Ventas CEO's Compensation Up On Stock Awards

CHICAGO (AP) — Debra Cafaro, chief executive of Ventas Inc., received a compensation package in 2008 of $7.6 million, up 86 percent from the year, mostly due to keeping the health care real estate investment trust ahead of its peers amid deteriorating economic and financial conditions.

Cafaro was paid a salary of $630,000, up 5 percent from 2007, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday. She didn't receive a cash incentive bonus this year, compared with 2007's $2.1 million cash incentive bonus tied to her amended employment agreement.

However, she received a performance-based cash bonus of $1.5 million by meeting annual goals that included outperforming industry peers' stock, increasing borrowing capacity, suspending acquisitions during poor market conditions and selling $131.6 million in property. Cafaro didn't receive a performance-based cash bonus the year before.

Cafaro also got $36,485 in perks, down from $37,857 in 2007. The bulk of the perks included $24,908 in payments for supplemental disability insurance.

The largest portion of her compensation package was in the form of stock options and restricted stock — worth about $5.4 million on the day they were granted early last year. However, the awards have exercise prices of $41.54, about $18 above the company's current stock price. That means the awards are currently worth much less absent a substantial rebound in stock price.