunate to have the executive team that we do.”
Lyash, 61, was paid nearly $9.8 million in salary, performance bonuses and benefits in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, according to TVA’s annual financial report.
TVA directors said Lyash is still paid below the average of his industry peers, however.
Among the top nine CEOs in the Chattanooga area reporting compensation under Securities and Exchange Commission rules, Lyash was among five local CEOs who took home less overall compensation last year than in the previous year. The other four all received more compensation in 2022 than they did the previous year.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Staff photo / Tennessee Valley Authority President Jeff Lyash speaks during an interview at the TVA Chattanooga Office Complex on April 23, 2019.