Mark Stenberg, the newest member of the board of directors of Nutrition 21 Inc. of Purchase, has a three-year employment agreement as senior vice president and holds a 5 percent secured note on the company for $1.25 million, Nutrition 21 said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Stenberg was chief executive officer and owner of 50 percent of Iceland Health, a nutritional supplement marketer that Nutrition 21 bought in August 2006. In the filing this week, the company said it paid Stenberg $500,000 cash and 4.75 million shares of stock, in addition to the note, for his interest in Iceland Health.
As of Monday, accrued interest on the note was $102,000. The note and interest are due in August 2009. Stenberg also qualifies for up to $1.25 million in additional payments if certain sales benchmarks are reached.
Stenberg’s base salary is $225,000, plus a possible bonus. His employment contract ends on Aug. 25, 2009.

ITT Corp. has boosted Chairman, President and Chief Executive Steven R. Loranger’s salary 13 percent to $1.13 million effective March 1, the White Plains-based conglomerate disclosed in a regulatory filing today.

The company’s board of directors also set the annual salaries of four other executives, including Chief Financial Officer Denise L. Ramos, who now earns $540,000.

Robert W. Selander is MasterCard Inc.’s million-dollar man.

The Purchase-based electronic-payments giant raised the base salary of its president and chief executive to $1 million a year, according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Selander’s 2006 compensation package included $900,000 in base pay.

The company’s president of global accounts, Chris McWilton, will also be earning more this year.

He also got an 11 percent raise, bringing his annual base salary to $550,000 from $495,833 in 2006.

Both raises are effective March 1, the filing noted.

The top executive at Acadia Realty Trust in White Plains will receive a compensation package for 2008 valued at $2.31 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kenneth F. Bernstein, president and chief executive officer, will receive a base salary of $460,000, plus bonus units valued at $774,000 and a long-term incentive award valued at $1.07 million.

Figures for 2007 compensation were not listed in the filing. Bernstein received a compensation package valued at $1.82 million for 2006, according to last year’s proxy statement.

A real estate investment trust, Acadia had profits of $39 million on revenue of $102.7 million in 2006. The 2007 results will be announced on Feb. 13.

The independent directors at Hudson Technologies Inc. of Pearl River approved a 4 percent increase in base compensation for top executives, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The increases were effective Aug. 1. The new compensation bases are: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin J. Zugibe, $187,096; President and Chief Operating Officer Brian F. Coleman, $165,672; Vice President of Sales Charles F. Harkins, $154,960; Secretary/Vice President, Legal and Regulatory, Stephen P. Mandracchia, $141,570; Chief Financial Officer James R. Buscemi, $122,824.

Denise L. Ramos, who officially took over Sunday as the new chief financial officer of ITT Corp. of Harrison, will receive a $500,000 salary and a minimum bonus for 2007 of $375,000.

ITT, a diversified global manufacturer and defense contractor, outlined the compensation package in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ramos also will receive a restricted stock award valued at $200,000 and qualify for a long-term incentive award of cash and stock valued at $1.1 million. She also will receive a monthly automobile stipend of $1,300.

Ramos formerly was CFO at Furniture Brands International. She succeeds George E. Minnich as CFO at ITT. Among other compensation, Minnich received a salary of $477,000 for 2006, a stock award valued at $808,000, and options valued at $305,000.

The chief executive of Harrison-based Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. has been awarded a 10 percent raise in his base salary in connection with the completion of a deal in which DHL Express acquired a 49 percent interest in Atlas subsidiary Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc. With the raise, Flynn earns a salary of $715,000. The company’s board also voted to award him 6,530 shares of restricted stock. In addition, the company said John W. Dietrich, the executive vice president and chief operating officer, got a 10 percent raise in his salary, bringing it to $467,500. Dietrich also got 4,269 shares of restricted stock.

Jarden Corp., the Rye company that markets consumer products, has extended the contract of Martin E. Franklin, the chairman and chief executive, through 2009 at an annual salary of $1.95 million. He will also get bases tied to the inflation rate, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Franklin will be eligible for bonuses of up to twice his salary based on the company’s financial performance and the discretion of the board of directors. The agreement also calls for him to get 230,000 shares of restricted stock each year.

The president and chief executive at Acorda Therapeutics Inc., a Hawthorne company that markets a drug to help victims of multiple sclerosis and spinal-column injuries with their muscle control, paid its president and chief executive $1.41 million, including stock and option awards, last year, the company reported.

Acorda said Dr. Ron Cohen made a salary of $370,000 and a bonus of $225,000. He gets the bonus this year, the company said. He also got stock valued at $634,254 and options valued at $181,968, the company said in a proxy filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cohen, who founded the company in 1995, made the compensation in a year in which investors flocked to the company. The company’s stock closed the year at $15.84 a share, a 164 percent rise from its initial offering price of $6 last February.

Under new SEC rules, companies do not have to disclose in their annual proxy statements how much their executives made two years ago or earlier. But the company said in filings last year that Cohen made annual salaries of $305,000 in 2005 and 2004. He also qualified in 2005 for a bonus of $120,000 that the company said would be paid in 2006.

Acorda, which had net sales of $27.4 million last year but reported a loss of $24 million. The company markets Zanaflex, the drug that helps patients with multiple sclerosis and spinal-column injuries manage spasticity.

The company is seeking to develop Fampridine-SR, a drug that could help multiple sclerosis patients walk.

The president and chief executive of Drew Industries Inc. of White Plains earned $1.3 million last year, including his salary, bonus and other compensation, the company said in a proxy statement. Leigh J. Abrams took home a salary of $400,000, $800,629 in non-equity incentive compensation and $99,300 in other compensation, Drew reported in the statement sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company did not grant stock options or awards last year. Drew makes parts for manufactured homes and recreational vehicles.

The commission no longer requires companies to report how much money their executives made two years earlier. But Drew said in a proxy issued last spring that Abrams earned $1.35 million in 2005. That included $400,000 in salary, a cash bonus of $937,288 and $14,076 in other compensation.

Drew shares were trading at $29.97, down 10 cents at 1:08 p.m.

One of the top executives at Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. of Irvington, whose retirement was announced Monday, will actually remain on the company payroll for at least a year longer.

The retirement of Michael A. Fink, 62, the company’s senior vice president-marketing, OTC/Personal Care, is effective June 30, Prestige Brands said in a press release. Fink is being succeeded by James E. Kelly, 49, a consultant to Prestige who previously worked for Combe Inc.

The press release omitted an important change in Fink’s contract that Prestige’s board of directors approved last Friday.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the day after the announcement, Prestige said that starting July 1, Fink will be a “work at home� employee for one year. During that time, he will provide “advice, information or guidance to the company on an as needed basis,� the filing said.

Fink will be paid $211,000 for the period. He also will qualify for an additional payment that will either equal his bonus for the preceding fiscal year, or 45 percent of his $211,000 salary, whichever is greater, the filing said.

Prestige spokesman Dean Siegal declined to elaborate on the filing. The company is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter results May 9.

The company has seen big changes at the top of late. In January it named Mark Pettie as its third chief executive in 12 months. Pettie, who had led the dairy foods group at ConAgra Inc. of Omaha, Neb., succeeded Frank P. Palantoni, who quit after three months.

Prestige Brands sells a variety of well-known consumer products such as Chloraseptic sore throat treatment, Compound W wart remover, Comet and Spic and Span cleansers, and Murine eye products.
Fink had joined Medtech Holdings in 2002, before Medtech was included in a public offering from which Prestige Brands emerged in early 2005. Prior to Medtech, he had worked at Block Drug Co. for 25 years.

Kelly assumes responsibility for Fink’s marketing activities effective Monday. He had worked for Combe as senior vice president, marketing and sales in North America, from 2001 to 2005.

At Prestige, he receives an annual base salary of $250,000 and a sign-on bonus of $75,000, and he may receive a bonus of 45 percent of salary plus a long-term incentive plan grant of $347,000.

To ensure that William J. Flynn would take the top management job at Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. of Purchase last year, the board of directors gave him a $200,000 signing bonus, boosted base salary for the job by 25 percent, and bought Flynn’s house in California.

The details of Flynn’s compensation package were released this week in the company’s proxy statement. Flynn took over as president and chief executive officer on June 22, following the retirement of his predecessor, Jeffrey H. Erickson.

Flynn was paid $2.19 million in total compensation for 2006. His annual base salary was set at $650,000, well above Erickson’s salary of $520,800 for 2005. Flynn also received a $200,000 “sign on� bonus, a $66,000 discretionary bonus for performance in 2006, an incentive plan payment of $263,000, a stock award valued at $422,700, and options valued at $112,700.

Atlas Air also paid Flynn $781,500 for his house and other relocation expenses, the proxy showed. Flynn now lives in New York City, the company said.

Atlas, which provides a variety of aircraft services, “is a very dynamic company, and it deserves dynamic leadership,� said Dan Loh, the head of investor relations. Flynn “brings to the company a very unique set of eyes and experiences.�

Flynn has broad background in logistics and transportation. Previously he was president and chief executive of GeoLogistics, a company he helped restore to profitability and later sell. Thomson Financial’s Buyouts magazine rated it “Turnaround of the Year.�

Before joining GeoLogistics, Flynn worked for several years for a subsidiary of CSX Corp., holding senior management positions in Asia, Latin America and the United States.

Loh said the company has credited Flynn with process improvements, a new aircraft fleet strategy, and a strategic partnership with DHL, the express delivery business.

Atlas Air emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2004. It reported net income last year of $59.8 million on revenue of $1.48 billion. The stock closed yesterday at $59.20, down 60 cents. It’s up 33 percent for the year.

IBM Corp.’s top executive was awarded a compensation package for 2006 that was valued at more than $16 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Samuel J. Palmisano, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, received salary of $1.75 million plus a cash payout of $5 million. In addition, he also received stock options valued at $3.28 million, and more than 56,000 shares of IBM stock with a present value of $5.28 million.

Palmisano collected other payments totalling $922,000. They include a variety of cash and in-kind items, such as private travel on IBM jets valued at $373,000, personal security expenses of $53,000, and tax reimbursements of $11,000.

Shareholders in Armonk-based IBM saw a total return in calender year 2006 of 19.8 percent, compared to a total return of 15.8 percent in the S&P 500.

Traffix Inc., the Pearl River-based online marketing company, said Richard Wentworth, its chief operating officer, will earn a base salary of $250,000 for the fiscal year that ends in November, a raise from the $216,000 he earned last fiscal year, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He will also get a bonus of $35,000 to $50,000 each Nov. 30, the company said.

Par Pharmaceutical Cos. Inc., which has operations in Chestnut Ridge, said this morning that it has returned the marketing rights for a drug for diarrhea to Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Diego in return for $20 million.

Par and Optimer had had an agreement to develop the drug Difimicin. Optimer will continue to develop the drug.

Par was a selling shareholder in Optimer’s initial stock offering and received $6.8 million from the sale of 1.05 million shares. Par will also get $5 million from Optimer when certain goals regarding the drug are met. Par will also get royalties from Optimer based on sales of the drug.

Par shares closed yesterday at $24.86, down 26 cents.

Rye-based software company Mobius Management Systems Inc. said today that it increased the number of shares available to be issued for non-employee board members to receive.

The company said the amendment to a 1998 stock option plan calls for the limit to be raised from 500,000 to 750,000 shares. Other actions taken at the company’s annual meeting of shareholders included the election of Mitchell Gross, Mark Cattini and Gary G. Greenfield to serve on the board until 2009.

Allan Drury
The Journal News

The chief executive of IBM Corp., the giant computer company based in Armonk, will earn $1.8 million in salary and a $5 million bonus for meeting the company’s 2006 performance goals, the company said.

In addition, Samuel Palmisano could earn an additional $11.5 million in long-term incentive awards, depending on the company’s financial results, according to a document IBM filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Stephen S. Romaine, president, chief executive officer and director of Mahopac National Bank, will be paid a base salary of $325,000 in fiscal 2007 when he takes over as president and CEO of the bank’s parent company, Tompkins Trustco Inc. of Ithaca, N.Y., on Jan. 1, according to a regulatory filing.

Romaine, 42, will take over from President James W. Fulmer and retiring CEO James J. Byrnes. Byrnes, also a director of Mahopac National Bank, will remain chairman of Tompkins Trustco and will be paid $50,000 annually.
Byrnes also will receive a company-owned car for business and personal use and will receive 75 percent of the cost of certain club dues.

Fulmer will serve as vice chairman of Tompkins Trustco.

Gerald J. Klein Jr. will succeed Romaine as president and CEO at Mahopac National. Klein is the bank’s executive vice president for lending and credit; he joined the bank in 1995.

IBM Corp. of Armonk said it will no longer grant stock options to members of its board of directors who are not employees of the company. But the annual retainer directors receive will double from $100,000 to $200,000 in 2007. The company’s stock was trading at $96 a share, unchanged, at 9:35 a.m.

Jarden Corp., the consumer products company in Rye, said today that it raised a net $138 million by selling shares of its stock.

The company said it sold 4 million shares and Warburg Pincus and its affiliates sold 7.5 million shares at $36.25 a share. The net proceeds is the amount the company made after paying underwriting discounts and other expenses.

The company previously indicated that the money from the offering would go toward paying debts, possibly make acquisitions and for general corporate expenses.

Jarden stock closed at $36.18 a share today, down 16 cents.