Aflac chairman and CEO Dan Amos was puzzled when he received a shareholder proposal last fall from activist investor Boston Common Asset Management asking that Aflac -- the insurance company that features the quacking duck in its TV commercials -- give shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation. “At first, I wanted to know if we had done something wrong,” Amos recalls. After BCAM assured him that it had no problem with Aflac’s pay-for-performance policy, and following consultations with company executives and directors, Amos decided to move on the proposal. He implemented a new, “say on pay” policy. Beginning in 2009 -- the first year that proxy statement pay tables will contain three years of data filed under new SEC disclosure rules -- shareholders will be able to vote on the full compensation for Aflac’s highest-earning execs. Asked why Columbus, Georgiabased Aflac was one of the companies singled out for this measure, given that it is not generally in the crosshairs of shareholder activists, the CEO asserts: “I’m convinced this is where the Aflac duck came in. We’re a company with name recognition.” In 2006, Amos earned $14.1 million in salary and equity-related sources, plus an additional $5.5 million from exercising stock options.
