Top YRC execs Welch, Pierson see pay rise in 2013

Austin Alonzo
Kansas City Business Journal
March 20, 2014

YRC Worldwide Inc.’s top executives made more in 2013 than they did in 2012, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

On Tuesday, the less-than-truckload carrier (Nasdaq: YRCW) sent a notice to stockholders inviting them to the annual stockholder meeting April 29 at the company’s Overland Park headquarters.

The notice advised stockholders that they will be asked to vote on the makeup of YRC’s board, the compensation package for its executives, its incentive and equity award plan, and the retention of accounting firm KPMG LLP as the company’s independent public accounting firm.

The filing details how much YRC's top executives earned in 2013. Here’s the total amount of salary, stock awards, incentives and bonuses awarded to them in 2013 and 2012, according to the filing:

  • CEO James Welch earned $2,170,630, an increase from $1,968,324 in 2012.
  • CFO Jamie Pierson earned $1,999,223, an increase from $1,200,172 in 2012.
  • Michelle Friel, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at YRC Worldwide, earned $966,161, a decrease from $1,166,508 in 2012.
  • Former YRC Freight President Jeff Rogers, who was fired in September, earned $726,236, a decrease from $1,558,433 in 2012.

In addition, some YRC executives recently have generated additional income by selling their stock in the company. Dozens of these trades have been made since YRC successfully refinanced $1.4 billion in debt that was to come due this year and next.

According to trading data on sales and disposition of YRC stock since Feb. 26, collected from SEC filings by Yahoo Finance, Welch has sold $2,701,454 worth of shares, Pierson has sold $2,087,448, and Friel has sold $1,509,409.

MAEVA Group earns $12.5M

The filing also provided further details to compensation New York-based MAEVA Group LLC received in 2013 and 2014.

In accordance with an advisory agreement MAEVA and YRC signed in February 2013, MAEVA was paid a $5.5 million completion fee and $3 million in monthly retainer fees. YRC paid MAEVA $500,000 in monthly retainer fees for two months of service in 2014 and paid an additional $3.5 million incremental fee to MAEVA in recognition of its contribution to the company’s debt refinancing in early 2014, the filing said.

In total, MAEVA was paid $12.5 million between February 2013 and March 2014, the filing said. Harry Wilson, who served on YRC’s board of Directors from July 2011 until March 2014, is chairman and CEO of MAEVA.

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