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Check out the boss's pay package in the Star Tribune's annual executive compensation survey. Median total pay of chief executive officers in recession-racked 2008 was down about 38 percent from 2007. Here are the 100 largest CEO pay packages among the public companies we examined.

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Standouts among the top 100

Highest Total Compensation: Daniel Starks, CEO, St. Jude: $32.2 million

Biggest Gain from stock option exercise: Daniel Starks, CEO, St. Jude: 29.8 million

Highest Salary: George Buckley, 3M CEO: $1.72 million

Biggest Bonus: Jay Fishman, CEO, Travelers Companies Inc.: $5 million

Highest present value of new options: Daniel Starks, CEO, St. Jude: $6.4 million

The trend within a trend

Median total compensation for Minnesota's 100 highest-paid CEOs dropped nearly 40 percent in 2008, sending median pay below $1 million for the first time in four years. Total compensation includes salary, bonus and other compensation including gains from the exercise of previously issued stock options and shares vested during the year.

Median cash compensation

The median salary-plus-bonus for Minnesota executives declined 9.7 percent in 2008 to $613,233. The comparable figure for 200 CEOs surveyed by the Wall Street Journal dropped 8.5 percent to $2.24 million.

Midwest salary sampler

Average salaries for rank-and-file hourly and salaried workers in the Midwest rose about 3 percent in 2008, the smallest annual pay raises since 2001, according to a survey of about 1,300 employers by WorldatWork, a salary- tracking association. The Midwest region includes Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City.

Highlight industries Retail Overlay Health Overlay Financial Overlay Manufacturing Overlay Energy Overlay IT Overlay
Executive Company 2008 total comp. 2007 total comp. 1-year percent change 1-year percent stock change
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Stephen Sanger General Mills Inc. 31,151,544 23,035,921 35.2 6.0
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Gary Ray Hormel Foods Corp. 6,139,364 3,925,950 56.4 -20.9
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Arthur Collins
*
Medtronic Inc. 22,897,560 6,143,981 272.7 -7.1
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Philip Milne MoneyGram International Inc. 13,844,782 1,542,590 797.5 -93.3
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Joseph McCullogh St. Jude Medical Inc. 5,391,216 865,529 522.9 -18.9
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Michael Rousseau St. Jude Medical Inc. 6,139,711 7,554,635 -18.7 -18.9
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Lynn Nagorske
*
TCF Financial Corp. 7,626,841 2,267,090 236.4 -19.0
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Robert Ulrich
*
Target Corp. 26,230,707 115,997,480 -77.4 -42.9

The annual Star Tribune compensation survey examined compensation data for the largest publicly-held companies in Minnesota. Proxy information for some companies was not available at press time; the survey analyzed information from more than 150 public companies. Total compensation includes all cash payments, deferred compensation and the monetary value of stock awarded, as specified by each company in its annual proxy statement or 10-K filing. Total compensation also includes any gains from the exercise of stock options. The chart on this page includes top executives within each company, ranked in order of total compensation.

ABBREVIATIONS:
Ch - Chairman
Chw - Chairwoman
CEO - Chief Executive Officer
P - President
COO - Chief Operating Officer
Sec. - Secretary
NM - Not meaningful
NR - Not ranked
- Means not available
Source: Company reports, Bloomberg News