The Tennessee Valley Authority is scaling back the formula used to compensate its CEO, potentially trimming the pay for America’s highest-paid federal employee.
The TVA act requires the federal utility to pay its employees similar to the compensation of others in the industry. But the TVA directors voted Thursday to roll back some of the incentive pay for TVA President Jeff Lyash, who Donald Trump urged the TVA board to pay significantly less when Trump was president four years ago.
Lyash, who has headed TVA since 2019, is the highest-paid federal employee in the country and received a compensation package in fiscal 2023 totaling $10.5 million. Most of Lyash’s compensation came from performance pay linked to corporate goals, and much of his pay package is in deferred compensation or pension payments. But Lyash was given a $74,750 increase in his base salary in 2023, and his $1.227 million base salary is more than triple the $400,000 salary paid to the president of the United States.
TVA’s pay consultants estimated Lyash was paid 29% below the median compensation for CEOs at comparably sized utilities last year.