Terrence McDermott, who stepped down last year as CEO for the National Association of Realtors trade group, received total compensation in 2004 of about $2.63 million, which included annual salary as well as accrued merit bonuses and past earnings from a mutual fund program. He also received $119,211 in contributions to an employee benefit plan in 2004, according to a tax document filed by the trade group.
American Banker, a news source for the financial services industry, reported that McDermott was the highest-paid executive in a survey of 11 real estate and financial trade association executives.
According to the Realtor group’s Form 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service, which is required for some organizations that are exempt from income taxes, the group spent about $26.7 million on other salaries and wages in 2004, $2 million in pension plan contributions, and $3.2 million in other employee benefits in 2004. The 2004 form is the latest publicly available information for the trade group.
McDermott’s total compensation included some deferred bonuses and payments from previous years. The association noted in the IRS form that the CEO received $777,174 for “salaries, etc.” in 2004, as well as $487,500 in merit bonuses and $1.37 million in earnings from a liquidated mutual fund shares program.
The compensation in merit bonuses includes merit bonuses of $112,500 for 2002, $225,000 for 2003 and $150,000 for 2004, “all of which were not awarded and not paid until year-end 2004,” according to the tax document.
The association also reported that it launched a long-term incentive compensation plan in 1999 “to attract and retain top executives. As part of the plan, in lieu of receiving annual merit bonuses, employees were allowed to purchase mutual fund shares during the years 1999 through 2002.” The plan was liquidated in 2004 because of changes in tax law, the association reported, and at that time “NAR remitted respective payments totaling the four years worth of contributions and the attendant four years of interest-dividend earnings to participants.”
As a result, McDermott earned about $1.37 million through his participation in this program, the group reported.
The Realtor group said in a statement that McDermott’s actual 2004 compensation totaled just $927,174, based on his 2004 annual salary and a $150,000 merit bonus, though this does not take into account the deferred compensation that McDermott received in 2004 from previous merit bonuses and mutual fund profits.
“His compensation would therefore place him eighth among the executives ranked by American Banker in its June 2 story,” according to NAR’s statement.
Meanwhile, Robert E. Vagley, president for the American Insurance Association Inc. trade group, received compensation of $1.13 million in 2004, according to that group’s Form 990 statement, and contributions to Vagley’s benefit plan totaled $1.64 million that year. And Donald G. Ogilvie, president and CEO for the American Bankers Association, received $1 million in compensation in 2004, as well as $388,626 in contributions to an employee benefit plan and $18,264 for “expense account and other allowances,” according to that group’s IRS filing.
McDermott served as CEO for the Realtor group from 1997-2005. Dale Stinton, the current CEO for the Realtors association, took over as CEO on Nov. 1, 2005. Stinton previously had 24 years of experience with the association, and had most recently served as chief financial officer and chief information officer before accepting the top executive position.
Representatives for the Realtor group have not yet responded to Inman News requests for more current information about CEO salary and total compensation.
The Realtor association reported that it spent about $13.3 million in lobbying and political expenditures in 2004, and also spent about $27.3 million in advertising that year. Also, the group spent about $9.1 million for consulting, $3.1 million for insurance, $902,289 for “political awareness,” and $513,500 for “gifts, awards and flowers” in 2004. Travel costs for the trade group amounted to $5.5 million in 2004, with printing and publications cost of $7.9 million.
The association collected about $94.7 million in membership dues and assessments in 2004, according to the tax document. The association began 2004 with a $19 million investment in Homestore.com common stock and ended the year with $12.2 million in Homestore.com common stock. Homestore, which has since changed its name to Move Inc., operates the Realtor.com property-search site through an agreement with the Realtor association.
Total revenue exceeded expenses by about $12.2 million in 2004. The trade group reported total revenue of about $126.6 million and total expenses of about $114.5 million.
