Advanced Energy’s Schatz again tops local pay survey

Stellar year sends Concepts Direct’s Wiland to No. 2

Douglas S. Schatz, chairman and CEO of Advanced Energy Industries Inc. in Fort Collins, continues his reign as Northern Colorado’s highest-paid chief executive officer of a locally based public company, with a salary of $288,989.

Schatz’s ranking came amidst what proved to be a challenging year for the company, which grappled with an unexpected downturn in one of its major markets and reduced net income.

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Others making The Northern Colorado Business Report’s annual ranking of the region’s highest-paid officers of public companies, compiled by Nordby International Inc. of Boulder, hail from Concepts Direct Inc., Atrix Laboratories Inc., Avert Inc., Hach Co., Staodyn Inc., Engineering Measurements Co., Voice It Worldwide Inc., and EFTC Corp.

Schatz and four other AE officers on the list accepted a 10 percent reduction in salary for 1996 and did not receive bonuses or stock options, as they had in 1995. In fact, company executives realized a 14.5 percent reduction in their 1996 compensation packages for a negative two-year return of 46.25 percent.

AE invents, designs, manufactures and supplies power-conversion and control systems incorporated in plasma-based thin-film production equipment. The company’s systems are key elements of semiconductor, data-storage, flat-panel display and other industrial manufacturing equipment, such as laptop computer screens, CD-ROMs and digital video disks.

Business took an adverse turn in AE’s second quarter last year, with the unpredicted downturn in the semiconductor capital equipment market, the company’s largest customer base. Forecasts fell from an annualized order rate of $140 million to about $70 million. Although the company posted net sales of $98.9 million, a 4.4 percent increase over net sales of $94.7 million in 1995; net income declined to $5.1 million from $13.3 million in 1995.

In addition to first, AE officers claimed the fifth, 11th, 12th and 14th spots on the annual list of highest-paid officers. Richard A. Scholl, vice president and chief technology officer, ranked fifth, with a salary of $189,750; Richard P. Beck, vice president and chief financial officer, is in 11th place with a 1996 salary of $150,460; Eric A. Balzer, vice president of operations, is in 12th place with a salary of $147,820, and G. Brent Backman, vice president of special projects, is 14th, with a 1996 salary of $137,537.

Second on the list of highest-paid officers is Philip A. Wiland, chairman and CEO of Concepts Direct Inc., a direct-marketing company based in Longmont that sells personalized paper products and a diverse line of merchandise through three catalogs: Colorful Images, Linda Anderson and Colorful Images Presents Impressions.

Wiland guided the company in one of its most spectacular years, reporting total revenues of $51.1 million, a 21 percent increase over 1995, and total earnings of $1.9 million (or 87 cents per share) accounting for a 130 percent increase.

For his efforts, Wiland was paid a salary of $167,390 and collected a bonus of $57,025, for a total compensation package of $224,415.

He is joined on the list by fellow Concepts Direct executives at the fourth and 22nd spots. All three realized a 236.36 percent two-year-return on their compensation from December 1994 to December 1996.

Executives from Atrix Laboratories in Fort Collins claimed six spots — third, seventh, eighth, 10th, 15th and 16th — on the executive-compensation list. Atrix, incorporated in 1986, researches and develops a broad range of medical, dental and veterinary products based upon a biodegradable drug-delivery system. The majority of its products are in the research, development or clinical stage. In 1996, the company began selling its first product, the Atrisorb Barrier for Guided Tissue Regeneration, in the United States and Europe, which largely accounted for the 85.3 increase in total revenue of $2.9 million for 1996.

John E. Urheim, Atrix vice chairman and CEO, ranked third on the highest-paid list, with a salary of $204,000 and a $15,000 bonus, for a total package of $219,000, an 11.78 percent increase from 1995.

Rees M. Orland, vice president of sales and marketing, collected a $150,000 salary, plus a bonus of $35,625, which puts him in seventh place with $185,625 His colleague, Dr. G. Lee Southard, vice president of dental clinical research, follows in eighth place with a salary of $158,025 with a $15,000 bonus. In addition, he optioned 10,000 shares at a value of $11,250. This puts his total compensation package at $184,275, an increase of 12.58 percent from 1995.

Dr. J. Steven Garret, vice president of dental clinical research for Atrix, is 10th for executive compensation. He received $156,000 in salary and a $13,000 bonus, up 19.02 percent from 1995. Dr. Charles P. Cox, vice president of new business development, and Dr. Richard L. Dunn, vice president of drug-delivery research, ranked 15th and 16th, respectively.

Cox received a $123,000 salary, plus a $13,000 bonus, representing a 16.60 percent increase from 1995. Dunn brought home $125,804 in salary and and a $10,000 bonus, for a 12.18 percent increase from the previous year.

Dean A. Suposs, president and chairman of Avert Inc. in Fort Collins, landed in the No. 6 spot, with a salary of $96,000 and a bonus of $93,215, which doubles his compensation package to $189,215. This is an increase of 18.32 percent over the previous year.

Minor increases in compensation packages were reported at the Hach Co., a Loveland-based company that produces laboratory instruments, process analyzers and test kits used to analyze the chemical content and other properties of water and aqueous solutions.

Bruce J. Hach, president and chief operating officer, ranked ninth, with a salary of $173,449, up 8.22 percent from 1995. He did not collect a bonus. Four other Hach executives also made the list. Jerry M. Churchill, vice president of domestic sales, ranked 17th, with a salary of $122,273 and a stock option of 1,187 shares valued at $11,917, for a total compensation package of $134,190, a 2.27 percent increase from the previous year.

Loel J. Sirovy, Hach’s senior vice president of operations, collected $127,648, an increase of 4.55 percent over 1995, which ranks him 19th; Kathryn Hach-Darrow, chairman and CEO, reported a 1996 salary of $126,089, an increase of just 0.07 percent from 1995, which puts her 20th; and Gary R. Drehar, vice president and chief financial officer, made $119,877 in salary and optioned 864 shares valued at $6,083 for a 1996 compensation package of $125,960, up 8.2 percent from 1995. He comes in at No. 21 on the list.

Other companies with one or two executives on the top 25 list include Staodyn Inc., Engineering Measurements Co., EFTC and Voice It Worldwide. W. Bayne Gibson, president and CEO of Staodyn Inc., a Longmont company whose products include electronic pain-control devices and neuromuscular stimulation devices for muscle rehabilitation, saw no increase in his 1996 salary of $141,014, which puts him in 13th place on the list. Charles E. Miller, CEO and chairman of Engineering Measurements Co., also in Longmont, comes in 18th, with a compensation package comprised of $121,664 salary and $7,082 bonus.

Completing the Top 25 are executives from EFTC in Greeley and Voice It. Ranked 23rd, Gerald J. Reid, chairman of EFTC, reported a salary of $104,723 and a bonus of $175, representing a 23.99 percent decrease from 1995. Dennis W. Altbrandt, CEO of Voice It, landed in 24th place, with a salary of $94,833 for 1996.

The list is rounded out by Jack Calderon, who joined EFTC in August 1996 as president and CEO. He took home $79,923 in salary for those six months, putting him in the 25th position for the year.