{"id":795552,"date":"2026-05-14T09:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/795552\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:55:20","slug":"ceo-compensation-2025-hinrichs-was-jacksonvilles-highest-paid-as-he-left-csx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/795552\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO compensation 2025: Hinrichs was Jacksonville\u2019s highest-paid as he left CSX"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the third straight year, Stephanie Ferris of Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, was the highest paid chief executive officer among Jacksonville-based publicly traded companies at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

But she wasn\u2019t the highest-paid public company CEO in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Hinrichs<\/p>\n

CSX Corp.\u2019s Joe Hinrichs received the highest compensation package, in part because of severance pay he received when he was replaced in September by Steve Angel.<\/p>\n

According to CSX\u2019s proxy statement for its upcoming annual shareholders meeting, Hinrichs received a total compensation package of $23.7 million.<\/p>\n

That included $8.25 million received because Hinrichs was \u201cinvoluntarily separated from employment on September 27, 2025 under circumstances that made him eligible for severance benefits under his employment,\u201d the proxy said.<\/p>\n

Although Angel was on the job only for about three months during 2025, his pay package of $11.7 million in 2025 was second only to Ferris\u2019 $22.9 million among Jacksonville CEOs currently on the job.<\/p>\n

As is common with CEOs of large companies, total pay for Angel and Hinrichs included large stock and option awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ultimate value of those awards can fluctuate based on the performance of the company\u2019s stock, so they reward CEOs if their performance lifts the value of the stock and benefits shareholders.<\/p>\n

The value of the awards listed on a company\u2019s proxy statements are an estimate of their value at the time of the filing.<\/p>\n

CSX\u2019s proxy said Hinrichs received stock and options to buy stock valued at $12.5 million, and Angel received awards valued at $10.6 million.<\/p>\n

Ferris\u2019 package at FIS included stock awards valued at $18.7 million.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

CSX and FIS are two of three publicly traded Jacksonville-based companies on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations.<\/p>\n

Mike Nolan, CEO of the third Fortune 500 company, Fidelity National Financial Inc., received the third largest package among current Jacksonville CEOs at $11.6 million.<\/p>\n

Lisa Palmer of Regency Centers Corp. had the fourth-largest compensation package at $11.1 million.<\/p>\n

While not in the Fortune 500, Regency is part of the Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 index, another listing of large U.S. companies.<\/p>\n

An analysis of 318 S&P 500 companies by business advisory firm ISS-Corporate found the median pay for CEOs at those companies rose 10.6% last year to $17.7 million.<\/p>\n

In line with the pay for Jacksonville CEOs, ISS said increases in the value of stock and option awards drove the overall increase in compensation packages.<\/p>\n

ISS said the median base salary for CEOs rose 3.2% to $1.4 million in 2025, while the median stock award rose 10.7% to $11 million and the median option award rose 5.3% to $3.6 million.<\/p>\n

Stock awards can make a big difference in CEO compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before leaving the company April 1, Chuck Ferry of Duos Technologies Group Inc.\u2019s pay jumped from $276,263 in 2024 to $4.1 million in 2025, mainly because of $3.1 million in stock awards he received last year after receiving none in 2024.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, Proficient Auto Logistics Inc. CEO Richard O\u2019Dell\u2019s package dropped from $18.8 million in 2024 to $650,225 last year.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Dell\u2019s 2024 package included $18.2 million in stock awards connected to Proficient\u2019s initial public offering in May 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile most companies delivered positive shareholder returns in 2025, the magnitude of CEO pay increases highlights the degree to which stock and option awards continue to drive compensation decisions,\u201d Roy Saliba, managing director at ISS-Corporate, said in an April 27 news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a more uncertain macro environment marked by tariff risk, geopolitical tensions, and softer growth outlooks, investors are likely to scrutinize whether elevated pay outcomes remain well-aligned with long-term performance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CEO Pay<\/p>\n

This table shows the total value of fiscal 2025 compensation packages of chief executive officers of public companies based in the Jacksonville area, and the change from 2024.<\/p>\n

The total compensation includes the estimated value of stock awards and stock options granted.<\/p>\n

The value of stock compensation can change based on the market price of the company\u2019s stock, so public companies use complex formulas to come up with an estimated value that is reported on their annual proxy statements.<\/p>\n

The chart also shows the base salary each CEO was paid in fiscal 2025 and the total of cash incentive payments, which are generally tied to meeting performance targets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the third straight year, Stephanie Ferris of Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, was the highest…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":795553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-795552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}