Based on largest 350 companies
Who is the highest-earning Houston CEO? New study breaks down top executive pay
Eight Houston-based executives are featured on the Wall Street Journal's list of the nation's top-earning CEOs.
WSJ hired a consulting firm to conduct a study of proxy statements to compile the data for the list, which profiles CEO pay from the nation's 350 largest publicly traded companies.
Most of the top executives saw pay increases in 2010, with bonuses growing 19.7 percent. In 2009, executive pay stayed relatively flat.
The top-earning Houston-based honcho was G. Steven Farris of the Apache Corporation, who earned $18.3 million in 2010. (The WSJ calculated "total direct compensation" to include salary, incentives, stock option grants and performance awards, among other factors.)
Apache's head was No. 34 on the publication's list of the 350 top-earning CEOs. The highest-earning CEO in the country, Viacom's Philipe P. Dauman, earned $84.3 million.
Other Houston-based bosses on the list include Anadarko Petroleum's James Hackett ($18 million); ConocoPhillips' James Mulva ($17.6 million); Marathon Oil's Clarence Cazalot, Jr. ($14.2 million); Halliburton's David Lesar ($12.9 million); Waste Management's David Steiner ($6.75 million); Sysco's William DeLaney ($5.7 million); and Centerpoint's David McClanahan ($4.2 million).
Houston has 23 Fortune 500 companies on that latest list, which came out last week.
Late August is one of Esquire's best new restaurants.
Photo by Leonid Furmansky