For Many Top Executives, It's Ask and You Shall Receive

Perks granted to General Dynamics chief executive Nicholas D. Chabraja include about $270,000 for personal travel on company planes. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

In a written response to questions, company spokesman Tom Jurkowsky said Lockheed's compensation committee allowed Coffman's options to continue vesting "in recognition of the fact that he was going to continue to serve as Chairman of the Board through April 2005."

Through that period, the compensation committee extended various perquisites for Coffman such as access to corporate aircraft for personal use, a country club membership and as much as $50,000 for moving expenses. After retiring from the board, he was entitled to office space, secretarial support, "computer connectivity" and security for his homes.

The chairman of the Lockheed Martin board's compensation committee, Gwendolyn S. King, who is president of a speechwriting and executive coaching service, did not return calls.

General Dynamics negotiated a new contract with Chabraja last year that obligates the company to buy his Virginia home after he retires.

Chabraja, who has been a General Dynamics executive since 1993, received about $340,000 in perks last year as part of his $13.7 million in total estimated compensation. The perks included about $270,000 for personal travel on company planes "as required by the Board to help ensure Mr. Chabraja's safety and accessibility," the company reported.

The chairman of the General Dynamics compensation committee, retired U.S. Army Gen. George A. Joulwan, said through a company spokesman that he declined to be interviewed.

Kendell Pease, a spokesman for the company, said that, as context for Chabraja's compensation, the company had delivered a 237 percent total return to shareholders over eight years, compared with 85 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and 45 percent for S&P's aerospace and defense index.

At W.R. Grace, the post-retirement benefits for chairman and recently retired chief executive Paul J. Norris include moving expenses -- "grossed up to account for applicable income taxes" -- and compensation for any loss on the sale of his Maryland home, the company reported. The company estimated that moving and related expenses could be worth $440,000, adding that it didn't expect to have to cover any loss on the sale of Norris's home.

Norris received a retention bonus of $1,235,000 in each of the past two years. For 2003, the bonus was for staying on the job, but for 2004, half of it was pegged to the achievement of an earnings target, said company spokesman Greg Euston.

"The company decided that it was more appropriate to have some of that retention bonus at risk, and Mr. Norris supported that change," Euston said.

But the same philosophy did not apply to the "Chapter 11 emergence bonus" the company agreed to pay Festa, Norris's successor as chief executive.

Though the W.R. Grace board approved it, creditors in the bankruptcy proceeding objected to Festa's Chapter 11 emergence bonus because it "suggested that he was going to be taking the company out of Chapter 11," Euston said. "The creditors' committee objected, and . . . basically it was renamed a retention bonus."