Ventas CEO's Compensation Up On Stock Awards

She received $1.3 million in stock options and restricted stock the year before.

The stock options and restricted stock reflect Cafaro's ability to reach long-term company goals including maximizing shareholder returns, integrating operations and assets of Sunrise Senior Living Inc., improving credit worthiness and maintaining a solid balance sheet.

The Associated Press' compensation formula aims to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.

For 2008, Chicago-based Ventas reported funds from operations, a key measure of REIT health, of $416 million, up 10 percent from $377.7 million the year before. Excluding certain items, full-year FFO was $383.2 million compared with $330.6 million in 2007.